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00:00A Wicked World
00:20An Angry God
00:30A righteous man named Noah who built an ark and survived a flood.
00:38But did it happen the way the Bible describes it?
00:42While some scientists are looking for answers,
00:46others search for confirmation of the biblical account.
00:50Will they find it?
00:51Or was the story of Noah simply a story
01:00of God and man
01:06and a promise?
01:21The story of a man and a boat and a flood first appears in the Middle East,
01:29the same part of the world that gave birth to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
01:35It's told in both the Bible and the Koran,
01:38the account of a catastrophic event that happened very early in human history,
01:43not too long after the creation.
01:45In the beginning, God created everything.
01:50Many of us learned the story when we were kids,
01:54even if we didn't go to Sunday school.
01:55So what God decided to do was create a great flood,
02:00and the flood would wash everything away,
02:03except for one family God saw was doing very good things,
02:08and that was Noah's family.
02:10But how seriously should we take the story of Noah and his ark?
02:15Did it happen the way the Bible tells us it did?
02:18A lot of people doubt that there really was a flood and there was an ark,
02:24but I believe the Bible is historically true,
02:26and I believe there was a flood and there was an ark.
02:29Was there really a worldwide flood?
02:31I doubt it.
02:32I don't see any evidence in the geology or anything else for a worldwide catastrophe.
02:37I believe the story about the flood.
02:41Now, if you ask me,
02:43do I believe that there was a 450-foot-long ark
02:46with all the animals of the earth crammed inside of it,
02:51I'd specifically probably know.
02:54The story of Noah and the flood is told in the book of Genesis,
02:59which is an account of the origins of earth and of man.
03:06According to the Bible,
03:07the descendants of Adam and Eve lost sight of why God put them on the earth
03:11and fell into wicked ways.
03:14So, God decided to do something about it.
03:19And the Lord said,
03:20I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth,
03:25both man and beast and the creeping thing.
03:29Everyone and everything was going to die,
03:32except Noah and his family.
03:35But can the Bible be taken literally?
03:38Let's start with the ages of the people involved.
03:40Noah, for instance, was about 500 years old when he got the warning.
03:46And that poses a problem for many modern readers.
03:50The age of the people mentioned in the biblical record,
03:54how old they are when they die,
03:55is an unusual problem,
03:56because that's not what we see today.
04:00But it's not an insoluble problem.
04:02Maybe, for example,
04:04humans, when first created,
04:05were intended to live long life,
04:07but environmental changes might have come along,
04:09and that all of a sudden,
04:11people began to live less length of time.
04:14Some theologians take the biblical numbers as metaphors.
04:18When the Bible talks about years, age,
04:21it's talking about respect.
04:24It's a culture in which age was respected.
04:27So when you assign more years to a person,
04:30you're talking about the great respect with which they're held.
04:35Fundamentalists, on the other hand,
04:36can take the Bible's description of days and years as statements of fact.
04:41God's Word can be taken literally.
04:43And in the beginning,
04:45God created in six days,
04:47means he created it in six literal 24-hour days.
04:52The literal interpretation of the timeline given in Genesis
04:56has had a number of interesting consequences.
04:59Among them was this.
05:00It provided the basis for calculating both the date of creation
05:05and the date of Noah's flood.
05:09The person who made the calculations
05:11was a 17th century Irish archbishop named James Usher.
05:16He started by adding the ages of 21 generations of people
05:19in the Old Testament,
05:21beginning with Adam and Eve.
05:23Using known historical dates as fixed points,
05:26and after 100 pages of calculations,
05:29he divined that the world was created in 4000 BC.
05:34To adjust for a calendar error,
05:36he put the date of creation at Sunday, October 23rd, 4004 BC,
05:41which fact was duly noted in the margins of some Bibles.
05:46Using the date of creation,
05:48Usher then calculated the year of the Great Flood,
05:512348 BC.
05:53According to the Bible,
05:56it was roughly 100 years before that
05:58when Noah received God's instructions
06:00about how he and his family were going to survive.
06:04God told Noah to build a boat,
06:07a very big boat,
06:08an ark,
06:10and the instructions were quite specific.
06:13The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits,
06:17the breadth of it 50 cubits,
06:18and the height of it 30 cubits.
06:20A cubit is the length of a man's arm,
06:24from elbow to fingertips,
06:26about a foot and a half.
06:28So if the Bible's dimensions are correct,
06:30it would have been the largest wooden vessel
06:32in the history of the world,
06:34the original man-made wonder.
06:37And some people apparently believe
06:38it's still out there,
06:40somewhere,
06:40waiting to be found.
06:41In the past hundred years or so,
06:46ark hunters have descended on the Middle East
06:48and climbed various mountains,
06:50looking for the peak the ark might have settled on.
06:52The Bible isn't precise about the location.
06:59We're only told the ark came to rest
07:01on the mountains,
07:02plural,
07:03of Ararat.
07:06Ararat was a region,
07:08an ancient kingdom called Urartu.
07:10Mount Ararat,
07:11singular,
07:12in eastern Turkey,
07:13wasn't named until centuries after the kingdom disappeared.
07:16But that hasn't stopped it
07:19from being the archaeologists' favorite hunting ground.
07:22And there are plenty of leads to follow up.
07:26One story goes that in 1917,
07:29a Russian pilot,
07:31Vladimir Roskovitsky,
07:32thought he spotted an ark-like object on the mountain.
07:36Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
07:38sent an expedition to investigate.
07:40From there,
07:41the story gets a bit hazy.
07:44No records of an expedition
07:45have ever come to light.
07:47Roskovitsky claimed that the photos
07:49were destroyed in the revolution
07:50later that year.
07:53But it's unlikely that the expedition
07:55ever even took place.
07:57It just so happens that by 1917,
08:00Tsar Nicholas II was no longer in power.
08:06Then, in the 1950s,
08:08an apparent breakthrough.
08:10A Frenchman named Fernand Navarra
08:12brought back wood from the peak
08:14that was dated to the early Bronze Age.
08:17Interest in Mount Ararat soared.
08:19Until Navarra's guide revealed
08:21that the Frenchman had not only
08:22lugged the wood down the mountain,
08:24but also up it
08:25a few months earlier.
08:28An article about an Ararat expedition
08:31sparked some interest
08:32in creationist circles in 1972.
08:35They were using it
08:36to plan their own expedition.
