“…and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” Genesis 8:4
The mountains of Ararat are a vast region of northeastern Turkiye, northwestern Iran and Armenia - the region of ancient Urartu. Ararat is a Semitic version of Urartu, both referring to the same geographic area. We often think only of a single mountain peak, Mnt Ararat, or maybe two (Mnt Ararat and little Ararat), but this entire area is mountainous terrain, with Ararat as its highest peak. A landscape formed by ancient volcanic and glacial forces. Traveling here for the first time enabled us to see why the ancient kingdom of Urartu was called a mountain kingdom and why “Ararat” is much more than a single snow capped peak.
This September during a trip to Eastern Turkiye we were able to visit the Durupinar Noah’s Ark formation in the mountains of Ararat so much in the news these days! We arrived very skeptical and left less skeptical!! The arguments for and against this site are all over face book and You Tube and even in network news programs recently. We will all have to wait for more scientific work to be planned, executed, and the results to be analyzed, and all of that takes time. Belief in the truth of the Biblical account of the flood doesn’t hinge on proving the Durupinar site to be Noah’s ark, but it is a more intriguing possible to us now.
Over the next few weeks we will post more detailed photos of the formation and of the interesting Noah connections to the surrounding area. Today we have a few general photos to get started. (FYI - there are many AI generated images of the Durupinar formation on the internet. These are our photos, taken in person. The formation and even the remote possibility that it could be Noah's ark are sensational enough and do not need enhancement!)
For Biblical travel photos and videos, visit us at Scripture In Stone blog.
Mount Ararat (Agri Dag) in Eastern Turkiye
