Archaeologist Joel Klenck confirms a Late Epipaleolithic (13,100-9,600 BC) site in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat is Noah’s Ark. This archaeological site exhibits all traits of an ancient Trot-on / Trot-off maritime barge, being unlike all terrestrial, land-based structures.

Lighthouse Point, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/01/2024 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., non-profit Ararat Conservation, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, reports, "It is 100% certain that a prehistoric site is Noah's Ark, located in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat and dating to an interval within the Late Epipaleolithic period (13,100-9,600 BC). This site exhibits all traits of an ancient Trot-on / Trot-off maritime barge, being unlike all terrestrial structures."

Klenck confirms, "Noah's Ark is the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, 158 meters in length, in two general areas, within ten smaller locations, 3,900 to 4,700 meters in elevation, currently exhibiting 14 archaeological features, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the surface. The vessel dates to a shorter duration at the end of the Late Epipaleolithic period (13,100-9,600 BC)."

Klenck states, "Noah's Ark offers prosperity or harm to the Turkish Republic. Noah's Ark will provide at least $38 billion dollars annually to the Turkish Republic via religious tourism because the Ark is lauded by Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. One artifact from the vessel, the Noah's Ark Codex, is essentially priceless, worth at least $1 billion, and supports the beliefs of three Abrahamic religions that Arabic and Hebrew are from the earliest (Semitic) language group and Hebrew represents the earliest language. The nearest city, Dogubayazit, could soon rival Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Rome. If the central government of Turkey does not protect Noah's Ark, the PKK, a violent Marxist terrorist organization, renown for killing women and children, will the discover the vessel, exchange its looted codex and artifacts for armaments, and spread Stone Age pandemics from tons of thawing animal feces in the Ark, bringing death to nations that surround Mount Ararat."

The prehistoric maritime barge exhibits an angled hull, thousands of cages, frozen animal dung on midden floors, sloping ramps, three decks, ballasts, cargo holds, nautical carpentry using stone adzes, and the interior and exterior of the vessel covered with pitch. Inside the Ark is a Late Stone Age assemblage featuring stone tools and containers, vegetal baskets, textiles, cords, bone and wood artifacts, a prehistoric diet of chickpea, pea, bitter vetch, and undomesticated cereal grains, and no pottery. Conversely, near the Ark's entrances, later cultures constructed small areas of worship, with unique artifact placements, showing veneration for thousands of years with bowls or jugs, from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (8,800-6,500 BC) through modern times (ca. AD 1907), with the residue of wine, milk, and seeds, also featuring stone figures from the Akkadian Empire period (2,334-2,218 BC). The structure matches descriptions of Noah's Ark by the Patriarch Moses in Genesis, renown scholars Berossus and Josephus, and Islam's Prophet Muhammed throughout the Quran. Akkadian seals from 2,300 BC portray the Ark on greater Mount Ararat and Hittite tablets from 1,300 BC mention Noah.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC and improved its concealment to support Armenian independence. When this revolution failed, the leader of the Armenian Church, Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907), issued orders to further conceal the Ark, a secret insured by Stalinist purges, which impacted Armenian history, causing a range of emotions.

The archaeologist translated the Noah's Ark Codex, the earliest language from the late Stone Age (13,100-9,600 BC), and its images and symbols. Found within Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat, the calf-skin parchment exhibits a language similar to Biblical Hebrew, reflects Ark accounts in Genesis and the Qur'an. The vellum document also indicates the number of clean animals and birds (7,112) and total animals (39,035) that survived the Flood, and shows the original location of Noah's Ark, currently on the highest plateau in the southern gorge.

Klenck battles a group with ties to the PKK, a Marxist terrorist group, and the Yazidis, who worship the Devil according to some adherents of other monotheistic religions. This group also has significant ties to leftist secular and religious right wing groups, within the United States and Europe, who denigrate or illegally remove artifacts from Noah's Ark, a prehistoric archaeological site and shrine to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The archaeologist continues: "Utilizing deductivist (processual) archaeological method and theory, archaeologists establish a hypothesis, form a null-hypothesis, and compare the traits of an archaeological site to the characteristics of the null-hypothesis. If the comparisons are unlike the null hypotheses, then archaeologists reject the latter and confirm the former. Here, the hypothesis is that Ararat site represents a Trot-on / Trot-off maritime barge. The null hypothesis is the Ararat site represents a land-based structure such as a temple, palace, fortification, domestic dwelling, or animal pen. We evaluate each null-hypothesis below.

