Researchers have begun core drilling at Turkey’s boat-shaped Durupınar Formation, which an expedition is investigating as a possible Noah’s Ark site. The team reports underground anomalies, but evidence has not established that the formation is man-made or the biblical vessel.
A multidisciplinary team led by Cenker Atila of Sivas Cumhuriyet University conducted about 90 days of fieldwork this year, collecting roughly 1,000 soil samples from around 150 locations. The researchers report radar anomalies, including straight lines and cavity-like spaces. Preliminary tests found about 40% more carbon in soil inside the formation than in samples outside it; laboratory analysis of new samples is underway.
Independent researcher Andrew Jones said scans and drilling detected neither limestone nor solid bedrock, which he argues challenges natural explanations; he acknowledged the evidence does not definitively identify the Ark. Expedition members have claimed the formation is man-made, but this has not been independently established. Most geologists who have studied it consider it a natural feature shaped by folding, landslides and erosion.
