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The remains of the ark are resting on a mountainside with a very
large section of bedrock limestone extending through its midsection.
Radar has confirmed that the limestone is bedrock and not a loose
boulder which rolled down the hill; it is a part of the foundation rock.
What explanation is there for the presence of this huge mass of rock
extending into the ship?
In 1984, Ron and Orhan Baser found what they now are certain is a
120 x 40 foot section of the bottom of the ark, a mile or so
above its present location. For a moment, let's take our thoughts
back to the time when the waters receded and the ark first rested on the
earth. At that time, the face of the earth would be extremely muddy.
As the water slowly receded and the ark was gently lowered to the
earth, it sank into the mud by increments. The very bottom kept
extending deeper and deeper into this mud.
The evidence indicates that there was probably a "bilge keel" of some
description on the bottom of the ship. A bilge keel is a "fin-like"
projection extending downward from the center keel along the bottom,
as is seen on sailboats. This "fin" would have provided the ship
resistance to sideways tilting, but it would have had another advantage.
As the ark slowly sank into the mud, this "fin" would have held the ship
in an upright position after it was on the ground. Then, when God "made a
wind to pass over the earth", which caused the mud to dry out, the ship
was held fast in an upright position.
Hopefully, we can scan this area with the radar to determine if a
bilge keel is present, but for now this is only Ron's theory. And
even it there wasn't a bilge keel, the ark still would have sunk
down in the mud and be held fast. When the lava carried the ship
down the mountainside, this section of the hull remained in the
earth. This left a very large hole in the hull which David determined
existed by his use of the MFG, and which Ron later found to exist
with the radar scans. The fact that Dave was able to determine this
with the MFG is a tremendous evidence that the device is highly
reliable despite the bad name it has received.
The Crash into the Limestone Outcropping
When the ark, sliding sideways down the mountainside,
hit the large outcropping of limestone, it was literally
impaled on the large rock. It extended into the midsection
of the ship and was the only thing which held the ark at its
present location. Since the decks had collapsed, the timbers
which held the ribs in their upright position (the deck joists)
were broken, and there was nothing to keep the sides from
falling outward. As the ark rotated into alignment with
the direction of the lava flow (after becoming lodged on
the rock), the ribs were thrown outward to some degree,
around the midsection. This is a splaying effect.
The end that made the widest swing outward suffered
the most outward collapse, and this is what gives the
ship its appearance of being wider than it should be.
Keep in mind, however, that the ribs did not fall completely
outward, but only splayed enough to give the ship a 138 foot width
at the widest point, and the original width was 87 feet. The
Biblical width of 50 cubits was found to be the width indicated
by the internal structures, such as the bulkheads which displayed
this width instead of the full width of the splayed hull.
The metal detector scans done in August of 1985 showed how
the internal structure near the surface was literally "wrapped
around the rock," similar to a car that is wrapped around a telephone
pole. The pattern (revealed by metal detector scans) shows the broken
structure members literally wrapped around the rock.
The Ballast - Pre-Flood "Slag"
The "strange material" Ron and Orhan found scattered all over
the bottom section of the ark, at the site further up the mountainside,
proved to be identical to the "strange material" found falling out in
massive amounts from the hull on the northern end. This is ballast
material and is what first attracted John Baumgardner's interest
after Jim Irwin sent him the specimen Ron had given him from the
site above the ark.. It contains a negligible amount of inorganic
carbon, as contrasted with the petrified wood, but it contains
an incredible amount of manganese dioxide (over 80%) and titanium.
One analysis revealed a 74% titanium content. The importance of
this specimen is that it displays attributes which indicate that
it is slag, or the waste product of some type of metal alloy production.
What Is Ballast?
Ballast is an absolute necessity for any ship. It is any material
of weight which is placed in the hull for purposes of stabilizing
the ship, keeping it trim, etc. For more information on this subject,
look up shipbuilding. You will find that it is not something that a
ship "may or may not" have; it is a necessity. And a ship the size
of the ark would definitely had ballast of some type. The evidence
at the ark shows that the builders of the ark used a most ingenious
substance for their ballast.
Metal Alloy Production
To find a ship wreck on the side of a mountain with a massive
amount of heavy substance falling out of its hull (material which
is identical to slag), indicates that probably as the metal objects
used in the ship construction were fashioned, the waste product was
gathered and placed in the hull. This makes an incredible amount
of sense. A ship of this size would have required a great deal of
ballast and this is the perfect source.
