Researchers investigating a possible Noah’s Ark site in eastern Turkey have shared photographs and video of what they describe as charred wood recovered about 30 feet underground, giving the public a closer look at material now undergoing laboratory testing.
The images, provided exclusively to Fox News Digital, show darkened, cracked fragments, some with what look like wood grain and growth rings. Researchers have submitted the material for carbon-14 dating and species identification. Its age, origin and connection to Noah’s Ark remain unconfirmed.
Archaeologist Cenker Atila, who oversees the investigation, told Fox News Digital that the fragments came from deep beneath the boat-shaped Durupınar formation near Mount Ararat. Atila, a professor at Sivas Cumhuriyet University, described them as “very ancient” in his professional opinion, while acknowledging that laboratory results are still pending.
“Too many coincidences have come together to be ignored,” Atila told Fox News Digital. “The ship-shaped formation was found in the location described in the holy books. Its dimensions are consistent with those mentioned in the holy books, and its shape resembles a ship.”
The roughly 515-foot-long formation has attracted decades of investigation and disagreement. The project says radar surveys by scientist Khosrow Bakhtar have identified organized patterns and possible chambers and corridors underground. Those interpretations have not established that the features belong to a vessel.
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Atila acknowledged the questions researchers still must answer.
“Are the corridor-like and room-like structures actually parts of a ship? Do the wood fragments really belong to the ship? Will we find any traces of human or animal remains in the soil analyses? These are all very exciting questions, and I am eagerly awaiting the results,” he told Fox News Digital.
Charisma reported Oct. 27 that researchers had recovered charred wood and submitted it for carbon-14 dating, citing an announcement from Noah’s Ark Scans attributed to Atila. The new Fox report adds exclusive imagery and further comments from the researchers.
The recovery follows a broader drilling campaign that Andrew Jones, founder of Noah’s Ark Scans, described in an interview with Charisma Media.
Jones said researchers drilled 12 holes inside the formation and four outside it, collecting nearly 400 soil samples. Some holes reached approximately 66 feet.
“We’re not hitting solid rock,” Jones told Charisma, describing an observation he believes challenges geological explanations that predict shallow bedrock beneath the formation. He said the team occasionally encountered boulders but could continue drilling through or around them.
Geologists have disputed the Ark identification. Fox News cited a 1996 paper by Lorence Gene Collins and David Franklin Fasold that described Durupınar as “a natural rock structure.”
Jones also told Charisma that he would reconsider the hypothesis if the investigation failed to produce evidence of human activity.
“If we don’t find man-made activity after two seasons, then that’s something you have to reevaluate,” he said.
Lauren Witzke, director of marketing and fundraising for Noah’s Ark Scans, told Fox News Digital that the wood samples have gone to four laboratories in four countries. Analysis of hundreds of soil and core samples also continues.
“We won’t know until we start getting results back from the labs,” Witzke told Fox News Digital.
Once those findings are available, Atila plans to seek additional excavation permits, she said. The team hopes to pursue excavation in 2027 and publish verified findings through NoahsArkScans.com.
“We do believe that we have a very good chance to continue the research and excavate next year,” Witzke said.
To view the images provided by Noah’s Ark Scans, click here.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