Not A Temple

Having excavated or conducted ethnoarchaeological research at the Chalcolithic burial grounds at Shiqmim, Middle Bronze Age temple at Tel Haror, Byzantine Church at Nessana, Oneota burial ground at Robinson Reserve, Bedouin Weli tombs in southern Israel, and the Polynesian cult center at Luatele, the principal Ararat site, dating to the Late Epipaleolithic period (13,100-9,600 BC), is not a temple or cult site. Compared to any cultic site from any archaeological period, the main Ararat site is not a worship locale because the site has no open spaces, no images of any deities, no human burials, no niches for deities, no religious iconography or imagery, and no ornate architecture or artifacts. The exterior walls slope inward, the main floors are angled, there are ladder-like, notched tree trunks in the center and sides of the structure connecting the three floors. The artifacts within the edifice are strictly utilitarian comprising wood bowls covered in burned clay, grinding stones, stone vessels, and vegetal baskets, without any ceramics or pottery. Further, although the main Ararat site has no animal bones or skins, much of the interior of the site is filled with animal feces, while animal pens and cages abound throughout the 158-meter-long edifice.

However, outside the main structure, later cultures for thousands of years constructed small worship areas, deposited votive objects, or both. These cultic artifacts range in time, from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (8,800-6,500 BC), evidenced by a White Ware ("Vaisselle Blanche") bowl made of limestone mixed with ash, straw, and gravel, through modern times (ca. AD 1907), typified by single-handled jugs with wine and milk residue.

To reiterate, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, there is a 158-meter-long, monumental wood site, from the last period of the Stone Age (13,100-9,600 BC), filled with cages and pens, exhibiting tons of thawing animal feces, with the remains of feathers, scales, fir, hair, and skin, from thousands of animals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, showing only utilitarian artifacts. Yet, at entrances into this ancient site, cultures from the beginning of the Farming Age (8,800-6,500 BC) to modern Armenia, ending around 1907, worshipped and venerated this non-religious archaeological site.

Not a Palace

Similarly, the Ararat site is not a palace. Habitations for elites are clean and wide open spaces, with level floors, sumptuous rooms, with ornate architecture and artifacts. The Ararat site is filled with animal cages and pens, exhibiting feces, feathers, fur, scales, and other non-bone faunal remains. Now, the retreating glacial ice has melted the feces within the Ararat locale, causing nauseous and grotesque scents, that no elite person would tolerate. Moreover, within the principal structure, the main floors are sloping, the wood furniture is physically connected to the timber walls, and all sorts of notched cross-beams protrude at irregular elevations on the often-angled partitions. Moreover, the habitation sites for humans are small, cramped quarters, which also feature basalt bowls filled with undomesticated grains for herbivores that also left animal droppings within these installations. Other multi-purpose habitations are evident. For example, the Noah's Ark Codex, was found in a locus (14) for food preparation. Moreover, the artifacts solely comprise utilitarian specimens including basic grinding stones, simple baskets made of palm and other vegetal material, unelaborate wood and bone artifacts, wood bowls covered with clay, and stone bowls and covers. Worse still, the loci with fecal material are near storage locations filled with undomesticated seeds of chick-pea, pea, and bitter vetch, making a more likely vector for contamination and disease. The small, cramped, dirty, multi-use, human habitations are unlike any elite installations from any archaeological periods.

