Mount Ararat

What is known

• Genesis 8:4 states the ark came to rest 'on the mountains of Ararat' — plural, and referring to the ancient region/kingdom of Urartu, not necessarily the single peak now called Mount Ararat
• The identification of the modern peak Ağrı Dağı (elevation 16,854 ft / 5,137 m, the tallest mountain in Turkey) as 'the' Ararat became fixed mainly through later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition rather than the biblical text itself, which points more broadly to the Urartu highlands
• Numerous expeditions since the 19th century have searched the mountain for ark remains; none has produced evidence accepted by mainstream archaeology or geology, and no claim among them could be found in a peer-reviewed venue. The wood F. Navarra recovered in 1955 was dated by four laboratories to roughly AD 700. The boat-shaped Durupınar formation, about 30 km away, was shown to be a natural rock structure in a peer-reviewed paper of 1996 co-authored by D. Fasold, who had spent years promoting it as the ark. The app's article The Search for Noah's Ark sets out the claims and who answered them
• The region (ancient Urartu) is well attested in Assyrian records as a real Iron Age kingdom centered in the Armenian highlands

History

Coordinates

39.7019° N, 44.2983° E

Scripture references

• Genesis 8:4 — The ark rests on the mountains of Ararat
• 2 Kings 19:37 — Sons of Sennacherib flee to the land of Ararat
• Isaiah 37:38 — Parallel account of flight to the land of Ararat
• Jeremiah 51:27 — Ararat named among kingdoms summoned against Babylon

On a modern map

Mount Ararat today

Further reading

• Mount Ararat - Wikipedia

Reflect

Noah's first act on the dry ground near Ararat was worship and gratitude — when your last hard season ended, what did you do first?