08:38The story had first appeared
08:40in a publication called
08:41The Sword of Gideon in 1933.
08:44It turned out the editor
08:46had adapted the story
08:47from another publication,
08:49which in turn was copied
08:50from a German article
08:51published on April 1st, 1933.
08:55That paper later confessed
08:57that the entire story
08:58had been an April Fool's Day prank.
09:00The German public enjoyed the joke,
09:03but the creationists
09:04were not amused.
09:05In Ark lore,
09:08stories like these abound
09:10and may account
09:11for Ark hunting's
09:12dubious reputation.
09:13If somebody does claim
09:14to find the Ark,
09:15it'll be a hoax.
09:17I'll be very, very surprised
09:19if anybody ever finds Noah's Ark.
09:22But in 1959,
09:24the discovery everyone
09:25had been waiting for
09:26hit the news.
09:27A Turkish army captain
09:28named Ilhan Derupinar
09:30was poring over aerial photos
09:31of Turkey near Ararat
09:33when he spotted
09:34a small boat-like shape
09:36lying at an altitude
09:37of about 6,300 feet.
09:41Archaeologists began
09:42making the trek
09:42to the site,
09:43and sure enough,
09:45they found something.
09:46A large boat-shaped mass
09:48buried under tons
09:49of mud and ice.
09:52Hassan Bey has been living
09:54at the site,
09:55guarding it
09:55for the past 20 years.
09:58I am the historian
09:59of Noah's Ark,
10:01Haji Hassan Bey.
10:01There is no legend
10:03about Noah's Ark
10:04being on Mount Ararat.
10:05Whatever they say,
10:07it's here.
10:08Noah's Ark is here.
10:09Americans announced it.
10:11All the ratings inside.
10:12They bring sheep
10:13and goat and lamb
10:14and pray and say,
10:16thank God Noah's Ark
10:17is with us.
10:18Of course they believe it.
10:20One of the most persistent
10:22visitors to the site
10:23was an American fundamentalist
10:25named Ron Wyatt,
10:26who was the first
10:27to pronounce
10:28that these large carved stones
10:30found near the site
10:31had been used
10:32as anchors for the Ark.
10:34The conventional explanation
10:36is that they were ceremonial stones
10:38carved by stone-age tribesmen.
10:42In the 1980s,
10:43Ark hunting got an infusion
10:45of credibility
10:45from an unlikely source,
10:47an astronaut.
10:49One of the people
10:50that was vastly interested
10:52in Noah's boat
10:53was my late colleague
10:55and friend,
10:56James Erwin.
10:59Jim Erwin was the eighth man
11:00to walk on the moon,
11:01the first one to drive
11:02the car on the moon,
11:02and he had an epiphany.
11:04It was a life-changing experience
11:06when he stood
11:07on the surface of the moon
11:08and he looked across
11:09the black canopy of space
11:10and he saw the earth
11:11pulsing with life.
11:14He knew
11:15that that wasn't by accident,
11:17that a creator
11:18breathed that into existence.
11:19And therefore,
11:20God must really have
11:22some good reason
11:23for him to be on this earth.
11:25He became very religious
11:26and one of the things
11:27that he wanted to do
11:28was to go ahead
11:30and seek
11:31the location
11:32of Noah's boat
11:33on Mount Ararat.
11:35He opened the door
11:36for Ark searchers.
11:38He made Ark searching
11:39respectable,
11:40having a great scientist
11:41like him go.
11:42Erwin made a number
11:43of trips to Turkey,
11:45though he died
11:45before finding
11:46any conclusive evidence
11:47of the Ark's existence.
11:50He would inspire
11:50a whole new generation
11:52of Ark hunters
11:52and one of them
11:54came up with
11:55a cutting-edge way
11:56of searching.
11:57The conventional Ark hunter
11:59mounted an expedition
12:00and climbed a mountain.
12:02But Porcher Taylor
12:03came up with
12:04a unique approach
12:05after hearing
12:06an interesting rumor
12:07when he was
12:07a West Point cadet.
12:09In 1973,
12:10I was on the debate team
12:11at the academy
12:12and one day,
12:14one of my colleagues
12:15on the debate team
12:15said,
12:16did you hear
12:16about the rumor
12:17ricocheting off the walls
12:18here at the one
12:19of our space-based birds
12:20accidentally turned
12:21his cameras on too early
12:22flying over Mount Ararat
12:23coming up on the Soviet Union
12:25and the image
12:25would appear to be
12:26a bow of a ship
12:27sticking out of the glacier.
12:28And I said,
12:29geez,
12:29there really might be
12:30a ship up on Mount Ararat
12:31and it might be
12:32the remains of Noah's Ark.
12:35It turned out
12:36the Noah's Ark stories
12:37had been floating
12:38around the CIA
12:38since 1949
12:40when a photo reconnaissance mission
12:42had snapped a picture
12:43of something.
12:46The CIA called it
12:48the Ararat anomaly.
12:51It took years,
12:53but Taylor finally managed
12:54to get the photo
12:55declassified
12:56and decided
12:56to take a closer look
12:58at the boat-like shape.
13:00In 1999,
13:02he convinced
13:03a remote imaging company
13:04to point
13:05its high-resolution
13:06Nikonos satellite
13:07at the Ararat anomaly.
13:08On October 5, 1999,
13:12it captured these images.
13:15The Iconos images
13:17showed what appeared
13:18to be really
13:19a very large
13:20titanic-shaped structure
13:23heavily submerged
13:24in the glacial ice.
13:26But Taylor
13:26wanted more resolution
13:28and in February 2003,
13:30he got it
13:31with a new
13:32digital globe satellite
13:33that could see
13:34a grapefruit from space.
13:36This image
13:37has never been released
13:38to the public.
13:40And that in and of itself
13:41is exciting.
13:44Here,
13:44for the first time ever,
13:46we really see
13:48that this is
13:49very much
13:50a ship-shaped,
13:51boat-shaped structure
13:52from end to end.
13:55And it's 1,015 feet long.
13:58Now what about width?
13:59Roughly 160 feet.
14:02Is there any significance
14:03to that?
14:03Yes, there is.
14:05The Genesis blueprint
14:06is 6 to 1
14:07length-to-width ratio,
14:09300 cubits
14:10by 50 cubits.
14:12Our ship-shaped structure
14:13here is right
14:15in the ballpark
14:16of about a 6 to 1
14:17length-to-width ratio.