Not a Fortification

Having been an artillery officer in the U.S. Marines, excavated or surveyed Turkish fortifications at Tel-Haror and Karkur, test pits at the Turkish hospital at Nessana, and hundreds of martial contexts in Polynesia and the United States, the Ararat site is not a defensive fortification. The Ararat site has no Turkish artifacts from any period, no martial architecture, no munitions, no weaponry, and no military supplies. Further, Turkish fortifications are built on elevated areas or on slopes immediately below a ridgeline. Here, the Ararat site is located at the bottom of a gorge, surrounded on three sides by ridgelines, where enemies could easily target Turkish defenders with direct and indirect fire weapons. Turkish fortifications mostly comprise functional entrenchments that are usually chest deep, dug into soil and rock, and are straightforward to emplace. The location of the Ararat site is within layers of ice and rock, in a moving glacier, comprising three wood floors, as much as eleven (11) meters beneath the surface, with wood beams weighing over a ton, with elaborate joinery, sealants made of resin from aged cypress and bitumen, from wood nowhere near Mount Ararat, inside a monumental structure. During Seljuk (1037-1308) and Ottoman (1299-1922) periods, and especially during World War I (1914-1918) and the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923), entrenchments rarely exhibited multiple floors below ground, or were solely linear, but featured rock battlements, and offsets, which extended at right angles to the main trench. This design prevented enemy forces from "walking" artillery or mortars detonations in a line to dispatch Turkish soldiers. The Ararat site is distinctly linear, exhibits three floors beneath the surface, with apertures level with the ground, a perfect nightmare for Turkish defenders. In defending heights, Turkish commanders placed entrenchments across a ridge, crest, or summit and never linearly at the bottom of a gorge, to avoid enfilade fire, where enemies could fire into lines of Turkish defenders, dispatching multiple warriors with each bullet or mortar round. The Ararat site is located along a line, at the bottom of the southern gorge, which would allow adversaries to detonate mortar or artillery explosions in a linear manner down the canyon and dispatch Turkish soldiers with relative ease. As such, the Ararat site is not a Turkish fortification because there are no Turkish artifacts and no martial architecture or remains. No Ottoman or Turkish commander would place a fortification at the bottom of a gorge, with no elevated rock battlements, along the length of a canyon, enabling an enemy to target Turkish soldiers with devastating enfilade fire or with direct and indirect fire, from three ridgelines surrounding the Ararat locale.

Not a Domestic Dwelling

I have excavated or surveyed hundreds of domestic dwellings from four continents, in the Levant, Europe, North America, and Polynesia, ranging from prehistoric to modern times, covering diverse materials including stone, mudbrick, wood, hide, brick, and concrete. Compared to any domestic dwelling from any archaeological period, the main Ararat site is not a standard habitation because the site is at least 2,000 meters above the vegetation line, not near any natural resources, such as water, crops, or grass, and is so difficult to access being blocked by millions of large- and medium-sized boulders and an entire gorge of sand-like scree. While the descent in the scree is easy and safe, ascending the scree in the southern gorge to reach the Ararat site, is extremely difficult. Also, the Ararat site is monumental, being 158 meters in length with three floors, with storage installations up to 12 meters in diameter. Also, the building techniques: mortise-and-tenon joinery, coak-and-dowel combinations of two wood types, with resin and bitumen sealants, and notched crossbeams in the middle of the walls, does not align with land-based habitations, where the roof and beams would hold the structure together. At the Ararat site, the joinery and cross beams were designed to bind the inner and outer walls together, the latter sloping inward toward the center. Also, the main floors slope downward or upward and the Ararat structure is completely filled with animal cages and pens of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects, as shown by the feces, feathers, fur, scales, and other non-bone remains, within the edifice. Some enclosures are very small, 20 cm in length; others are very large, up to 4 meters in length, with wood prongs at the perimeter of the cages. Further, the building materials that comprise the main Ararat site are not from eastern Anatolia, but comprise cypress, oak, and teak from hundreds of miles away. Furthermore, the artifacts within the principal Ararat edifice, such as the palm baskets, bitumen sealants, and lithic artifacts, represent materials and types from the Levant during the Late Epipaleolithic period (13,100-9,600 BC), at least 630 miles (1,014 km) distant from eastern Anatolia.

Not a Pen

I have surveyed numerous pens, especially near the border between Israel and Egypt, and studied Bedouin pens in their nomadic settlements, to ascertain the difference between sacred sites and ordinary caprovine pens. The Ararat site is not a standard pen because it comprises monumental architecture, with three floors, and enormous storage installations covered with seeds. Although the site is filled with cages and pens, of different sizes (20 cm to 4 m in length), for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects, the Ararat site is 2,000 meters above the vegetation line and impossible for most animals and humans to access, with millions of boulders covering the mountain and scree filling the southern gorge. In all areas of the world, from different archaeological periods, animal pens are simple enclosures made of boulders or other readily accessible materials. At the Ararat site, the thousands of cages and pens are within a monumental wood structure with complicated architectural features such as exterior walls that slope inward toward the central base of the structure, complex mortise-and-tenon and coak-and-dowel joinery, notched cross beams at different levels of the walls, and walls notched and shaped with stone adzes exhibiting a range of resin and bitumen sealants. Further, many of the wood beams that form the Ararat structure are enormous, multi-ton, planks of mostly cypress and, to a lesser extent, oak. No human group would built such an elaborate, monumental structure, by carrying wood beams and artifacts from the Levant, at least 630 miles distant, each weighing more than a ton, to build a three-tiered structure, 2,000 meters above the vegetation line, on boulder-covered Mount Ararat, to construct a standard animal enclosure.