But What Makes Us Think There Was Metal Production Before the Flood?
Aside from the presence of a great deal of metal at even intervals
in the ship, Manganese Manganese, which is found in extremely high
concentrations in these ballast specimens, is used in the production
of many alloys: "More than 95 percent of the manganese produced is
used in the form of ferro alloys by the metal industries, chiefly
for steel manufacture. Produced without manganese, steel breaks
up when hot-rolled or forged. Steels generally contain less than
1% manganese. Manganese steel (12-14% manganese)
is used for very rugged service; it presents a hard, wear resistant,
and self-renewing surface over a wrought unbreakable core.
Manganese produced electrolytically is used mostly in
steelmaking but also in the production of non-ferrous alloys
of copper, aluminum, magnesium , and the nickel-base alloys
as well as in the production of high-purity chemicals. Practically
all commercial alloys of aluminum and magnesium contain manganese
to improve corrosion resistance and mechanical properties."
"Encyclopaedia Brittannica, 1985 ed., vol.vi", page 563 under
"manganese".
In one analysis of the ballast material, John Baumgardner
wrote: "Tailings of aluminum aloid production" and signed his name
and wrote "Los Alamos." This particular specimen contained 31.44%
manganese, 41.95% titanium, 0% iron, 11.33% silicon, and 7.19% aluminum,
among other constituents. This indicates that there was perhaps more than
one type of alloy included in these various ballast specimens, and
this one was the waste product of aluminum production.
"Aluminum-manganese alloys are popular for cooking utensils,
heat exchangers, chemical equipment, and storage tanks
Adding major amounts (about 10%) of silicon to commercially
pure aluminum yields an alloy with a relatively low melting point.
Since silicon imparts great fluidity to molten metal,
this alloy is used in castings. The addition of up to 5% magnesium yields
an alloy with good tensile strength,
weldability, hardness, and corrosion resistance in marine atmospheres.
Adding both silicon and magnesium to aluminum produces alloys that
are easily formed, machined, welded, and finished, have good
resistance to corrosion, and are of medium
strength." "Ibid., vol. 1, page 644, under
subject "Aluminum Products and Production"
The ballast materials (under an electron microscope) display
the appearance of slag and can therefore be identified
with confidence. The exact type of metal production they
resulted from cannot be stated with precision. But because
of the content of the specimens (which are consistent with
present day processes of metal alloy production), it can be
stated with confidence that these are slag. The large
amount of manganese was expended as waste product because,
although required in the production of the alloy, only a
small percentage remained in the resulting product. The
excess was spun off as slag, along with a small amount of
the other elements used in the alloy production.
Titanium
The discovery of titanium in such a high concentration is of
special interest. The process by which titanium could be produced
as a metal has only been known since 1936. "Although the element
titanium had been known since its initial discovery in 1791 by
William Gregor in England, and its identification in rutile in
1795 and in ilmenite in 1797, it was not until William Justin
Kroll (a German refuge in the U.S.) invented a
magnesium-reduction process in 1936 that the production of
metallic titanium became feasible. The process, which Kroll
gave to the U.S. Bureau of Mines for development, remains
in its original form or modifications thereof, the principle
method used today for winning titanium metal
from its ores." "Ibid., vol. 18, page 455, under
subject heading "Titanium Products and Production."
The advantage of titanium as a metal is its tremendous
strength and light weight, which is why today it is used
in medical and space age technologies. The quantitative
elemental analyses of the rivet-head Ron found in 1991
revealed 8.62% aluminum, 10.38% iron, 1.33% magnesium,
and 2.7% sodium, as well as 1.92% titanium. Interestingly,
the process for refining titanium involves sodium and magnesium
and sure enough, there they both were! "The high-purity titanium
tetrachloride produced is reduced to metallic titanium by reaction
with magnesium or sodium. The Kroll process, which uses magnesium,
and modifications that used sodium, as the reducing agents, are
batch processes conducted in larger reactors." Ibid., p. 456.
The combined analyses of the fossilized rivet provide more than
ample evidence that it was composed of an alloy which contained
aluminum, iron and titanium; an alloy which would be extremely strong,
lightweight and resistant to the corrosion of the sea waters. Is
all of this coincidence? The ballast contains elements which are
completely consistent with that of aluminum, titanium ,and iron
alloy productions. The rivet contains elements which are
consistent with a very high-tech alloy.
