No-ah way!!

Noah's Ark 'discovered' 4,800 years on... 4,000m up a mountain in Turkey

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 11:39 AM on 27th April 2010

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A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers claim to have found the remains of Noah's Ark.

The discovery was made 4,000 meters up a Turkish mountain and comes 4,800 years after the vessel was said to be afloat.

The explorers said specimen samples taken from the structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey underwent carbon testing, which linked them to the time period.

A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers from Noah's Ark Ministries International claim to have found the ark, 4,000 metres up a Turkish mountain

The team made the announcement of their find yesterday (April 26) - the same day the bible says the flood waters abated and the ark came to rest.

Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary filmmaker and member of the 15-strong team from Noah's Ark Ministries International, said: 'It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it.'

He said the structure had several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals.

This shows racks found on a wall inside a compartment of a structure found on Mount Ararat, where the Bible says the Ark came to rest

The group of evangelical archaeologists ruled out an established human settlement on the grounds that one had never been found above 3500m in the vicinity.

Local Turkish officials will ask the central government in Ankara to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status so the site can be protected and pave the way for a major archaeological dig.

The biblical story says God decided to flood the earth after seeing how corrupt it had become, and told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species.

After the flood waters receded, the Bible says, the ark came to rest on a mountain.

Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and her inhabitants came aground.

It had several compartments and some were fitted with wooden beams