Not a Kurgan Burial

The Ararat site is not a burial from any period, and certainly not a Kurgan tumulus from the third millennium BC. There are no skeletal remains of human, horse, donkey, or other animals or weapons of any kind including wood weapons with lithic inserts. The structure is a box-like, 3-floor wood structure at the bottom of a gorge covered with ice. Within the edifice there are no alters, stone fences, moats, bulwarks, poles, or columns. The artifacts comprise a strictly utilitarian assemblage such as grinding stones and baskets. There are no mound covering this Ararat site. Further, there are no statutes, statuettes, carvings, art, or iconography of person(s) and no geometrical ornamentation on the architecture of any kind or shape. Hence, the Ararat site does not represent a burial or burial complex.

Definitely a Trot-on / Trot-off ["To-To"] Maritime Barge

As a shipping executive at Crowley Maritime and Bernuth Lines, I was responsible for $250 million of assets ranging from Lift-on/Lift-off ["Lo-Lo"] self-propelled ships, where cargo containers are lifted on and off vessels with cranes, to Roll-on/Roll-off ["Ro-Ro"] propelled ships or towed barges, where vehicles drive (roll) containers on an off maritime vessels. I was also the Vice-President of ship assist for all tugs from San Diego to Alaska, which safely guides enormous vessels to the dock on the entire West Coast of the United States. With regard to archaeology, I have completed considerable archaeological surveys, excavations, and in depth reviews of archaeological work within maritime communities in Polynesia, specifically for all seven islands in American Samoa as well a doing archaeological work along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The Ararat site fulfills all the traits of an ancient maritime vessel. The main floors are sloped, a principal feature of Trot-on / Trot-off and Roll-on / Roll-off barges, to allow animals to ascend and descend to the thousands of pens and cages within the structure.

The outside walls of the structure slope and curve inward, toward the bottom center of the edifice, because these features represent the hull of a maritime vessel.

The Ararat site features notched cross-beams, mortise-and-tenon, and coak-and-dowel joinery, at different elevations on the walls, because this joinery binds the hull to the interior structures, a common feature in in naval architecture.

The exterior of the Ararat site is made of planks of Mediterranean cypress shaped with stone adzes.

Both sides of most of the beams are covered with sap caused by the aging of the trees and from Cypress canker, caused by fungal spores entering small cracks and wounds formed in the bark of the tree. Drought and nutrient deficiencies, a feature of the Late Epipaleolithic (13,100-9,600 BC), likely weakened many cypress trees, making them susceptible to canker disease.

In the interior of the Ararat site, the structure comprises both cypress and oak that are not aged making them easier to shape with stone adzes. Both cypress and oak are preferred wood in ancient maritime vessels because these species resist electrical conductivity and are less likely to degrade on the water. In ancient Turkish cultures, especially during the Seljuk and Ottoman Empires, the Mediterranean cypress was considered the tree of life and continues to be planted in graveyards and sacred grounds in Tuerkiye. Cypress wood sap has a pleasant odor that masked the the smell of the dead, a likely consideration in assuaging the odor of animal waste in the interior of the Ararat site. In addition, Egyptians utilized cypress wood to preserve mummies and prevent them from spoiling. Both Turkish and Egyptian cultures may have derived cypress tree beliefs from the Ararat edifice.

Also, the exterior walls of the Ararat site exhibit barnacles and other crustaceans, which is a common feature on maritime vessels throughout history, but surprising on a feature that is on greater Mount Ararat at elevations between 3,900 and 4,700 meters above sea level.

Along the eastern and western sides of the Ararat site, thousands of medium and large-sized boulders were deposited between the exterior cypress walls and rough cut beams, because these features represent ballasts that prevented the ancient barge from capsizing, a feature that continued in all large maritime vessels throughout history.

The lack of animal skeletal remains within the Ararat site, as opposed to the considerable fecal matter and other non-skeletal animal byproducts in the structure, are traits characteristic of To-To ships and barges, where animals are released at the destination ports, while their waste and other byproducts remain within the To-To vessel.

The Ararat site features thousands of cages and pens, of birds, carnivores, and herbivores, measuring 20 cm to 4 m in length, with many installations showing sloping floors. These features in the Ararat site are similar to the pens of modern To-To ships, which despite being larger, also feature sloping floors to wash off feces and other animal byproducts, but for fewer species, mostly sheep, goat, cattle, and chickens.