For further evidence, "The major alloying elements that are
added to titanium are aluminum, vanadium, molybdenum, manganese,
iron and chromium." "Ibid." ) All three analyses of the rivet
show iron, aluminum, and manganese, vanadium, and chromium.
Perhaps one or two of these things could be accepted as
"coincidence", but the entire picture is one that cannot be denied.
Hand-Wrought Iron
In June of 1985, when Ron, Dave Fasold and John Baumgardner all
surveyed the site with metal detectors, Dave found a specimen
which John stated, on camera, displayed the appearance of wrought
iron. Dave Fasold wrote about the results of John's later analyses
of the iron specimens in his book, "The Ark of Noah",
p. 255: "I hurriedly opened the first-class envelope labeled
`Los Alamos National Laboratory.' It contained the
semi-quantitative analysis of the iron samples we had
recovered from the ark. The stoichiometric results were
impressive, with the seven running from 60% through 91.84% FE2O3.
The highest reading was obtained from an angular bracket."
The angular bracket was the specimen John had identified as having
the appearance of wrought iron. The large iron content of the
petrified timbers again verifies the fact that the flowing water
which effected the petrification process had travelled over a
large amount of iron objects before it arrived at the timber
being petrified. Where did this iron come from? Certainly not
the surrounding terrain which displayed an only negligible
iron content. The evidence indicates that probably various
alloys were produced for use in different objects, depending
on what properties were required. In fact, the evidence is
too circumstantial to be interpreted any other way except
that it shows conclusive proof of metal alloys used in the ark.
The "Manganese Nodules" Theory
One "learned scientist," this one proclaiming to be a Christian,
rejects all the evidences found at the site. Why? Because after
he was made aware of it, he continued to raise money to continue
searching on Mount Ararat, a project which was his favorite.
While he hasn't bothered to present any legitimate reasons
refuting most of the evidence, (preferring to state simply
that he has investigated it thoroughly 3 times), he does
present an argument against some of the ballast material.
After all, these specimens are some of the most incredible
and important evidences, and to speak out against them
requires an alternate explanation.
He attacks the analysis of one particular specimen, the one
which contains 84.14% manganese dioxide, stating simply that
it is nothing but a "manganese nodule," something that is
found all over the ocean floor and is therefore quite common.
OK. Let's look at that claim.
First of all, this site isn't the ocean floor - it is 6,300 feet
above it, and thousands of miles from the Pacific Ocean, which is
where these nodules are commonly found. But let's not take that
into consideration. Let's check into these "nodules" and see
what characteristics they have. "...these manganese nodules
contain as much as 2.5% copper, 2.0% nickel,
0.2% cobalt and 35% manganese. In some deposits,
the content of cobalt and manganese is as high as 2.5%
and 50% respectively. Such concentrations would be
considered high-grade ores if found in
land,..." "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1985 ed., vol. 13", page 503,
under subject heading "Oceans and Seas".
Ok, 50% manganese content, we have just read, is
considered the highest percentage to be found in these
nodules, as well as in land ores. The average is considered
to be 35%. Yet, our analyses of these ballast specimens
show 87%, 84% and 80% - far above what is found in these
nodules. Also, the nodules contain cobalt and nickel,
yet these are not present in the ballast specimens. In
addition, there is the size to be considered. The
nodules are stated to be an average of about 4 centimeters
(slightly less than 2 inches), yet some of these specimens
are 10 inches in diameter and more. These factors, combined
with the fact that the ballast specimens contain other
elements not found in the manganese nodules is more than
enough evidence to rule out that little theory.
I Don't See Any Petrified Wood
One would think that trained scientists would be able to recognize
the fragments found scattered all the way around the ship as pieces
of petrified wood, but they don't. Why? Because they are trained
evolutionists; they are taught, and firmly believe, that all
petrified wood displays growth rings. But without a belief in
the Biblical account, they do not understand or believe that
prior to the Flood, (which they don't believe in) conditions
were such that growth rings did not occur.
Genesis 2:5-6 "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth,
and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had
not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to
till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered
the whole face of the ground."
This scripture has just told us that there was no rain before the Flood,
which is probably one of the reasons that the world would not
believe there was a coming Flood. The laws of nature
which would be in effect in order to have no rain, but
to have this "mist" which "watered the whole face of the
earth" would include a very constant temperature. This
temperature would not have varied over more than 10 or so
degrees. This relatively small variation in temperature
would not have been great enough to cause the water in the
air to totally condense into raindrops, but would instead
produce an effect similar to a greenhouse or a terrarium.