14:19We might really
14:20be on the verge
14:22of seeing something
14:23of biblical proportions
14:24on that era.
14:26Taylor decided
14:26to show the pictures
14:27to some outside experts,
14:29including geologist
14:30Farouk Elbaz,
14:32a pioneer
14:32in interpreting
14:33satellite imagery.
14:35When I first got
14:36the Econos images,
14:38I knew that we'll be
14:39looking at something
14:39that's very different
14:40from the images
14:41that we had in the past.
14:43And that particular image
14:44was actually fascinating.
14:46You had a scene
14:47that's completely covered
14:48by snow,
14:50and then in one corner
14:51there is a vertical ledge,
14:53something that is
14:54very peculiar,
14:56doesn't fit
14:56the general scheme.
14:59But a closer,
15:00more critical look
15:01reveals something else.
15:03These steps in here
15:05are erosional features
15:07of layered rock.
15:09This is a layer of rock,
15:10this is a second layer,
15:11this is a third layer,
15:12fourth layer,
15:13and the fifth layer,
15:14and we're going to
15:14continue right here.
15:15These are not necessarily
15:17man-made steps,
15:18and that's the boat,
15:19and the steps
15:19get off the boat.
15:21The more I looked at it,
15:23the more I was convinced
15:24that it really is
15:25just a ledge of rock.
15:27The rest of the area
15:29around it is covered
15:29by snow,
15:30and that little vertical face
15:32is not covered by snow
15:33because it stands up
15:34like that,
15:35and therefore it is
15:36just a normal event,
15:38a normal structure.
15:41Nothing peculiar,
15:42nothing man-made.
15:43The only way
15:44to know for sure
15:45is to climb up to the site
15:47and look it over.
15:48But that's not likely
15:49given its remoteness.
15:52You cannot just
15:53go there
15:54and find your way up.
15:56It is in a very steep area,
15:58and very few people
15:59will be able to scale it.
16:02For the moment,
16:03at least,
16:03Portcher Taylor
16:04is inclined to accept
16:05Dr. Elbaz's findings.
16:07It's not definitive
16:08as to what the anomaly
16:10might be.
16:11Based on the evidence
16:12so far,
16:13Dr. Elbaz
16:14is probably correct
16:15that this is not
16:17a man-made structure.
16:18But Taylor plans
16:20to keep on looking
16:21from the comfort
16:22of his armchair.
16:24There's an Indiana Jones
16:25kind of quality
16:26to the Air Rat anomaly
16:29because you've got
16:31a secret map
16:32for a priceless treasure.
16:35And using that map
16:37and using satellite archaeology
16:38to be able to walk up
16:40and down the ravines
16:42and the like
16:42of Mount Air Rat
16:43right from your PC.
16:43But are the ark hunters
16:46combing the mountains
16:47for a boat
16:48that might not even exist?
16:50Could NOAA have really
16:52built a boat that big?
16:54Some modern shipbuilding
16:56experts have their doubts.
17:00NOAA's project
17:02is pretty unbelievable
17:03as far as the size
17:05of 450 feet dimensions
17:07and 75 feet wide.
17:10Being a boat builder,
17:11that would be
17:12a glacial task.
17:13Forward!
17:16How's it look, Doug?
17:17Just need one here.
17:18Looks good up forward.
17:20At the Boothbay Harbor
17:21Shipyard in Maine,
17:22it takes a 12-man crew
17:24about a year
17:24to build a wooden boat
17:25with a 60-foot keel.
17:29Every beam and plank
17:30has to be set precisely.
17:32The keel needs
17:33to be ramrod straight,
17:35but the boards
17:36forming the hull
17:37have to be curved.
17:38There you go.
17:39Okay.
17:39This plank here
17:42was really hard to bend.
17:44It's very thick
17:46and fairly long.
17:48We cooked it
17:49for over three hours,
17:50and then we rush in here,
17:53and then we put levers on it
17:55and twist it
17:56into submission,
17:58you could say.
17:59To heat the boards,
18:00modern boat builders
18:01use a steamer.
18:03How's it look, Eric?
18:04I think it looks fine.
18:06I don't think that Noah
18:07would have been
18:08steam-bending wood.
18:09He would have been
18:09using much bigger timbers,
18:11and most of them
18:12would have been
18:12probably either sawn
18:14or carved to shape
18:16with edge-cutting tools,
18:20that sort of thing.
18:24Those tools,
18:25in Noah's case,
18:26would most likely
18:27have been made out of stone.
18:29And Noah would also
18:35have needed to understand
18:36something called
18:37the square-cube rule,
18:38which states that strength
18:40decreases in proportion
18:41to scale.
18:43One of the big challenges
18:44in wooden vessel construction
18:46and all types of architecture,
18:48for that matter,
18:48is that as you increase
18:50the size of a structure,
18:52the strength goes way down.
18:54It's why elephants require
18:57heavy skeletons
18:58and hamsters don't.
19:00And the boat builders
19:01have an experiment
19:02to prove it.
19:05What we have here
19:06is a model
19:08that is three feet long,
19:09and it's scaled up
19:12in a bigger model,
19:13which is 12 feet long.
19:14So every dimension
19:15on the big one
19:16has been multiplied
19:17by four times,
19:18including the thickness
19:19of the planking
19:20and the width of the boat,
19:22the depth of the boat,
19:22and the length of the boat.
19:23We're now going to put
19:24the small model
19:25in the water
19:26and show how it can
19:30fairly easily support
19:31the weight of this water bottle.
19:34The water bottle weighs
19:35just about what a person
19:38would weigh
19:39if that model were the full size.
19:42And then it's time
19:43for the experiment's
19:44control phase.
19:46This boat is four times
19:48in all dimensions.
19:50Becky weighs proportionately
19:52less to the bigger model
19:53than the water bottle
19:54weighs to the smaller model.
19:56So her weight
19:58should be less of a stress
20:00on this boat
20:01than the water bottle is.
20:02I'm not going to predict
20:03that it should hold up.
20:05You can take my weight
20:06in your hand.
20:14Oh, no!
20:14That was cool.
20:17That was remarkable.
20:20This is not the type
20:21of construction
20:22that we're known for
20:23in the shipyard.
20:24This is only a demonstration.
20:26See, we built them good.
20:28Looks like we need
20:28to do some repairs here.
20:30Now, don't break it.
