A
team of scientists, archaeologists and forensic experts
plan to climb Turkey's Mt. Ararat this summer in quest
of evidence that will prove they have discovered Noah's
Ark.
Satellite photos taken last year at
the height of a record-warm summer, give Daniel P.
McGivern confidence he has discovered the biblical icon.
"These new photos unequivocally show a
man made object," McGivern told reporters at the
National Press Club in Washington.
"I am convinced that the excavation of
the object and the results of tests run on any collected
samples will prove that it is Noah’s Ark," said McGivern,
president of Shamrock - The Trinity Corporation of
Honolulu, Hawaii.
McGivren said his field manager for
the excavation will be Dr. Ahmet Ali Arslan, a native of
Turkey who has traveled up Mount Ararat 50 times in 40
years.
Arslan, who formerly worked in the
Turkish prime minister's office, plans to discuss
details of the excavation with the prime minister next
week, according to Space.com.
The U.S. Air Force took the first
photographs of the Mt. Ararat site in 1949, Space.com
said. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a
structure covered by ice, but were held for year in a
confidential file labeled "Ararat Anomaly."
Mount Ararat 1999 - Courtesy
Rob Michelson |
The government released several of the
images in 1997, but experts say they are inconclusive.
McGivern's expedition follows an
attempt in 2002 by Porcher Taylor, a senior associate at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, D.C.
Taylor used satellite imagery of the
area, but photos taken in 2003 by DigitalGlobe’s Quick
Bird satellite provide a unique view because last summer
was Europe's hottest since 1500.
The journey up Ararat, 17,820 feet, is
planned for July 15 to Aug. 15.
The team's goal is to enter the
alleged structure, believed to be about 45 feet high, 75
feet wide and as long as 450 feet.
"We are not excavating it. We are not
taking any artifacts. We're going to photograph it and,
God willing, you're all going to see it," McGivern told
reporters.