Scientists have a different opinion, and enthusiasts continue to excavate.
In Chechnya, enthusiasts and scientists continue to explore Noah's Ark on Sadoi-Lam Mountain in the Cheberloevsky region of the republic. Three years ago, a lonely local resident, Marat Makajo, found an amazing formation here of layered limestones, surprisingly similar to wooden beams.
- I just walked through the alpine meadows in the mountains, a little higher than Lake Kezenoyam. I admired the beauty of nature, explored the area. The strange rise above the plateau aroused my interest. From there it was very pleasant to admire the surroundings, I often came to it just to sit. Then he began to examine the stones and noticed that they were already very even, smooth and beautiful in this place. As if specially adjusted to each other. I became interested in their origin, completely not understanding what I was dealing with, just out of curiosity. This is how this story began,”Marat told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"Gate of the Ark". Photo: Personal archive of the hero of the publication.
The man spent the next year in libraries, researching historical sources and geological manuals. Who could grind limestone so delicately? What for? And what kind of man-made structure can be located on a plateau high in the mountains?
- The insight came with the thought that it might not be a stone at all, but a petrified tree. That was when I first thought about the Ark. At first I was skeptical about this, - says Marat. - I often went to the mountains, researched. But the deeper I studied the topic, the less doubts remained. The final conviction came when I saw something that I cannot call other than a sign. It looked like a "phenomenon" from canon legends: slightly gloomy weather, a sky covered with clouds. I am going to the plateau in thought. And then a ray of bright light escaping from behind the clouds falls on the place that we now call the “gates of the Ark”!
Marat spent another year studying theological literature and the history of the search for the Ark. Of course, most of the clergy claimed that the ancient ship of the prophet stopped at Mount Ararat. But a long search and scientific research yielded nothing. Formations that truly resemble the ship were never found, and archaeologists and geologists, not finding a skeleton on the mountain, moved to other regions of Turkey. Another part of Islamic scholars indicates that the Ark could have stopped in another place.
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“According to one of the widespread theories put forward by Islamic scholars, the ship could sail further north and run aground in the Caucasus mountains,” explained the mufti of the Chechen Republic Salakh Mezhiev to Komsomolskaya Pravda. - Moreover, here, in the North Caucasus, there is a people who bears the name of the prophet. In Arabic, Noah is called Nuh, or Noh. And true Vainakhs know that the real name of the Chechen people is Nokhchi. That is, in other words, the sons of Noh.
On this map, everyone can find a unique phenomenon discovered by Marat Makajo.
The coincidences amazed Marat. And two years later, he began to speak publicly that he had found Noah's Ark. An initiative group immediately gathered around it, enthusiasts, having personally looked at the phenomenon, without regret invested their own funds in its study and excavations soon began.
The unique natural site amazed even scientists. They hypothesized that multi-layered limestones were formed under colossal water pressure. Most likely - at the bottom of the Tethys Ocean, which existed in the North Caucasus millions of years ago. But the origin of the "nails" that dot the limestone layers is more difficult to explain.
Even scientists find it difficult to answer the question of the origin of the nails with which limestone is stuck. Photo: Personal archive of the hero of the publication.
- We were visited by an expedition of the Crimean branch of the Russian Geographical Society, specialists from the Central Research Institute of Geology of Nonmetallic Mineral Resources. Scientists, over a glass of beer, honestly told that they were amazed at some of the details, and education in the mountains of Chechnya is really worth studying,”Marat Makazho shares. - But the analysis of limestone samples did not give positive results for us. Therefore, while we cannot announce the find to the whole world. We continue excavations.
At the same time, the scientists themselves speak of the Chechen enthusiast with great warmth and respect his beliefs.
Even scientists find it difficult to answer the question of the origin of the nails with which limestone is stuck. Photo: Personal archive of the hero of the publication.
- Marat is a very interesting, intelligent person. It does not in any way look like a local madman who composed a beautiful legend and believed in it, - says geologist and speleologist Gennady Samokhin, who heads the expedition of the Crimean branch of the Russian Geographical Society. - As a scientist, I, of course, cannot seriously assume that this is the mythical Noah's Ark. But the object he discovered is really extremely interesting and deserves a detailed study. I sincerely wish you the best of luck with his research.
Enthusiasts have to work very carefully - they are afraid to damage the shrine. Now they have managed to penetrate 25 meters into the limestone. The members of the initiative group are confident that they will find voids inside - the interior of the legendary ship. And they hope that this find will prove to all skeptics that Noah's Ark is really in Chechnya.
Mufti of the Chechen Republic Salakh Mezhiyev hopes that researchers will soon find exhaustive evidence. Press service of the head of the Chechen Republic.
The most important test for the initiative group was the visit of representatives of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Chechnya. After him, the muftiate of the republic did not doubt the authenticity of the Ark.
“After investigating the object by our representatives, I can confidently say that Noah's Ark is in Chechnya,” said the Mufti of the Chechen Republic Salakh Mezhiev. - This is our position. May Allah grant that the studies of the skeleton found in the mountains finally confirm this! We believe and hope that this will happen soon.
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How many times has the Ark been found?
Attempts to find the Ark have been made since about the 4th century AD. According to the biblical legend, he had to stop on the slope of Mount Ararat. There are several other areas that are considered its potential location. One of the main places, in the opinion of the seekers, is the so-called Ararat anomaly - the "outlines of the ship" protruding from the snow on the northwestern slope of Ararat. Scientists explain its formation by natural causes, however, on-site research is difficult, since the area is a military closed zone in the area of the Armenian-Turkish border.
The alleged remains of Noah's ark near Mount Ararat in Turkey.
1. One of those who "found" the Ark was the Russian military pilot Vladimir Roskovitsky, who during the First World War, flying over Mount Ararat, saw what he called "a large ship lying down." The pilot wrote a report about what he saw, and in 1917 Russia allegedly even sent an expedition there, which took several photographs of the Ark, but during the revolution the report on the expedition disappeared. Later, other pilots, in particular the Turk Durupinar in 1957, took photographs of a strange contour, similar to a ship, near Mount Ararat. The photograph of Durupinar even got into the Life magazine and became the reason for the next expeditions, each of which announced the discovery of the Ark.
The Turk Durupinar in 1957 made a photograph from an airplane of a strange contour, similar to a ship, near Mount Ararat.
2. In 1955, the French explorer Fernand Navarra brought from Ararat the remains of a board that, according to him, was broken off from the wooden frame of the Ark. Some of the studies have partially confirmed the tree is 5,000 years old, but these findings have been highly subjective.
3. A joint Turkish-Hong Kong expedition to Mount Ararat in 2010 made a statement that they found Noah's Ark at an altitude of 4000 meters frozen into a glacier and even penetrated into some rooms inside the Ark, taking video and photographs. However, there is a version that all these footage were edited to create a worldwide sensation. Professional archaeologists do not take the claims of the Ark seekers seriously, considering all their discoveries to be a figment of the imagination.
ANDREY ZOBOV