20:33It's clear that Noah
20:34would have faced
20:35a number of challenges,
20:36per the square cube rule.
20:38The mysterious gopher wood
20:40Noah used
20:41would have had
20:41to have been super strong.
20:44Though some fundamentalists
20:46believe Noah
20:46could have solved
20:47the problem
20:48by building a vessel
20:49that was shaped
20:49more like a barge
20:51than a boat.
20:52But the question is,
20:53could such a gigantic vessel
20:55have survived
20:56a mighty storm
20:57and a flood?
21:00In big seas,
21:01a big boat
21:02gets working
21:03and twisting
21:04and it can break in half.
21:07Noah's boat
21:08could have withstood
21:10a moderate storm.
21:13I wouldn't say
21:13it would survive
21:15a catastrophic storm.
21:16Boats can't even
21:17survive those now.
21:19So what about the storm
21:20and the flood
21:21that the Bible talks about?
21:22Is there any evidence
21:24that might confirm
21:25the biblical account?
21:30Whether the Ark of Noah
21:31existed or not,
21:33some people think
21:34there are clues
21:35that point to a global flood.
21:36Of all the natural disasters
21:41that must have afflicted
21:42prehistoric people,
21:44floods seem to have left
21:45the largest imprint.
21:46Every culture worldwide
21:48has a flood myth.
21:51It's probably the only
21:52truly universal myth
21:53that we have.
21:55And the myth
21:56is especially prevalent
21:58in the Middle East.
21:59One story is intriguingly similar
22:01to the Noah account.
22:03The Epic of Gilgamesh
22:04is a Mesopotamian story.
22:06It originally goes back
22:08to about the year 2700 BCE,
22:12the third millennium,
22:13in what is now
22:14modern-day Iraq.
22:17You've got one man,
22:19you've got one ark,
22:20you've got a couple birds,
22:22you've got a bunch of animals,
22:23you've got their
22:24immediate family,
22:26and you've got all of
22:27humankind being wiped out,
22:29except for this one guy,
22:31his boat,
22:31and everybody on it.
22:32The main difference
22:34between the two stories
22:35is that the biblical account
22:37emphasizes a moral dimension.
22:40Humans are punished
22:41for their sins.
22:43Could both stories
22:45have arisen from the same event?
22:47There are enough similarities
22:48between the story
22:50in the Bible of Noah's Ark
22:51and the story
22:52in the Epic of Gilgamesh
22:53that without a doubt
22:55they are related.
23:00And central to both stories
23:02is the flood.
23:06And behold,
23:07I will bring a flood of waters
23:08upon the earth,
23:10and everything that is
23:11in the earth
23:12shall die.
23:13Everything that is
23:15except Noah
23:15and a chosen few.
23:17But with thee
23:21will I establish
23:22my covenant,
23:23and thou shalt come
23:24into the ark,
23:26and thy sons
23:27and thy wife
23:28and thy son's wife
23:30with thee.
23:31But Noah and his family
23:33wouldn't be alone
23:34on the ark.
23:40And of every living thing
23:42of all flesh,
23:44two of every sort
23:45shalt thou bring
23:46into the ark
23:47to keep them alive
23:49with thee.
23:50They shall be male
23:51and female.
23:53So Noah and his family
23:55and the animals
23:56locked themselves
23:57inside the ark
23:58and waited for the
23:59promised storm to come.
24:00And they didn't
24:01have to wait long.
24:08And it came to pass
24:10after seven days
24:11that the waters
24:12of the flood
24:12were upon the earth.
24:15and the rain
24:21was upon the earth
24:22forty days
24:23and forty nights.
24:29The Bible tells us
24:31that the water
24:31rose a distance
24:32of fifteen cubits
24:34or about twenty-two feet
24:35until it covered the land,
24:37even the highest hills.
24:41For one hundred fifty days
24:43the ark rode upon the waters.
24:46But what were those waters?
24:48Where did they come from?
24:49And where did they go
24:50after the flood subsided?
24:52Over the years,
24:53many different theories
24:54have been advanced
24:55by creationists
24:56to explain how Noah's flood
24:58actually happened.
25:01One theory holds
25:02that on the third day
25:03of creation,
25:04when God created the sky
25:06and separated the seas
25:07from the land,
25:09some water got trapped
25:10under layers of earth.
25:12Under pressure,
25:13the water finally
25:14burst forth.
25:16Geysers erupted
25:17all over the earth
25:18at the same time
25:19and caused the flood.
25:21It's not a theory
25:22mainstream geologists
25:24take seriously.
25:26You don't have
25:26to really propose
25:27what might happen
25:28if water came up
25:29from below
25:29because we just know
25:30there's no water
25:31down there.
25:31If all the geysers
25:41erupt globally,
25:41you wouldn't really
25:42put that much water
25:43up into the planet
25:44to do anything.
25:45But it might be
25:46kind of cool,
25:47you know,
25:47standing around
25:48in Yellowstone
25:48waiting for geysers
25:49to go off.
25:51Another popular theory
25:52was proposed
25:53in the 1960s
25:54by Henry Morris
25:55and John Whitcomb.
25:56They believed
25:57that prior to the flood,
25:58a canopy of water vapor
26:00existed over the atmosphere.
26:02The floodwaters
26:03were brought on
26:04when this canopy of vapor
26:05somehow collapsed
26:07through an unknown mechanism.
26:10Creationists say
26:11this water vapor canopy
26:12gave us a source
26:13for at least half the water
26:15that was needed
26:15for the flood.
26:16But there are a number
26:17of problems
26:18with this theory,
26:20mainly the crushing pressure
26:21of a super-dense atmosphere.
26:24It really wouldn't be
26:24a pleasant place to live.
26:26This would be like
26:26sitting at the bottom
26:27of the deepest trench
26:28on the ocean.
26:29One planet
26:30that has a thick
26:31vapor canopy
26:32is Venus.
26:33Think about the kinds
26:34of pressures
26:34that exist on Venus
26:35where space probes
26:36only last a few hours
26:38before they crumple.
26:42Another theory
26:43of where the floodwaters
26:44came from
26:45has been developed
26:46by Bruce Massey,
26:47an archaeologist
26:48working at the
26:49Los Alamos Lab
26:50in New Mexico.
26:51He thinks the flood
26:52may have been caused
26:53by something
26:54from outer space.
