Radar anomalies at Turkish site may be Noah’s Ark, team says

A research group says new radar scans of a boat-shaped formation in eastern Turkey have detected underground anomalies it interprets as possible organized structures, supporting its theory that the remains of Noah’s Ark are buried there. The scans have not identified an ark, a ship, woodwork or any confirmed archaeological structure. The claim is at odds with the prevailing view among geologists and has not undergone peer review.

Andrew Jones, an independent researcher and software developer who founded the group, Noah’s Ark Scans, shared results of the survey of the Durupinar site near Mount Ararat with NewsNation, which reported them Wednesday. The team used a radar system called BakhtarRadar, which Mr. Jones likened to a medical scan of the Earth, to probe as deep as 95 meters at some locations.

Mr. Jones said the data undercut the argument that the formation is a solid block of rock around which mud flowed into a ship shape. Instead, he said, the team is finding soil.

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“Our theory is that this is the buried remains of Noah’s Ark,” he said.

He said the radar can screen out natural geology and isolate anomalies that stand out, and that the anomalies he interprets as organized structure were detected without digging. Mr. Jones said the team hopes eventually to conduct limited excavations and is using targeted scans to identify promising locations. The project has already conducted core drilling inside and outside the formation, however, recovering subsurface samples from depths of up to about 60 feet. Those findings also have not undergone peer review.

The system was developed by Khosrow Bakhtar, a scientist who, according to the group, has spent four decades building detection technology for U.S. defense agencies. In an Aug. 18 announcement, the group said preliminary readings do not show a simple, homogeneous mass of rock and have not yet revealed a clear bedrock boundary. It also conceded that radar anomalies alone do not prove an archaeological origin.

“We are not trying to end this debate with a press release,” Mr. Jones said in the announcement.

Most geologists classify the formation as natural, the product of folded rock, mudflow and erosion, Israel Hayom reported in August. The Israeli newspaper noted that none of the findings have appeared in peer-reviewed research and that no wood, nails or other man-made materials have been extracted from the site.

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The Debrief reported that the team’s findings so far appear only in a news release, and that some members had publicly said they believed the formation was the ark before the scans.

Some Christian creationists have also expressed doubt. Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, wrote in a June 2025 blog post responding to earlier findings from the team that a geologist he consulted saw other explanations for the scans, including jointing and layering in limestone. The geologist also offered other explanations for higher organic content in the soil, including rainwater collecting in the formation’s bowl-like shape.

Turkish military Capt. Ilhan Durupinar identified the formation in aerial survey photographs in 1959. It measures about 515 feet, or 157 meters, long. The story of Noah’s Ark appears in Genesis, the Torah and the Quran.

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