Moreover, the habitation sites for humans are small, cramped quarters, which feature wood furniture affixed to the walls, basalt bowls filled with undomesticated grains for herbivores that also left animal droppings within these installations. These multi-purpose habitations abound. For example, the Noah's Ark Codex, was found in a context where food was prepared.

Moreover, the artifacts solely comprise utilitarian specimens including basic grinding stones, simple baskets made of palm and other vegetal material, unelaborate wood and bone artifacts, wood bowls covered with burnt clay mud, and stone bowls and covers.

Worse still, the cages with fecal material are near storage pits filled with undomesticated seeds of chick-pea, pea, and bitter vetch, making a more likely vector for contamination and disease. The small, cramped, dirty, multi-use, human habitations are similar to small rooms aboard maritime vessels, which exhibit furniture such as beds, shelves, and tables attached to the walls, to prevent safety issues during rough seas.

Another feature in maritime vessels are ladders between decks in the center and sides of the edifice, which is found at the Ararat site with notched trunks abounding in the interior connecting the three floors.

Also, the Ararat site exhibits a series of chutes for the delivery of seeds into storage pits to narrow pathways for heavy ropes and cords. Small enclosures for heavy ropes are common in maritime vessels, especially for the lowering and raising of anchors. Further, chutes are still used today to fill cargo vessels with grain.

The origin of the Ararat site is most likely in the Levant due to the overlap of artifacts: distribution of Mediterranean cypress, palm and grape from the vegetal baskets, and stone bowls similar to Natufian containers from Eynan."

Conclusions

Joel Klenck concludes: "Utilizing deductivist (processual) archaeological method and theory, the Ararat site is 100% Noah's Ark because all the traits at the archaeological site match a Trot-on / Trot-off maritime barge, while rejecting all null hypotheses, as the locale is unlike all land-based structures such as cult sites, palaces, fortifications, domestic dwellings, and animal pens. Because the principal Ararat site is a Trot-on / Trot-off maritime barge, and Noah's Ark was a Trot-on / Trot-off maritime barge in the Bible and Qur'an, the main Ararat site is definitively Noah's Ark.

The willful degradation and illegal artifact removal from Noah's Ark, a holocaust of historic preservation, caused by some secular leftists and religious right wing groups, must halt. What follows will be efforts by Tuerkiye and others faithful to the tenets of historic preservation, to mitigate the loss of Noah's Ark, a precious, ancient archaeological site that is valuable to science, three Abrahamic faiths, the Republic of Tuerkiye, surrounding nations, and the global community."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

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Archaeologist Joel Klenck translates the Noah's Ark Codex, the earliest language from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC), and its images and symbols. Found within Noah’s Ark on greater Mount Ararat, the calf-skin parchment exhibits a language similar to Biblical Hebrew, reflects Ark accounts in Genesis and the Qur’an, indicates the number of clean animals and birds (7,112) and total animals (39,035) that survived the Flood, and shows the landing place of Noah’s Ark.

Lighthouse Point, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/17/2023 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., non-profit Ararat Conservation, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, translates the Noah's Ark Codex, the earliest language from the Late Epipaleolithic (13,100-9,600 BC), and its images and symbols. Found within Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat, the calf-skin parchment exhibits a language similar to Biblical Hebrew, reflects Ark accounts in Genesis and the Qur'an, indicates the number of clean animals and birds (7,112) and total animals (39,035) that survived the Flood, and shows the landing place of Noah's Ark.

Klenck confirms, "Noah's Ark is the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, 158 meters in length, in two general areas, within ten smaller locations, 3,900 to 4,700 meters in elevation, currently exhibiting 14 archaeological features, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the surface. The vessel dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC).

Klenck states, "Noah's Ark offers life or death to the Turkish Republic. Noah's Ark will provide at least $38 billion dollars annually to the Turkish Republic via religious tourism because the Ark is lauded by Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The Noah's Ark Codex is worth at least $100 million dollars and supports the views of the three Abrahamic faiths that Semitic languages represent the earliest language group. The nearest city, Dogubayazit, could soon rival Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Rome. If the central government of Turkey does not protect Noah's Ark, the PKK, a violent Marxist terrorist organization, renown for killing women and children, will discover the vessel, exchange its looted codex and artifacts for armaments, and spread Stone Age pandemics from tons of thawing animal feces in the Ark, bringing harm to Turkish civilians."