26:55And he thinks
26:56he's found evidence
26:57of it in myths
26:58from around the world,
26:59including in his own backyard.
27:02Native Americans
27:02in general
27:03have a flood legend.
27:05Each group
27:06has their own
27:07sort of separate
27:08flood legend.
27:12Those groups
27:13passed down
27:13their history orally,
27:15but elements
27:16also persisted
27:17in their art.
27:19Petroglyphs,
27:19rock art,
27:20for example,
27:21it tells a story.
27:22It's not just
27:23meaningless doodles.
27:25Massey is especially
27:27interested in a pictograph
27:28found throughout
27:29North and South America.
27:31Many different
27:32Indian cultures
27:33that relate
27:34to the flood.
27:36Usually it's
27:36in association
27:37with water serpents,
27:39feathered headdress serpents.
27:41Massey sees
27:42a common theme
27:43in the images,
27:44an elongated creature,
27:46often with a horn
27:47on its head,
27:48associated in some
27:49manner with the flood.
27:52He thinks it's likely
27:54that these horned serpents
27:55are depictions
27:56of something
27:56the rock carvers
27:57saw in the sky,
27:59something unusual,
28:01something the ancients
28:02associated with disaster,
28:04a comet.
28:08When you look at comets,
28:10you see the tails.
28:11It looks like a headdress
28:12or a horn.
28:14Based on the mythology,
28:16it's very clear to me
28:17that we are looking
28:19at a comet
28:20hitting the ocean
28:21somewhere
28:22as the basis
28:23for the Great Flood.
28:25He's identified
28:25a possible impact site
28:27900 miles southeast
28:28of Madagascar.
28:30The scenario
28:31is not that far-fetched.
28:34A comet about
28:35two miles wide
28:36enters the solar system
28:37and takes dead aim
28:38at Earth.
28:39It plunges
28:41through the atmosphere
28:41at over 100,000 miles
28:43an hour
28:44and strikes water.
28:46That's when
28:47all hell breaks loose.
28:48It would have shot
28:50a volume of water
28:51up maybe nine
28:52or ten times
28:53the mass
28:54of the comet itself
28:55up through
28:56the atmosphere.
28:59Such an impact
29:00would have the energy
29:01of 10 million megatons
29:02of TNT,
29:04500 million times
29:06the energy released
29:07in the bomb
29:08that hit Nagasaki.
29:12It would eject
29:13excess water vapor
29:14into the atmosphere,
29:15causing catastrophic rain
29:17for six or seven days.
29:20A massive tsunami
29:21in the Indian Ocean
29:22hitting the coasts
29:231,500 miles away
29:25with waves
29:26over 600 feet high.
29:29And cyclonic storms
29:31happening all
29:32across the Earth.
29:33Water falling out
29:35of the sky
29:35would combine
29:36with the ocean storms
29:37to create
29:38catastrophic hurricanes.
29:39So it would have appeared
29:45as if it was
29:46this huge, massive flood
29:48covering the Earth.
29:49This is also,
29:50interestingly enough,
29:52about the time
29:52that we see
29:53the last major climate change.
29:57By examining
29:58astronomical charts
30:00and cross-checking
30:01the times
30:01when comets
30:02pass close to the Earth,
30:04Massey was able
30:05to come up
30:05with a best guess
30:06about when exactly
30:07the comet struck.
30:09What my data tell me
30:11are that
30:12May 10,
30:132807 B.C.,
30:15there was actually
30:15a comet
30:16that hit the Earth.
30:19And there's no question
30:20in my mind
30:21that it relates
30:22to the mists
30:23surrounding
30:24the Great Flood
30:25worldwide,
30:26including Noah's flood.
30:29Massey's theory
30:30is a radical one,
30:31and he knows
30:32astronomers are dubious.
30:33But mainstream geologists
30:35can't rule it out.
30:37They see the evidence
30:38of impacts
30:39all over the Earth.
30:41This is actually
30:41the most plausible
30:42of all theories.
30:45The fact that
30:46it would have been
30:47possibly caused
30:48by a comet's
30:50encounter with the Earth.
30:52We know that
30:52these things happen.
30:54We know that
30:54there are large craters
30:56formed because of
30:57meteorite and cometary
30:58impacts on Earth.
30:59The Earth has been
31:00catastrophically hit
31:02since its creation,
31:03bombarded by asteroids
31:05and meteorites.
31:06One impact probably
31:08caused the extinction
31:09of the dinosaurs
31:0965 million years ago.
31:12And impacts
31:13still happen today.
31:16A catastrophic event
31:17would probably leave
31:18a lasting impact
31:19on the culture's
31:21sort of oral traditions,
31:22such that you'd hear
31:23about it 5,000 years later
31:24in the form of
31:25some story.
31:27An event like that
31:28would have certainly
31:29created mists.
31:29People would have
31:30had to explain it.
31:31that they would have
31:32to tell succeeding
31:33generations that
31:34this awful thing
31:35happened and to
31:36let people know.
31:38But what exactly
31:40were they describing?
31:44A flood that covered
31:46the whole Earth.
31:47That's what the Bible
31:48tells us happened
31:49in the story of Noah.
31:51But most geologists
31:52can't find any evidence
31:54to support such a theory.
31:56We really don't know
31:56if there's been any point
31:57in the Earth's history
31:58where the plant was
31:59completely covered by water.
32:01Conventional geology
32:03does assert that the Earth
32:04was almost entirely
32:05covered by water
32:06about 500 million years ago
32:08when the climate
32:09was much warmer
32:09than it is now.
32:11That's when many
32:12of the marine fossils
32:13we find on mountaintops
32:15today were deposited.
32:16At least that's what
32:17most geologists believe.
32:19But not those who
32:20regard the Bible
32:21as the supreme authority.
32:24For the past 20 years,
32:26Tom Vale has led
32:27rafting tours
32:27of the Grand Canyon
32:28from a fundamentalist
32:30Christian perspective.
32:32Back in 1980,
32:33I took a vacation
32:34rafting Grand Canyon
32:35and just fell in love
32:38with the place.
32:38And two years later,
32:39I quit my corporate job
32:40and became a full-time
32:41rafting guy.
32:42We bring people
32:46to the canyon
32:46and show it to them
32:48from a biblical worldview
32:50and how the evidence
32:51that we see here
32:52in the canyon
32:53supports and upholds
32:56the authority
32:57of the Word of God.
