Noahs ark is one of the most recognizable stories in the world.
It tells the tale of a man named noah, whom god told to build a huge arc, gather all the
animals in the world in male and female pairs and board the arc in preparation for a great
flood.
There are those that believe the tale of noahs ark is not just a fable found in many cultures.
Biblical literalists believe that the bible is one hundred percent true, and that includes
the story of noah and the great flood.
Many scholars believe that the story of noahs ark was inspired by the ancient flood stories
of Mesopotamia, specifically the Epic of Gilgamesh.
There are some archeologists who say that there is evidence to suggest that there may
have been a great flood right around the time that Noah was said to have built the ark.
Of course, this is a story in the bible we are talking about, so there are many skeptics
who say that the arc was nothing more than a story, a metaphor for faith, struggle and
triumph.
The question has puzzled scholars and scientists for centuries.
Is the story of noahs ark simply an allegorical metaphor?
Or was it an actual boat?
There have been quite a few expeditions that claim to have found evidence of the arc, which
we will discuss in this video.
There have also been scientists and archeologists who claim they have found evidence of a great
flood.
If Noahs ark wasn’t just a story, then surely there has to be evidence that proves that
the arc was a real boat.
Today, life’s biggest questions asks, what happened to noahs ark?
Hello and welcome back to life’s biggest questions, the channel that asks the fundamental
questions of life.
I’m your host charlotte dobre.
Before I get into this video, this is just a friendly reminder to show this channel some
love by leaving a thumbs up, subscribing and let us know in the comments below a question
you have always wanted to know the answer to.
As a way to increase involvement in the lifes biggest questions community, the hosts respond
to user comments at the end of the video.
So make sure you stick around until the end of the video to see if your comment got featured.
Alright lets get into this question.
First, a brief history of noah’s ark.
In the old testament, or the hebru bible, in the story of the Genesis flood in genesis
8:4, god plans to purge the world of sin.
Noah had 3 children, he was also apparently about to celebrate his 600th birthday.
This isn’t an unusual statement in genesis.
In the early chapters there are accounts of people living to be 700 or 800 years, but
the numbers are not real.
They are mythic numbers that some experts believe are meant to reinforce the mystery
of the text.
God says he will spare Noah, his family, and all the worlds animals, who are innocent of
sin, from an devastating flood that will engulf the entire world.
God made the flood due to his regret over how great the wickedness of the human race
had become on earth.
God gave Noah instructions for building the ark, which was 300 egyptian cubits in length,
50 cubits in width, and 30 cubits in height.
Which translates to 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet.
and 7 days before the flood, god told noah to board the ark with his family and the animals
he had gathered.
The devastating flood comes to purge the earth, and the ark stays afloat for 150 days.
Legend has it, as the waters receded, the ark ended up on the mountains of Ararat.
The actual location of the mountains of Ararat is in the eastern Anatolia region of turkey,
between the provinces of agri and igdir, near the Iranian and Armenian borders.
Noahs ark, and its final resting place is not only mentioned in the bible.
Other, separate sources speak of it.
For example, The famous explorer marco polo spoke of noahs ark in his book, the travels
of marco polo.
He wrote, in the heart of the Armenian mountain range the mountain range is shaped like a
cube, or cup, on which noahs ark is said to have rested.
Whence it is called the mountain of noahs ark.
The story of noahs ark is not only in the hebru bible, theres also a version of it in
the quran, and there is also mention of a similar story in ancient Mesopotamian text.
In the epic of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian flood story that was passed down centuries before
the bible even existed, the gods sent a flood to wipe out the humans.
The gods chose one man to survive the flood.
He built a boat and put all the animals on it and following the flood, ends up on a mountain.
Pretty strikingly similar if you ask me.
Alright, so what about the whole great flood thing.
Did it actually happen?
Surely there has to be scientific evidence for the flood.
Well, Interestingly, the story of a great flood exists in many different cultures around
the world.
Sumerians had their own version found in the Epic of Ziusudra.
There are tales of a flood myth that originate in china, and india, korea and Malaysia, and
the phillipines.
The greeks told ancient flood myths, the Vikings, and ancient Irish and welsh peoples.
That’s a lot of different cultures that developed independently of each other.
Some would say where there’s smoke, theres fire.
Could it be that all of these cultures were simply telling similar stories?
Or is there more to it, perhaps a singular source.
Robert Ballard, one of the worlds best known underwater archeologists, claims that he may
have found evidence of a great flood.
Ballard found the titanic wreck in 1985, so he’s got a pretty good track record.
While probing the black sea, off the coast of turkey, He said he and his team found traces
of an ancient civilization that dates back to the time of noah.
He said that 12 thousand years ago, much of the world was covered in ice.
Once that ice started to melt, well, there was obviously flooding.
The question is though, was there one great flood.
According to a theory published by two Columbia university scientists, there was a great flood
in the area surrounding turkey.
What is now the black sea was once a freshwater lake.
It became the black sea because of rising water from the Mediterranean sea.
And we’re talking a huge flood that had a force 200 times that of niagra falls.
The flood wiped out everything in its path.