The prehistoric maritime barge exhibits an angled hull, thousands of cages, frozen animal dung on midden floors, sloping ramps, three decks, ballasts, cargo holds, nautical carpentry using stone adzes, and the interior and exterior of the vessel covered with pitch. Inside the Ark is a Late Epipaleolithic assemblage featuring stone tools and containers, vegetal baskets, textiles, cords, bone and wood artifacts, a prehistoric diet of chickpea, pea, bitter vetch, and undomesticated cereal grains, and no pottery. Conversely, near the Ark's entrances, later cultures constructed small areas of worship, with unique artifact placements, showing veneration for thousands of years with pottery types, from the Pottery Neolithic through Medieval periods, filled with the residue of wine, milk, and seeds, and stone figures from the early Sumerian Period. The structure matches descriptions of Noah's Ark by the Patriarch Moses in Genesis, renown scholars Berossus and Josephus, and Islam's Prophet Muhammed throughout the Qur'an. Akkadian seals from 2,300 BC portray the Ark on greater Mount Ararat and Hittite tablets from 1,300 BC mention Noah.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC and improved its concealment to support Armenian independence. When this revolution failed, the leader of the Armenian Church, Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907), issued orders to further conceal the Ark, a secret insured by Stalinist purges, which impacted Armenian history, causing a range of emotions. Klenck battles a group with ties to the PKK, who denigrate and destroy Noah's Ark, a prehistoric shrine for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism."

The archaeologist reports, "The Noah's Ark Codex was retrieved from the Ark, in Locus 14, Area A1, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat (Agri Dagi), in a context with wood bowls covered with clay and burned, dating to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC). The Codex is written on a calf-skin parchment, in an informal and formal manner, and resembles inscriptions from the Zayit Stone, Izbet Sartah Ostracon, and Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon, dating between the 14th and 10th centuries BC. The early context of the Codex, at the latest around 9,600 BC, clearly indicates that the alleged scripts of "Proto-Canaanite," "Paleo-Hebrew," and "Proto-Sinaitic" are derivates of this earliest language from the Stone Age. The Codex resembles Biblical Hebrew, yet several words in the manuscript also have similarities with later Semitic languages, especially Arabic, Sabean, Akkadian, Assyrian, Aramaic, and Ethiopic.

From the Noah's Ark Codex, only two of the seven pages were able to be opened, allowing reverse views of pages 2 and 4, and frontal recordings of pages 3 and 5. Translations of the verbiage and symbols are provided below.

Page 2

No images are discernable from the back of Page 2, only grooves from water impacting the collagen of the vellum. After reversing the page, the klaf page reveals three lines of verbiage, moving downward or right-to-left, which translates:

"They assembled. Here is living / Edge of living. Your goodness. And a mediator."

The first word, tuk-ku, is a Pual-Perfect-third-person-plural verb meaning "They assembled." The verb is found in Deuteronomy 33:3 and also signifies preparation for worship or instruction, which relates to animals assembling on the Ark and Noah and his family receiving instruction from God in Genesis 8:15-17.

The second line translates: "Here is living / edge of living. Your goodness," revealing linguistic complexity, as "pow" represents an adverb (here) and noun (edge). More interesting is that "pow" is unlike Hebrew but more similar to Assyrian (pu), the word for mouth or opening. The second word, "chay," is written in a bold heavy script, but the word is misspelled. It appears that another writer, likely Noah, adds a lighter gracile "yod," which corrects the spelling of "living."

The third line intersects the second line and means, "And a mediator." This phrase includes "me·litz," a complex Hiphil, participle, masculine, singular, causative verb identical to the verb in Job 33:23, signifying a heavenly messenger, perhaps the Angel of the Lord, frequently found in Genesis.

Page 3

The central image on Page 3 is oriented south, from the Ark's landing place in Area A1, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, showing the small mountain range directly south of Mount Ararat. This small range is clear from satellite photographs. A camel is shown in the foreground. The symbolic meaning of a camel in Hebrew denotes difficulty and survival and the more practical aspect of crossing the barren landscape after the Deluge. Both the range and camel are illuminated in gold, in Hebrew a symbol for reverence. On Page 2, moving right-to-left and down, two lines of verbiage translate:

"End of unripe figs. End [of where] you will dwell."

In the Codex, two rare, primitive words in the Bible are found in full form. On the first line: "End of unripe figs," refers to maturing vegetation after the Flood. The noun "pag," is a hapax legomenon, appearing once in Songs 2:13 in suffixed form. In the Codex, it appears in full form. However, in later languages, semblances of the word appear in Arabic, Aramaic, and Syriac.

