An evangelical group led by Yueng Wing-cheung said they were "99.9 percent" for sure that a wooden structure found on the mountainside was part of a ship that housed the Biblical Noah, his family and a menagerie of creatures during a giant flood 4,800 years ago. But, Paul Zimansky, an archaeologist and historian at Stony Brook University who specializes in the the region around Ararat, known as Urartu, said "You have to take everything out of context except the Bible to get something tolerable, and they're not even working much with the Bible."Peter lan Kuniholm, Cornell archaeologist, who has focused on Turkey for decades said that the reported find is a "crock."
According to the article, Zimansky pointed out that Genesis identifies the mountains of Araraf as the landing zone for the ark, but not a specific peak. Over the centuries, 16,946-foot Mount Ararat and the nearby boat-shaped Durupinar rock formation have emerged as the favored locales for ark-hunters. There are lots of reports about discovery of the ark, but not always in the same place. The latest report in 2007 came upon a wooden structure "in the interiors of an unusual cave" at the 14,700-foot level of Ararat's slopes. Leaders of the Chinese-Turkish expedition (Noah's Ark Ministries International) said wooden specimens recovered from the structure on Ararat had been carbon-dated to yield an age of 4,800 years. The group said they found several compartments of wooden beams and so these were used to house animals. Noah's Ark Ministries International said the best explanation for the artifact's existence was.... you guessed it.
Zimansky said it's not inconceivable to him that they've found pieces of wood at that level, but that doesn't mean they've found an ark. More questions have been raised: Is the carbon dating accurate? Who did the test? Have the reporters properly trained? Is it more plausible that the structure is from a miraculous ark, or from an ancient shelter on the mountainside? Is there any evidence of a catastrophic flood that rose to near the top of Ararat 4,800 years ago?
Zimansky observed, "We know what's going on with Turkey archaeologically at that time, and there's no major interruption in the culture." Kuniholm said, "There's not enough H2O in the world to get an ark that high up a mountain." Kuniholm said he was presented with earlier samples of wood from Ararat that he was told were dated to just 1,400 years ago. No other testing by independent organizations has been done at this time, and there has not been any word from the Turkish government about what will happen with the ark. [2]
Mike Pitt, a British archaeologist, also said the evangelical explorers had yet to produce compelling evidence. He added: 'If there had been a flood capable of lifting a huge ship 4km up the side of a mountain 4,800 years ago, I think there would be substantial geological evidence for this flood around the world. And there isn't.'[1]
Nicholas Purcell, a lecturer in ancient history at Oxford University, said the claims were the 'usual nonsense'. He added: 'If floodwaters covered Eurasia 12,000ft deep in 2,800BC, how did the complex societies of Egypt and Mesopotamia, already many centuries old, keep right on regardless?' The story was widely seen as fact until the 19th century, when scientists began to question the evidence for a worldwide flood.[1]
Original Article:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/04/27/2280442.aspx
[1]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269165/Noahs-Ark-remains-discovered-mountain-Turkey.html#ixzz0mOs6V44Z
[2] http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/34220/
COMMENT
Do you know why the "search" is led by a Hong Kong team?
This "discovery" provides a commercial advantage for the Hong Kong evangelical group. They "captured" 8 billion dollars from Hong Kong a few years ago to build the "Ma Wan Hong Kong, Noah's Ark". They use this park to spread their "faith" and create jobs for Christians. Such "discovery" is a big help for the business.
http://www.noahsark.com.hk/eng/index.php
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美國宗教大學Liberty University教授Randall Price最近發電郵給學生，表示曾參與探索過程，指整個「發現」都是偽造，木材實際是由黑海附近運到亞拉臘山。另一邊廂，土耳其文化旅遊部長表示會調查為何該國有官員未經批准便到香港召開「方舟」記者會。
Randall是Liberty University的人類學權威學者，多年來努力找尋《聖經》中的挪亞方舟。昨日互聯網上多個考古網站和網址均引述Randall的電郵，指有關發現是偽造（this is all reported to be a fake）。電郵指出，遺骸內部的相片全是在黑海某地拍攝，但中國人探索隊所拍的影片則的確在亞拉臘山錄影。他解釋，08年夏天有10名庫爾德人告訴他，一名中國人委聘的嚮導，聘請他們把黑海附近的木樑搬到亞拉臘山山洞，及至09年夏天，有更多的木材搬進山洞，其後中國人探索隊進入該山洞並錄影。
http://news.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/nw/show.cgi/3/1/1/1503503/1.html
Dr. Randall Price, head of Judaic Studies at Liberty University, had been a cohort of the Noah's Ark Ministries International team until two years ago. He pulled out of the project, sensing they were being taken advantage of by Kurdish guides, who've turned Ark searching into a cottage industry.
"I think we can't rule out the possibility that this is a hoax, because a lot of the things that happen in that region of the world, and especially with the Kurdish guides that are involved, are designed to try to extract money from gullible people," Price said.
But he added: "I'm reserving my opinion at this point until I see how things are developing."
Dr. John Morris, lead archeologist at the Institute for Creation Research, says "I'm leaning towards that the Chinese people have been deceived."
Morris and Price were contacted by the Chinese team to take part in the press event, but they declined based on how little evidence they saw.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/201 ... nt-deter-believers/
http://scibean.xanga.com/7262279 ... of-noah-is-a-crock/[/url] |
2010/6/13 15:23
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2010/6/16 06:37
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