32:59Vale is part of a movement
33:00that's challenging
33:01the scientific orthodoxy
33:03that the Earth
33:04is billions of years old,
33:05though that's what
33:06he used to believe.
33:08When I first came
33:09into the canyon,
33:10I was an evolutionist
33:11and believed
33:13in the millions of years
33:13and taught that
33:14for about 15 years.
33:16But he began
33:17to question
33:18the old Earth model.
33:19The big difference
33:21between the two models,
33:22the old Earth
33:23and the young Earth,
33:25are really time.
33:26Was it six days
33:27or millions of years?
33:28I was described
33:29to what the Word of God
33:30says and take the six days.
33:32To Vale,
33:33the Grand Canyon
33:34is a laboratory
33:35that proves
33:36the Earth
33:36was created
33:37in the last few
33:38thousand years
33:39and then blanketed
33:40by a worldwide flood.
33:43And the evidence
33:44is in the rocks.
33:46The Grand Canyon
33:47exposes more
33:49sedimentary layers
33:51than I think
33:51anywhere else
33:52in the world.
33:53And we see here
33:55lots of evidence
33:56that points to the fact
33:58that the canyon
33:59was carved catastrophically.
34:02Vale makes frequent stops
34:04along the river
34:04to point out the evidence.
34:06that the peat sandstone
34:08was laid down horizontally
34:09but right at the fault line
34:11turns vertical.
34:13To Vale,
34:14the folds
34:14and the layers of sediment
34:15are a dead giveaway
34:17that they were wet
34:18and malleable
34:18when they were bent.
34:20And if this material
34:21was hard rock
34:23at the time,
34:24then it would have cracked.
34:26But being flood deposits,
34:28this material
34:29would have still been moist.
34:31So when the shifting
34:32of the fault happens,
34:34the sandstone
34:35is still somewhat fluid
34:36and it can move
34:37and shift
34:38and create
34:39this folding.
34:42Not surprisingly,
34:44most of Vale's colleagues
34:45disagree with his interpretation.
34:47If the canyon was cut
34:48relatively quickly
34:50out of soft mudge,
34:51we wouldn't expect
34:52the canyon
34:52to have the large
34:53sort of bends in it
34:54that we see.
34:55The canyon would be straight.
34:57The bending used shape
34:58that you see
34:59is very indicative
35:00of a slow
35:02erosional process.
35:04Another point of contention
35:05is what the fossil layers reveal.
35:08Marine fossils
35:09are buried
35:10throughout the layers
35:11and they're not buried
35:12in any kind of
35:14homogeneous way.
35:15They've been scattered
35:17and moved around
35:18and broken.
35:20If all the fossils
35:21on the planet
35:22were caused by a flood,
35:23we'd expect them
35:24to all be very uniform
35:25globally,
35:26and we don't find
35:27that uniformity.
35:28There is one thing
35:29the creationists
35:30and the evolutionists
35:31agree on,
35:32that the canyon
35:33was carved by water.
35:36The fact that the rocks
35:37of the Grand Canyon
35:38are largely laid down
35:39by water
35:40doesn't mean
35:41that the entire planet
35:42at some point
35:42in its history
35:43was covered
35:43by a giant flood.
35:45All the evidence
35:46that we see here
35:47in the Grand Canyon,
35:48if you look at it
35:49with an open mind,
35:50points to a global flood.
35:52This was the flood
35:53of Noah's day.
35:55It's absolutely ridiculous
35:57to suggest
35:57that the Grand Canyon
35:58was caused
35:59by a global flood.
36:01The Bible is not
36:02a history book.
36:03It's not a geology textbook.
36:05The Bible is like a person,
36:07and if you torture it
36:08long enough,
36:08you can get it to say
36:09almost anything
36:10you'd like it to say,
36:11but it's not a science book.
36:13In the Bible story,
36:15Noah can see nothing
36:16but water
36:17once the storms abate.
36:20And it came to pass
36:21at the end of 40 days
36:23that Noah opened
36:24the window of the ark
36:25which he had made.
36:27Noah sent a dove
36:31to scout the earth
36:32three different times.
36:35The third time,
36:36the dove didn't return,
36:38so Noah knew
36:39the earth was now
36:39safe for habitation.
36:41And if the Bible story
36:43is right,
36:43Noah stepped off the ark
36:45onto land
36:45he'd never seen before,
36:47up in the mountains somewhere.
36:49But which mountains?
36:52Bob Cornuke thinks
36:53most people have been looking
36:54in the wrong place.
36:57I don't believe the ark
36:58is on Mount Arad in Turkey.
36:59I've flown around it
37:00in a helicopter twice,
37:02fixed wings, airplane,
37:03I've been over there
37:03on horseback
37:05and hiked all over the mountain,
37:06and I've never seen anything
37:07that even looks remotely
37:08like Noah's Ark.
37:10And the right place?
37:11I think the real mountains
37:12of Arad should be located
37:14in the northern mountains
37:14of Iran.
37:16Cornuke has mounted
37:17four expeditions to Iran
37:19while taking the typical abuse
37:21an ark hunter gets.
37:23You do receive a lot of ridicule
37:24when you look for Noah's Ark.
37:25When you tell some people
37:26you look for Noah's Ark,
37:28they look at you
37:28like you wrapped tinfoil
37:29around your head
37:30and look for the mothership.
37:32But Cornuke thinks
37:33he's got a lead
37:34no one else has been able
37:35to follow up.
37:36The report of an American engineer
37:38who saw something strange
37:40on a mountain in Iran
37:41back in 1943.
37:42I went over there
37:45on foot
37:46and hiked up the mountain,
37:48and it was a pretty
37:48arduous climb.
37:49But when we got up
37:50about to 12,500 feet,
37:53we looked across this valley
37:55and we saw this
37:56incredible blackened object
37:58that was sticking out
37:59of the side of the mountain.
38:01It didn't have,
38:02it wasn't a big box shape
38:03like you'd think
38:03Noah's Ark would look like.
38:05It looked like a big building
38:06that had burned
38:07and we had these
38:08charred remnants.
38:11The material looked like
38:12wood,
38:13but it was so heavy
38:14only very small samples
38:15could be brought down
38:16for testing,
38:17which proved inconclusive.
38:19Look at that.
38:19I think what we saw
38:20could be Noah's Ark.
38:21I think it's a remote possibility.