In the second vertical line, the inscription: "End [of where] you will dwell," refers to the end of Noah and is family's residence inside the Ark. In both lines in Page 4, "nawl" is from the primitive root word "nalah." Only fragments of the word appear in larger composite phrases in the Bible such as in Isaiah 33:1. In the Codex, "nawl" appears twice in full form.

Page 4

On the reverse of Page 4, only striations are visible, from the water etching the collagen of the vellum. No gold illumination is visible. Still, the sheet reveals both a sketch and an array of intersecting words.

The sketch portrays a close view of the original location of Noah's Ark after the Deluge, on the southern plateau, beneath the summit, with an orientation from south to north. The location of the Ark is denoted by the largest X-like 'Tav' on the eastern side of the plateau. Today, a large portion of the Ark is still located there forming the best preserved loci, denoted as Area A1, in our reports and ArcGIS shapefiles to the Turkish government. Several comments are necessary. First, behind the plateau are drawings of other heights, which are now much higher. This discrepancy between the lower heights in the Codex, written at the end of the Late Epipaleolithic (ca. 9,600 BC), and much higher summit today is a result of significant volcanism on the north side of greater Mount Ararat. Second, although Area A1 comprises the best preserved section of the vessel, four more areas and nine more sections of the Ark have broken away and are located farther down the southern gorge and, with the exception of Area A4, on the western side of the gorge. Third, the original location of the Ark, identified with the largest Tav, is surrounded by a series of Tav inscriptions. Tav marks are significant in the Bible because God separates, preserves, and exempts from judgment those He inscribes with Tav marks such as in Ezekiel 9:4. The Codex indicates the antiquity of the Tav symbol and that God considered the Ark and its inhabitants as worthy of survival throughout the Deluge.

Within the sketch, Noah and his family write an array of intersecting words, similar to a crossword puzzle, showing the complexity of language during the Late Epipaleolithic. The words, moving right-to-left and downward, translate:

"I have put." "It [Ark] will remain." "Let Him instruct." "It runs down." And "Kneading trough."

These words surround and bisect the Ark, marked with the largest Tav. The phrase, "I have set," incorporates the largest Tav, denoting the landing place of Noah's Ark. The verb, "It will remain." is a Qal, imperfect, third person, feminine verb that reflects the Ark, "ta-vah," a feminine noun in Genesis 6:14. This verb, "to-tar," is written at the southern end of the highest plateau. Today, this locale comprises Area A1, where the best preserved contexts of Noah's Ark are buried as much as eleven meters beneath the surface. The word, "yawr" is a complex, Hiphil, shortened, imperfect, jussive, third-person, masculine, singular verb mostly referring to God directing Noah after the Flood in Genesis 9:1-17. The next two words exhibit the earliest ligature, the combination of two letters: a "lamed" and "tsadi sofit," in recorded history. "Ya-rutz" translates: "It runs [down]" referring to the Diluvial and post-Deluge rain running down the southern gorge, forming the sand-like scree. And "ma-losh" means "kneading trough," an apt description of the rain breaking apart the scree within the southern gorge.

Page 5

The image on Page 5 is greater Mount Ararat, from the south, showing the southern gorge, denoted by a series of V-shapes within the canyon. Near the summit is an open space, with a large Tav (X) mark, showing the landing place of the Ark, at the southern end of the highest plateau on greater Mount Ararat. Of note is that Mount Ararat appears relatively narrow, when the Codex was completed around 9,600 BC, compared to the sprawling expanse of the Mountain today, a result of geological activity during the last 11,600 years.

Page 5 features three important inscriptions with alphabetic and numeric meanings. These inscriptions translate:

"7,112 [and] 12." "As [there is] a fire, command a sacrificial feast." "Of a lamb [and] 39,035."

"As [there is] a fire, command a sacrificial feast" likely refers to the sacrifice Noah made, of clean animals and clean birds, after the Flood (Gen. 8:20). "Le-te-leh" means "of a lamb" or "for the lamb" in Hebrew but has a wider meaning in later Semitic languages to include gazelle (Arabic) and goats (Ethiopic).

