Could Noah's ark really have happened?

If you read texts predating the Bible, you'll find that the well-known Old Testament Noah did not make his literary debut in the Holy Scriptures. Rather, he made his first appearance about 2,000 years or so earlier in the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia. Holding power from roughly 3500 B.C. to 2000 B.C., the Sumerians were the first people to sketch out the story of Noah, except they called him Ziusudra.

Later, the Babylonians would record a similar tale in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest book in recorded history. As the Babylonians tell it, a man named Utnapishtim was warned of a great storm and built a boat an acre in size, split into six different divisions. All surrounding lands flooded after six days and nights of rain. Sailing to what may have been modern-day Bahrain, Utnapishtim and his wife received immortality for his obedience.

Here's where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers come into play. The two waterways that slice through modern day Iraq served as the main thoroughfares for trade at that time, and were the setting for the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Because both rivers flood each summer, scholars think that Noah's story may be based on that actual event -- a greater than usual flooding of the Tigris or Euphrates. In fact, archeologists have uncovered evidence of such a great flood in Mesopotamia, dating back to around 2900 B.C., that quickly wiped out a number of Sumerian cities [source: Saggs].

The real-life Noah could have been a wealthy merchant who had a strong enough boat to withstand the storm. Passed down through generations of telling and retelling, the story could have evolved over the centuries to integrate the Judeo-Christian and Islamic beliefs.

The Bible portrays Noah as a righteous man in God's eyes, separated from the increasingly sinful world around him. Because of his uprightness, God selects him, along with his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, to build the ark and survive the incoming deluge.

In the Quran, Noah is referred to as Nuh. He makes up one of the five prophets of Islam alongside Adam, Moses, Abraham and Jesus. The book of Surah tells of Noah speaking as a prophet of God to forewarn his neighbors about the dangers that will happen if they do not turn from their evil ways.

­Aside from this minor difference, the Christian and Islamic records of Noah stand almost identical. Noah builds an ark, enduring the ridicule of people around him, and loads the animals two by two onto the vessel in preparation for the storm. Interestingly, in the Bible, Noah's ark settles on Mount Ararat, while in the Quran it lands on Mount Judi. Because of these two explicit locations, many believe that the ark still exists on a mountaintop. Next, we'll find out whether that belief is fact.

Genesis says that God instructed Noah to build an ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits tall. That translates to just under an acre in square footage (4046 square meters), as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Noah would have constructed the ark from wood, but the specific type is debatable since different translations specify different types. Whatever the case, it would have been huge. Because of the size and the technology -- or lack thereof -- at the time, wood experts don't think the literal ark could have withstood sailing [source: Bowen].

Nevertheless, in the past 20 years many news stories have popped up regarding a discovery of the biblical boat. In 1993, CBS aired a documentary called "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark" that unveiled the spectacular findings of wood from the ark. Guide George Jammal described his sighting of it to viewers and showed off a souvenir piece from it. But the alleged evidence in the documentary was a sham. Jammal's so-called ark wood was a fake, and he concocted his story.

Back at the Black Sea, in 1999, famed underwater explorer Robert Ballard, who found the sunken Titanic, set out to prove the "Noah's Flood Hypothesis." Going on the idea that the ark could be at the bottom of the Black Sea, he attempted to find it but was unsuccessful. In addition, carbon dating on artifacts pulled up from the depths showed that they were too recent to come from Noah's time.

Mount Ararat in Turkey has long been the focal point of biblical archeologists. Photos of the top of Ararat taken by the CIA and filed under "Ararat Anomaly" were classified for many years until a Freedom of Information Act released some of them in 1999. They highlight a large dark spot peculiar to the naked eye, fueling some people's beliefs that the ark rests there frozen in ice. That theory has since come up short. Experts claim that a glacier would have actually pushed the Ark out and down the mountain, rather than cause it to remain stationary.

Satellite photographs from Mount Suleiman in the Elburuz mountain range in Iran taken by the Bible Archeology Search and Exploration Institute held yet another possible location for the ark. Members thought a rock formation captured on film was actually petrified wood from the ark. However, there is no evidence of the joints or beams one would expect with a handmade boat [source: Ravilous].

One of the main reasons for the absence of ark evidence is that it simply wouldn't survive. Wood would likely last only a few centuries [source: Ravilous]. Also, it would take an impossible amount of rain to land a boat at a 13,000-foot-plus altitude (3,962 meters), further negating the possibility of finding ark remnants at the top of Ararat or any other mountain.

Although no scientifically conclusive evidence yet exists for Noah's ark, expedition teams will continue to gather funding to extend their quests. Until then, read the links on the next page for more information on Noah's Ark and other biblical mysteries.