And the ark rested in the seventh month,
on the seventeenth day of the month,
upon the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:4
"If the Ark remained on the mountains of Ararat intact, it would have been impacted by geological forces during the Ice Age and beyond. Mount Ararat is a volcano, meaning much of the mountain was built up long after Noah’s Ark came to rest. If it landed on that particular mountain, it would have been destroyed not only by ice but by volcanic activity.
There is a slight possibility that Noah’s Ark might be discovered at some point in the future, and that would be cause for celebration by biblical creationists. But it would be a mistake to hope that such a find would result in mass conversions to Christianity. Even the Resurrection did not convince the Jewish leadership of Jesus’ day of the truth of the Gospel—showing how stubborn fallen mankind can be even when faced with what should be undeniable evidence.
Many people think that the Ark landed on ‘Mt Ararat’. This is a dormant volcano with two peaks: Greater Ararat (16,854 ft. elevation) and Lesser Ararat (12,782 ft.). In modern geographic terms, it is in the country of Turkey; in geological terms, on the Armenian Plateau. The Turkish name is Ağrı Dağı (Mountain of Ağrı), and in Armenian it is Masis (plural Masik, sometimes referring to both peaks). Since the Armenian plateau extends into Iran, there is also a Persian word, which is notable: Kuh-e-Nuh (Noah’s Mountain).
However, the biblical account uses the plural form, ‘mountains of Ararat’ (Hebrew hārei ‘ărārāt, אררט הרי). Also, in the Bible, Ararat is a country or region (2 Kings 19:37, Isaiah
However, this may be looking in the wrong place completely. Mt Ararat is possibly a post-Flood volcano, which would mean that it was pushed up after the waters had already receded and eroded. If so, it could not have been the mountain on which the Ark rested when the waters still covered the whole globe. A proposed alternative landing place is the Zagros Mountains, a range 1,500 km long on Iran’s western border. Its highest peak is Dena, 14,465 ft. elevation. However, while the case for the Zagros Mountains is plausible, it’s the Mountains of Ararat region that has thousands of years of tradition behind it as the Ark’s landing site.
Is the Ark still there?
Josephus certainly thought so in his time. In his Antiquities, he wrote:[T]he ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia. However, the Armenians call this place, αποβατηριον [apobatērion] ‘The Place of Descent’; for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shown there by the inhabitants to this day. Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood, and of this ark; among whom is Berossus. For when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: “It is said there is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs.” Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them; where he speaks thus: “There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses the legislator of the Jews wrote.”Actually, there should be some skepticism about such Ark sightings, both then and now. As stated previously, it may never have landed in what we now call Ararat. Also, there is no reason to believe that it still exists. After all, the post-Flood forests would have taken some time to re-grow. So the only practical source for lumber and firewood would have been the Ark’s building materials, having outlived their other usefulness." CMI