Up to 150 thousand square kilometers of land went under.
The evidence for this flood is an ancient shoreline that was found 400 feet below sea
level.
Carbon dating of shells put the flood at around 5 thousand bc, the time when many believe
the great food took place.
Perhaps the great flood was not a flood that enveloped the entire world, but simply took
place in the region where Noah was said to have lived.
We experience floods in modern day, why couldn’t noah have experienced a flood thousands of
years ago?
So now that you know that a great flood could have happened.
What about the ark?
Is there any evidence of the ark that’s been found?
There have been many attemtps to find noahs ark, the first recorded search was 275 to
339 CE up until present day.
Expeditions and searches have taken place throughout history.
Furthermore, there have been many people who have claimed to have found noahs ark over
the years.
In eastern turkey, a boat like formation was exposed after heavy rains and earthquakes
in 1948.
Turkish army captain Ilhan Durupinar identified the formation in an ariel photo during a nato
mapping mission in 1959.
Photographs of the formation were published in Life magazine in 1960.
According to the article, the shape looked like the hull of a ship.
One end was pointed as you would expect, from bow, and the opposite was blunt like stern.
The distance from bow to stern was 300 egyptian cubits, or 515 feet.
The average width was 50 cubits.
These were the exact measurements mentioned in the bible.
The discovery was later debunked because the formation was found to be nothing more than
a geological formation.
The boat shape came about as a result of an earthquake in 1948 that exposed a rock.
In june 2006, Bob Cornuke of the bible archaeology search and exploration institute took a team
of archeologists to a site in the Alborz mountains.
They said they found an object 13 thousand feet above sea level that had the look of
blackened petrified wooden beams that was 400 feet long or 300 cubits, consistent with
the measurements in the bible.
There was also apparently fossilized sea creatures within the petrified wood.
But these past sightings are no comparison to this next discovery.
Recently, in 2017, professors of theology and science announced they had found actual
evidence of noahs ark on the very mountain that it was said to have perched.
Mount ararat is in north eastern turkey.
Its actually now called Agri Mountain.
Eyewitness accounts of a large wooden structure that appears to be in the shape of a boat
have been rampant for centuries.
Chinese and Turkish researchers also claimed to have found an arc like structure there
in 2010.
Researcher Professor Paul Esprante heard of these accounts and went to mount arat with
a team of 108 researchers.
They announced they were 99 percent sure that they had found noahs ark.
Near the peak of the mountain, they found 7 large wooden compartments buried at 13 thousand
feet above sea level.
How crazy is that?
Why was there a gigantic wooden structure right on the top of mount Ararat, the tallest
peak in turkey and the exact place the bible said was the arcs final resting place.
And to make matters even more amazing, radio carbon dated wood from the site put the wooden
structure at 4800 years old, which coincides roughly with the time of the great flood in
the book of genesis.
Mind officially blown.
The researchers presented their evidence at the International Symposium of Mount Ararat
and Noahs ark in Agri.
Of course, like with any discovery, there are skeptics.
Its hard for many to believe that the wood could have survived thousands of years following
a flood.
Other skeptics say the arc, if it had actually existed, must have been torn apart and used
for building materials.
Regardless the Turkish government plans to turn the site into a Heritage site on the
UNESCO World heritage list, which is a title given to places of cultural significance.
So what does science have to say about the story of noahs ark?
Unfortunately, theres no scientific evidence that there was a global catastrophic flood.
That doesn’t mean that a flood in the area didn’t take place, it just means theres
no evidence of a global catastrophic flood that God told Noah to prepare the arc for.
Furthermore, and this goes without saying, how was it even possible for all the animals
on earth to live on an arc together for 150 days without eating each other.
Until further evidence is discovered, Noahs ark, and the tale of the great flood is just
a story.
Do you thin noahs ark was a real boat?
Let us know in the comments below.
For now, its that fun part of the video where I’m going to respond to some of your comments.
Why do I waste my time making useless random videos – is it possible to get pregnant
while youre pregnant.
And also would they be twins or would one baby come out and the other baby stay in.
that’s a really good question.
Even though you would think that while a woman is pregnant, she cant get pregnant again,
but yes, it is possible to get pregnant while youre pregnant but its very rare A woman can
ovulate while she is already pregnant, and that egg can then become fertilized.
Getting pregnant while already pregnant is called superfetation, and it occurs in other
mammals like badgers too.
As for the second question…I suppose it would depend on when the second egg was fertilized.
Austin champman – Love the video and im also a potato.
Thanks for subscribing to both lifes biggest questions and inform overload.
For those that don’t know, lifes biggest questions is a sister channel to Inform Overload.
Definitely subscribe if you need a place to get your news.
Tay West – This is a good video.
Hey thanks tay, glad you like our content
Christian Hernandez – I feel smarter every time I watch your videos
MasterMomo – what if Canada was real?
As we are based in Canada, and we are recording this video in Toronto, I am fairly certain
that Canada is real
Stingray 1442 – does everyone deserve a second chance.
Depends on what the person did, but I would say, yes.
everyone deserves a second chance