Each day, in the cool of the evening, dew would appear
on the ground. In the morning, this dew would evaporate
as the temperature rose. Day after day, this cycle would
continue, keeping a perfect balance of moisture both in
the air and on the soil.
What Causes Growth Rings?
Growth rings in trees and other plants are caused by a variation
in the water supply to the plant. Annual rings today occur when
the temperature drops and the sap in the tree fails to rise.
The leaves of the deciduous trees turn color and die, soon
dropping off. In the spring, the warmth releases the tree
from its state of "hibernation" and the sap begins to flow
again. Even though there may be water in the ground, when
the temperature drops, the tree does not continue its cycle
until it is again spring. Therefore, a ring results when
the growth is temporarily halted and begins when spring arrives.
Sometimes, weather conditions, such as a drought, can result
in numerous rings in one season. During a severe drought, the
tree is deprived of its water supply and growth stops temporarily.
Then a rain comes along and growth resumes during the same season;
and here we have 2 rings in one year. There is no way to determine
the number of rings which belong to one year so this method is
not reliable in determining a tree's age. The petrified wood
which contains rings, such as that found in Arizona, is post-Flood.
Even the evolutionists admit the absence of growth rings in
wood from what they call the "Carboniferous" Period: "There
was, as we have already said, secondary bark and wood, similar
to that of modern trees but lacking the spring and winter rings
which correspond to seasonal alternation of moisture and dryness.
This is a further proof that the Carboniferous climate was fairly
uniform." (Larousse Encyclopedia of the Earth, p. 369.)
The Blind Cannot See the Truth
Before the flood, without an annual cessation of water
supply and with a constant temperature, the trees grew at
a uniform rate continually. No growth rings were formed.
But try to tell this to an evolutionary scientist. He simply
will not accept it and therefore will never recognize the
petrified wood at Noah's Ark as being wood. So here we have a
perfect example of a promise given in the Bible: Romans 1:28
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to be a reprobate mind, to do those things which
are not convenient."
When man rejects God and His Truth as He told it through
His Holy Word, God gives him over to Satan, that he will
not be able to recognize truth. He will absolutely not
accept it because through his rejection of Truth, he is
blind. 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 states: "And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Sadly, this is a fact,
so don't ever expect the world at large to accept the evidence
God has so mercifully provided.
But for those who do want the truth (even though they may
have been taught lies), their eyes will be opened. John 8:32
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
It would be foolish to expect a 4,300 year old wooden ship to
remain intact today, unless it was buried in the hot, dry sands
of Egypt, like Cheops' sun boat. It could not be expected to
survive at all in the extreme seasons present in the Ararat
region, if it were left exposed to the elements all these years.
The wood would have long ago rotted and the metal fittings
would have oxidized.
But protected in the lava flow, its presence was preserved
in timbers turned to stone. Then, the simple outline of its
shape was the only clue to its nature in the 1950s. At that
time, no evidence was visible or understood.
In 1978, the small earthquake dropped the soil from around
its sides, revealing on one side, empty holes where rib
timbers had fragmented and fallen away after suffering
"frost wedging". On the other side, rib timbers which remained
in place in the earth, but which are still fragmented, could
be seen by the color difference between them and the surrounding soil.
Its length is exactly 300 royal Egyptian cubits, the
only cubit Moses would have known. The "Hebrew" cubit was
of varying lengths at different times, and wouldn't come into
use for many years after Genesis was written.
In 1984, metal detectors revealed the presence of a regular pattern
of metal readings both along the top and sides of the ark. In 1985
this pattern was plotted out the entire length of the ship, revealing
the perfect pattern of a ship.
In 1986 and 1987, radar scans showed internal structures which were
completely consistent with the inside of a ship containing rooms and
chambers, as well as 3 decks.
Analyses of specimens from the ark show metals which display evidences
of being wrought and alloyed. The hull is full of material which is
precisely consistent with slag of very advanced metal production; some
of whose technology wasn't known to us until 1936 and 1948.
And, it is in the mountains of Ararat, in a mountain configuration
which matched the crescent-shape of Ron's experiment of building
mountains in a stream and floating a miniature boat past it, of
almost 30 years ago. Coincidences? No, I'd stake my life on it.
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This information was written by Mary Nell Wyatt.
To find out more detail please visit Anchor Stones:
Wyatt Archaeological Research |
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