Drilling begins at ‘Noah’s Ark’ site as researchers probe Turkey’s controversial Durupinar formation.
Sep. 22, 2026, 6:39 a.m.
Researchers have begun drilling into a mysterious, boat-shaped formation in the mountains of eastern Turkey, hoping an underground robot will unearth the answer to one of biblical history’s biggest mysteries.
Members of the Noah’s Ark Scans expedition believe the Durupinar formation, located in eastern Turkey near Mount Ararat, could mark the final resting place of the vessel described in Genesis.
“Good morning from the outer rims of Noah’s ark,” the project’s marketing and fundraising director, divisive Christian activist Lauren Witzke, wrote in a Tuesday update.
“Core drilling has begun and the big bang evolutionists are already in damage control mode,” she continued.
Researchers have started drilling at Turkey's Durupinar formation, using a custom robot to search for the remains of the biblical Noah's Ark.
Witzke said the expedition had Turkish government approval and oversight from local universities, with “some of the most brilliant minds in the world” taking part.
She made the sensational claim that, “When we are done, university curricula will need to be rewritten, and Darwinism will be dismantled.”
“This is the place where creation began anew,” she enthused.
Witzke is a controversial figure in American politics.
The former Senate candidate is a self-proclaimed “flat-earther,” has voiced support for the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon, and once called the Covid vaccine a “satantic plot.”
But while Witzke handles publicity for the team, it includes bona fide archaeologists and geologists from around the world, such as Project Director Dr. Cenker Atila, from Turkey’s Sivas Cumhuriyet University.
A chequered history
A long line of researchers have visited the controversial “ark” over the years and drawn very different conclusions.
The Durupinar formation was officially discovered in 1959, when a Turkish Army captain captured it in an aerial photo while mapping the area.
Local researchers carried out surveying, digging and dynamiting, but couldn’t find any archaeological evidence and concluded that the formation was a natural anomaly.
Modern geologists agree, widely viewing the site as a boat-shaped ridge made of limestone and volcanic clay that was sculpted by erosion.
After that initial probe, the “ark” lay dormant until the 1980s, when American salvage expert David Fasold used ground-penetrating radar to examine the site and became convinced he was looking at the fossilized remains of a ship’s upper deck.
Fasold measured the length of the formation as 164 meters, close to the 300-cubit (157-meter) length of the ark quoted in the Bible. Genesis 6:13-20 describes the ark's dimensions.
Genesis 6:13-20 (New International Version)
13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all around.[d] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
Footnotes:
[a]Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
[b]Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
[c]Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
[d]Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
There was also the matter of the “drogue stones”: large carved stones scattered northwest of the site — with holes cut through their upper ends — which he believed were ancient sea anchors, cut loose from the ark when the flood receded.
Skeptics argue the stones are simply ancient memorial markers or tombstones.
Years after his work at Durupinar, Fasold seemed to have a change of heart; publicly repudiating the ark theory as “absolute BS.”
But his Australian friend and biographer June Dawes maintained that he went to his grave believing he had found the ark.
Artist's imagination piece of painting:
The painting "The Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat," created in 1570 by artist Simon de Myle.
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