Middle America's Worldview

I have always been fascinated by lost civilizations and objects of history.

(June 29) - Texas archaeologists believe they may have located the remains of Noah's Ark in Iran's Elburz mountain range.

The Bible places the Ark in the mountains of Ararat, a mountain range theologians believe spans hundreds of miles, which the team says is consistent with their find in Iran.

The Bible also describes the Ark's dimensions as being 300 cubits by 50 cubits -- about the size of a small aircraft carrier. The B.A.S.E. Institute's discovery is similar in size and scale.

300 cubits by 50 cubits is equivalent to 437.5 feet by 72.9 feet in hebrew.

A good description of Noah's Ark can be found here

The ark has the same cargo capacity of a modern cargo ship. The above figure shows a comparison with a 550 ft long cargo ship. The ark had a volume of 1.4 million cubic feet and a gross tonnage of 14,000 tons. This is the equivalent of 522 railroad box cars. The ark could have carried over 125,000 sheep-sized animals. Interestingly, there are less than 18,000 species of land animals alive today. Also, the average size of most animals is less than that of a sheep.

"There's this idea, if we can prove that the ark existed then we can prove that the story existed, and more importantly, we can prove that God existed," said Bruce Feiler, author of "Where God Was Born."

I agree, this would be as significant of a find as the lost Ark of the Covenent. Nearly every culture has some form of flood story ingrained in its history.

Sumerian King List describes a flood. The sumerians ruled in Mesopotamia before Abraham.

The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonia is a long saga of an ancient king. It includes a massive flood which contains several similiarities to the Genesis account.

Incan legends of a great flood also tells of a great flood and the events surrounding it.

Some other interesting facts regarding the Genesis account.

How did Noah round up all those animals?
God brought the animals to Noah and they entered the ark.

Didn't Noah just take two of every kind?
No. Noah took two of most kinds of animals, but he took seven of the kinds of clean animals. here is a list of unclean animals per Wikipedia.

How many rooms were in the Ark?
There could have been over 500 large rooms of 10x10x14 plus aisles. If many of the 14-foot high rooms were divided into two levels, there could have been nearly 1000 rooms or stalls. Some rooms were for animals and some rooms were for food.

The word "ark" means "box" in Hebrew.

Noah lived another 350 years after the flood began. He died at the age of 950 (Genesis 9:28,29)

Abraham, David and Jesus came from the line of Noah's son Shem.

Jesus speaks of Noah in Matthew 24:35-39 and Luke 17:26-30.

Peter writes about Noah in 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:1-5; 3 1-13.

It rained 40 days and nights. All the springs of the great deep burst forth. The waters flooded the Earth for 150 days. Afterwards, God sent a wind and the waters receded (Genesis 7:24)

To put the dimensions of the ark in perspective.

Think of this, the arks width would be 75 feet in length. A semi-truck with a trailer would be a mere 70 feet in length. So when you get nearly ran over by a semi-truck going 80 miles an hour down the highway, the width of the ark would be 5 feet longer. This isnt the length or height, but the width.

The length would be 450 feet in length. A football or soccer field is only 300 feet in length. So when you watch the superbowl and see that green field, the ark would be another 150 feet in length.

The height of the ark would be 45 feet. This cruise ship is 45 feet in length or The original rules stipulated that the pitching rubber be 45 feet from the plate