|
|
Is the Ararat Mountain anomaly the Noah's Ark?
Satellites show up a large oddly shaped anomaly on the Ararat Mountains beneath the ice. Some believe it is the fabled Noah's Ark.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
March 15, 2006
 Let us tell you this. We WANT it to be the Noah's Ark. But probably it won't be.
For some reason, the world seems wired that way - any evidence that could confirm a fable, fantasy or legend - trust the world to keep offering you tempting tidbits of hope, but never a confirmation. The universe just doesn't seem to have any taste for drama at all, or miracles for that matter.
What the hell are we rambling about?
Check the photo. That is a satellite image of a mountainside in Eastern Turkey. The mountain is Mount Ararat - the mountain where the Biblical Noah's Ark went and settled down when the waters of the great flood were receding. Yes, that Noah's Ark where after being told by God that is he going to punish the world with a great flood, Noah took a couple each of every living species and boarded the great boat. Doesn't that image look a bit like a ship? Precisely.
The problem is that no one has been to Mount Ararat yet to see it with his own eyes. Whatever that 'Ararat anomaly' is, it has only been seen by remote sensing satellites so far. And intelligence agencies of various nations, who are in no mood to release images taken by their satellites for expert analysis by the scientific community, even if those photographs may reveal something as momentous as a millennia-old Noah's Ark. Sometimes, we really can't understand the world at all.
The so-called Ararat anomaly is located at a height of 15,300 feet on the north- west edge of Mount Ararat. For all you know, the satellite images are hardly conclusive, and what you see there in the image could be just a rock formation covered in glacial ice.
Prof. Porcher Taylor is an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies in Virginia, and he has been after the mystery for more than 13 years. Earlier, he had been a national security analyst for 30 years. Now, there has been no real result to continued dogged pursuance of the intelligence agencies to release a few more of the images, some of which could be even more "definitive". Amazing. That an agency or people can be so bull-headed as that. Unless of course, we start thinking that they have something to hide and are therefore no releasing any more satellite images of the Ararat anomaly - ah, the fun in being a conspiracy theorist!
One interesting factor is that the Noah's Ark is supposed to measure 300 cubits by 50 cubits (6:1 - length:width). The anomaly, according to what can be made out from the satellite images available so far seems to conform to that proportion.
There are enough skeptics, though. Many who are in the business of analyzing satellite images think that it could just be a strange rock formation covered in snow and ice, and a play of the light. We think so too. Santa was the first to go, followed by the tooth fairy, then the birds and the bees - this too will probably go the same way.
But instead of keeping people waiting around for 13 years - pretty much the time in which an infant transforms into a nasty teen - why don't the damn agencies release a few pictures, or airdrop Prof Taylor on to that location so he can see the truth with his own eyes, and end the matter once and for all? Ah no. So simple. The mind boggles at the sheer boneheadedness of those who have the power to finish off the argument one way or the other. Those minds, ah, they are the true wonders, nor the Noah's Ark or the Ararat Anomaly.
|
