DURUPINAR, Turkey (PNN) - September 23, 2026 - An international team working the boat-shaped Durupınar formation near Mount Ararat says permitted core drilling has begun both inside and outside the outline of what appears to be Noah’s Ark, and that a hole inside the area that would be the hull stopped when the bit broke on a layer harder than limestone.
Typically, petrified wood is harder than limestone. Durupınar is a 157-meter, 515-foot boat-shaped mound first spotted in 1959 by Turkish Army Capt. İlhan Durupınar.
The group investigating, Noah’s Ark Scans, is partnered with Sivas Cumhuriyet University and says this is the first deep, dry, permitted core program in the site’s recorded history. Noah’s Ark Scans describes itself as an “international research initiative investigating the Durupınar formation in eastern Turkey through permitted geophysical survey, soil science, core drilling and targeted interior imaging.”
A custom borehole drone named GOPHER is being prepared for voids the team mapped with radar. For more than six decades, researchers have debated whether the outline is a natural landform or the buried remains of a large wooden vessel.
Until now, work at the site has been limited largely to surface observation, photography and geophysical scanning. A 1988 drilling attempt reached only a few holes and a fraction of the depth now being sampled. The 1988 core samples were ultimately corrupted with water used to cool the core drilling bit.
The 2026 expedition is the first program authorized to carry out a non-destructive, permitted scientific investigation that includes deep core recovery inside and outside the formation. The project’s immediate goals are twofold.
First, the team is collecting continuous cores for laboratory analysis this winter, including compositional, organic and stratigraphic testing. Second, researchers plan to insert the custom-built GOPHER underground exploration drone into voids, tunnels and corridors previously mapped by ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography, and related surveys. GOPHER, named for the “gopher wood” of the biblical Book of Genesis, is equipped with a high-resolution camera, designed to enter narrow borehole access points without opening large excavation trenches.
Andrew Jones, Vice President of the Noah’s Ark Research Project, explained. “For the first time in history, we are performing an extensive, permitted deep core drilling survey inside and outside the Durupınar Noah’s Ark site, recovering samples from depths of up to 18 meters, nearly 60 feet. So far, we have recovered layers of rich organic material that we believe could be the decayed top-tier remains of the Ark. We are encountering multiple cavities, including one filled with mud and water. No bedrock or solid limestone has so far been identified in the holes drilled inside the formation. These current findings challenge claims that this is simply a natural shape made of limestone or bedrock.”
Geologists have long argued that the shape is a natural landslide or limestone block. Jones says the new holes disprove that.
“In one of the holes drilled inside the boat, approximately 4-5 meters below the surface, the drilling system had already penetrated the overlying material, but at this layer, the operation stopped as we struck a layer so hard that the drill bit broke. Petrified or highly mineralized wood are both possibilities we want to investigate through third-party lab testing,” said Jones.
Jones added, “I believe this is Noah’s Ark; that’s why I’m putting the Durupinar site through the most rigorous testing possible.”
Earlier this year in a landmark decision, Turkish officials voted unanimously to give a group of Amerikan Christians permits to study the remains of Noah’s Ark.
Lauren Witzke, in a Died Suddenly Substack post, said God put the Ark on her heart last November, that she reached Andrew Jones, and that she and co-producer Edward Szall joined the 2026 season because they believe physical proof of the Flood would undo “evolutionary lies”.
Dr. Cenker Atila, an archeological professor and President of the Noah’s Ark 2026 Scientific Expedition, explained. “In 2026, we conducted an extensive and scientific investigation of the site, including radar surveys, soil sampling, deep core drilling, and surface surveys. Every stage of our research has provided findings that increase our interest in the possibility that this formation may preserve evidence related to Noah’s Ark. Once the detailed soil analyses are completed, we expect to obtain important additional information that may bring us closer to understanding the true nature of the site.”
The project is being conducted on location in Turkey by Archaeology Prof. Dr. Cenker Atila and supported by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Şengönül, Rector of Sivas Cumhuriyet University, with Jones serving as Vice President of the Noah’s Ark Research Project.