38:23We need to go up there again,
38:25bring down the bigger pieces
38:27of that what looks like
38:29wood stone
38:30and have it properly tested.
38:32Cornuke is waiting
38:33for results,
38:34but knows that they may not
38:35prove anything
38:36or convince anyone.
38:37If someone really did
38:39find Noah's Ark
38:40and drug it down
38:41to downtown New York,
38:43no one would believe.
38:44It's an unprovable hypothesis.
38:46Noah didn't leave
38:47his fingerprints
38:48or a signature
38:49saying Noah's Ark was here,
38:50so it's one of those things
38:51that's probably
38:52impossible to prove.
38:54Bob Cornuke went to Iran
38:56looking for Noah's Ark
38:57and he found
38:58a pile of rocks.
39:00But he also found
39:01something else
39:01on the mountain,
39:02something he wasn't looking for
39:04and still can't explain.
39:05We went up to 14,000 feet
39:09and we found
39:10these clams over there.
39:12Obviously, clams
39:13grow underneath water.
39:15Now, how did they get
39:16high in a mountain?
39:17Are they the amazing
39:18flying clams?
39:19Or was this part
39:20of the mountain
39:21underneath water
39:22at one time?
39:24Cornuke quickly learned
39:25that unlike most
39:26of the marine life
39:27found at altitudes,
39:28these clams
39:29were not completely fossilized.
39:31That meant they still
39:32had organic material
39:33in their shells
39:34that could be dated.
39:37He sent them to a lab
39:39which subjected them
39:40to carbon-14 dating tests
39:42and the results
39:43were perplexing
39:44to say the least.
39:45The test results
39:46showed that these clams
39:47were about 40,000 years old.
39:50Now, that's way too old
39:52to be from Noah's Ark,
39:54which we believe
39:54would be 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.
39:56But they're way too young
39:58to be from 2,000, 4,000,
40:005,000,000 years
40:01that it took
40:02to get those mountains
40:03to be that high.
40:04So it's really
40:05a bit of a mystery
40:06as to how those clams
40:08got there
40:09in the first place.
40:11Bob's solution
40:12to the riddle?
40:13If a flood
40:14had covered the earth,
40:15it may have affected
40:16the rate at which
40:16carbon dioxide
40:17was absorbed
40:18by the clams.
40:19So the C-14 test results
40:21would be skewed.
40:23But there's also
40:24a simpler explanation.
40:25All kinds of shells
40:28can form from fresh water
40:29in the rivers
40:31and streams
40:32atop these mountains.
40:34So the fact that you see
40:36a little shell
40:37in top of a mountain
40:39is not peculiar
40:40in geology.
40:41A water vapor canopy
40:43that somehow collapses.
40:45Fountains of the deep
40:47that somehow erupt.
40:49A massive comet strike
40:51somewhere in the ocean.
40:53All these theories
40:55offer explanations
40:56for a catastrophic flood,
40:58some more reasonable
40:59than others.
41:00But there's one final theory
41:01to explore,
41:03and it might be
41:03the most reasonable
41:04of all.
41:09For years,
41:10archaeologists
41:11have looked for evidence
41:12of a catastrophic flood
41:13somewhere in the Middle East,
41:15something that might confirm
41:16the Genesis account
41:18of Noah and his Ark.
41:19And for years,
41:20they came up empty.
41:22Then,
41:23in the 1920s,
41:25archaeologist Leonard Woolley
41:26found a thick layer
41:27of silt
41:28while he was excavating
41:29the ancient city of Ur
41:30in modern-day Iraq.
41:32Surely,
41:33this was evidence
41:34of a massive flood
41:35and,
41:36not so coincidentally,
41:37confirmation
41:38of the story
41:39in the Bible.
41:40But it turned out
41:41to be a false alarm.
41:43One of the sites
41:44in Mesopotamia
41:45that Sir Leonard Woolley
41:46excavated,
41:47he thought he had found
41:47evidence of the flood,
41:49and it was announced
41:50in all the papers
41:51at that time.
41:53It turns out,
41:53he had indeed found a flood,
41:55but it was a localized flood.
41:57But it was drastic enough
41:58that there was some
41:59three feet of debris
42:01that wiped out the town
42:03at that time.
42:05Subsequent searches
42:06for evidence of a flood
42:07were just as fruitless.
42:09Then,
42:10in 1996,
42:11two geologists
42:12were working off
42:13the coast of Turkey
42:14in one of the most
42:15mysterious
42:16bodies of water
42:17in the world.
42:18A huge saltwater sea
42:20about 750 miles across
42:22from east to west.
42:24The Black Sea.
42:27Bill Ryan
42:29and Walter Pittman
42:30were mapping
42:30the Black Sea's
42:31underwater topography
42:32when they noticed
42:33something curious.
42:35Beaches,
42:36hundreds of feet
42:37below the surface.
42:39That meant
42:40the water levels
42:41had been much lower
42:42in the past.
42:43We found a whole
42:45number of beaches
42:45because as the water
42:46body shrank
42:47under evaporation
42:48in the very arid
42:50conditions of the ice age,
42:52it would leave
42:52old shorelines
42:54like bathtub rings.
42:55So we found
42:56about 90 meters,
42:57110 meters.
42:59Our deepest shoreline
43:00was amazing.
43:01It was 156 meters.
43:04Core samples
43:05of the seabed
43:06showed that
43:06at some point
43:07in its history,
43:08the Black Sea
43:08had been a freshwater lake.
43:10The core samples
43:11also showed
43:12an abrupt transition
43:13from freshwater clams
43:15to the marine kind
43:16and carbon dating
43:17provided a date.
43:19And the results
43:20were stunning
43:21that the marine mollusks
43:24all seemed to have
43:25appeared
43:25at all depths
43:26in the Black Sea
43:27at the same time
43:287,600 years ago.
43:31So something big
43:33had happened there.
43:35What had happened
43:36was a flood
43:37of biblical proportions
43:38and it probably happened
43:40because of global warming.
43:42At the end
43:43of the last ice age,
43:45millions of tons
43:45of water
43:46were locked up
43:47in polar ice.
43:49But as glaciers retreated
43:50and polar ice melted,
43:52sea levels rose.
43:55That included
43:56the Mediterranean.
44:00Its rising waters
44:01looked for a place
44:02to go
44:02and found it
44:03on the other side
44:04of a thin isthmus
44:05of land
44:05where a huge
44:06freshwater lake
44:07sat waiting
44:08in low-lying ground.
44:10That could only mean
44:11one thing.
44:12The law of gravity
44:13was about to take over.
44:22Water from the Mediterranean
44:23started to cut a channel
44:25through the Bosporus
44:26seeking lower ground.
44:28Once the channel
44:29was established,
44:30the pent-up waters
44:31in the Mediterranean
44:32broke through,
44:33wiping out everything
44:34in its path.
44:37As it cut,
44:38it made a channel
44:39that was progressively
44:40deeper and deeper
44:41and deeper
44:42and the deeper it got,
44:43the faster it flowed.
44:45And it probably took,
44:46I would estimate,
44:47anywhere from
44:4830 to 90 days
44:50to cut a full-fledged,
44:52roaring flume.
44:55And the question was,
44:56was anyone around
44:57to experience
44:58such an earth-shattering event?
45:00Archaeologist Fred Hebert
45:03thinks the answer
45:03is yes.
45:05Back about
45:0610,000 years ago
45:07when there was
45:08no Bosporus
45:09and the Black Sea
45:10was still
45:11a freshwater lake,
45:13its level was
45:13hundreds of feet
45:14lower than it is today.
45:16That means
45:16a huge area
45:17around it
45:18would have been
45:18dry land.
45:20It would have been
45:21wonderful areas
45:22for either hunter-gatherers
45:25or early agriculturalists
45:26to live.
45:28There's no reason
45:29that people
45:31wouldn't have lived there.
45:33Those Neolithic people
45:34would have experienced
45:35something almost
45:36incomprehensible to them.
45:40One sea emptying
45:42into another
45:43through a gap
45:44several miles wide.
45:46The people would have
45:48detected
45:49is the noise.
45:50The ground probably
45:51would have shaken
45:52and that they probably
45:53would have felt
45:54for 100,
45:55maybe 200 kilometers.
45:57An incredible amount
45:58of energy
45:59was being released.
46:00Just an incredible
46:01amount of energy.
46:02As the water
46:03surged through
46:03the Bosporus
46:04at 60 miles an hour,
46:06it unleashed a volume
46:07of water 200 times
46:09that of Niagara Falls.
46:12Anyone living
46:13within a few miles
46:14of the Bosporus
46:15would have been swept away.
46:17And those at a greater
46:18distance would have
46:19seen their world
46:20transformed by a flow
46:21of water that seemed
46:22to be endless.
46:23If you're living
46:26in a river valley,
46:27you would have had
46:28to move inland
46:29anywhere from
46:30a few hundred meters
46:31to a kilometer
46:32every day,
46:33day after day
46:33after day after day,
46:34on and on and on,
46:35every day moving inland
46:37in front of this flood.
46:39If Ryan and Pitman's
46:40hypothesis is correct,
46:42nearly 5,000 years
46:44passed between the time
46:45of the Great Flood
46:46and the time
46:47the distant memories
46:48of it would have
46:48been written down.
46:49It certainly
46:51would have been
46:52a devastating flood
46:54that would have
46:55covered everything
46:56and everybody
46:57and is probably
46:58the cause
47:00for the legend
47:02of the floods.
47:04Such a catastrophic
47:05event would seem
47:06like it was encompassing
47:07the whole world.
47:09The people would have
47:10taken the stories
47:10with them
47:11as they migrated
47:12and those stories
47:13perhaps became
47:15the Mesopotamian
47:16flood legends,
47:17the epic of Gilgamesh,
47:18and eventually
47:19the story of Noah.
47:22It must have been
47:23a flood,
47:23a very large one.
47:24Not necessarily one
47:25that would cover
47:26the whole earth,
47:27but that covers
47:28the vast majority
47:29of the land
47:30they knew about it then.
47:32And in the hands
47:33of the ancient Israelites,
47:35the story would have
47:36inevitably acquired
47:37a moral dimension.
47:40In the Bible,
47:41the story ends
47:42with a show
47:42of gratitude
47:43from Noah
47:44and a promise
47:45from God.
47:47And Noah built
47:48an altar unto the Lord
47:49and offered
47:50burnt offerings
47:51on the altar.
47:52And the Lord
47:53smelled a sweet savor.
47:55And the Lord said,
47:56I will not again
47:57curse the ground
47:58anymore for man's sake,
48:00neither will I again
48:01smite everything living
48:02as I have done.
48:04And to remind Noah
48:05and his children
48:06of this promise,
48:07God offered
48:08a natural wonder.
48:10A rainbow.
48:11Beautiful.
48:12Yes.
48:13Yes.
48:13Whenever you see
48:14a rainbow,
48:15you can say,
48:15that's God's sign
48:16and there will be
48:17no more floods.
48:19And so,
48:19the story of Noah
48:20and his ark
48:21gets passed on
48:22from one generation
48:23to the next,
48:24just as it's been done
48:26for the last few
48:27thousand years.
48:29And they will
48:30happily ever have.
48:32And that's the other
48:33thing about Noah
48:34and his ark.
48:35Everyone gets to have
48:36his own interpretation
48:38about who he was
48:39and what the story means.
48:41I believe that things
48:43like that could have
48:44happened and I also
48:45believe that none
48:46of these stories
48:46comes out of thin air.
48:49It's a story that
48:50helps us to make sense
48:51out of our human
48:52experience.
48:53And that's why
48:54it's still powerful.
48:56The Bible can be
48:57trusted right from
48:59the very first of
48:59Genesis all the way
49:00through Revelation.
49:02You know, it starts
49:03off with truth
49:03and it ends with truth.
49:05I see Noah as a
49:07genuine person
49:08who lived a long
49:08time ago.
49:09The person who's
49:10experienced things
49:11that we may feel
49:12like we're experiencing
49:13and still he was
49:14a survivor and we
49:15can be a survivor as
49:16well.
49:17Whether or not we
49:18have scientific
49:19evidence for it,
49:20that's okay because
49:21we can believe in it
49:22emotionally.
49:24In the end, the
49:25story of Noah and
49:27his ark and a flood
49:28lives on for a
49:29reason.
49:31It speaks to us.
49:33If it ceased to
49:34speak, we would
49:36cease to listen.
49:40it's time to
49:42be honest.
49:44If it ceased to
49:45or not, in fact,
49:46it's a
49:58creatic
49:59and
49:59even