The Noah's Ark Codex evidences the Hebrew numeric system began in the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC). Each letter corresponds to a number, with no notation for zero. Thousands are indicated by a letter followed by a single geresh or apostrophe. Here, in Position 1, zayin is followed by a single geresh, representing 7 multiplied by 1,000 or 7,000. Numbers over 10 are formed by combining letters, whose numerical equivalents are added together. Multiple or no gershayim between letters indicates the letters are numbers, but do not signify multiples of a number. Here, in Positions 2 to 4, the Hebrew inscriptions represent 6 + 6 + 100 or 112, with three gershayim between the vavs, and four gershayim between the qof and vav. While number 7,112 appears above greater Mount Ararat, in Positions 1 to 4, two additional vavs, signifying 6 + 6 or 12, appear within the mountain, in Positions 16 and 17. In positions 12 to 15, the lamed (30) and tet (9) have a single geresh, to multiply by 1,000, indicating that the word for lamb is also a number which signifies 30,000 + 9,000 + 30 + 5 = 39,035.

Given (1) the context where the Codex was found in Locus 14, Area A1, within Noah's Ark; (2) Page 5 of the Codex (Positions 5-11) mentions a sacrificial feast akin to Genesis 8:20, where after the Flood, Noah sacrificed "some of all the clean animals and clean birds"; (3) 7,112 is divisible by 7 and appears above the summit of greater Ararat (Pos. 1-4) while 12 is written within the mountain (Pos. 16-17), we assert the following. First, 7,112 represents the total number of clean animals and birds that survived the Flood (Gen. 7:2,3; Pos. 1-4). Second, 7,112 divided by 7 signifies that at most 1,016 kinds (baramin) of clean animals and birds survived the Deluge. Third, 12 clean animals and clean birds were sacrificed by Noah on an altar after the Flood (Gen. 8:20; Pos. 16-17). Fourth, 39,035 total animals survived the Flood and descended Mount Ararat (Gen. 8:15-19; Pos. 12-15). Subtracting 7,112 clean animals and birds, from 39,035 total animals descending Mount Ararat, results in 31,923 animals. The latter, divided by pairs (2) of male and female animals (Gen. 7:2), signifies that a maximum of 15,962 non-avian, unclean animal kinds [baramin] survived the Flood, left the Ark, and descended greater Mount Ararat.

Beneath the image of Mount Ararat are two five-branch menorahs without bases. Today, this menorah is often placed on the cantor's stand in a synagogue and represents mourning for the deceased. These images in the Codex likely signify sorrow for all life that perished outside the Ark during the Deluge."

Summary

The archaeologist states: "Even at this early stage, the Noah's Ark Codex supports several significant conclusions. First, human language was very advanced during the Pleistocene, before the Flood, similar to modern languages of today. Second, the Codex supports the theories of Richard Steiner and Douglas Petrovich that Hebrew is the oldest language with the oldest alphabet, respectively. Yet, the Codex conflicts with their views that the earliest Hebrew was originally in pictographic form similar to Egyptian Hieratic. Instead, the parchment confirms that Hebrew script continued with few modifications from the Epipaleolithic to the Israelite monarchy under David and Solomon. Further, the Codex reveals the supposed ancestral languages to Hebrew: Proto-Canaanite, Proto-Sinaitic, and Phoenician, are in fact later derivations from Epipaleolithic Hebrew. Together with the Bible, the Codex suggests that the language of God, the angels, and Adam and Eve was this Epipaleolithic Hebrew, which is very similar to Biblical Hebrew.

The Codex also confirms the importance of preservation and taphonomic processes affecting our knowledge of languages. The context where the Codex was found was in Locus 14, Area A1, the most elevated and best preserved section of Noah's Ark, surrounded by four larger structures and ultimately the vessel's hull. The interior and exterior of these structures are covered by layers of bitumen and resin and Area A1 has an elevation above 4000 meters on greater Mount Ararat and is buried under eight (8) meters of glacial ice and lithic material, with no humidity. In any other context, the Codex would have decomposed. Similar to the Codex, the "Toledot" manuscripts, which Ibn-Ezra (1089-1167) suggested Moses compiled to form Genesis, were likely written on klaf parchment, similar to Torah scrolls of today, and disintegrated. Perhaps the Sumerian use of clay tablets were a means to compete with Biblical views and ensure Sumerian beliefs, featuring pantheism and astrology, would be better preserved.

The Codex also supports the significance of Hebrew scholarship that preserved many aspects of Epipaleolithic Hebrew, from its right to left script, to the straight-line Vav, from the Codex (9,600 BC), to the Izbet Sartah Ostracon (1,350-1,250 BC), to the Talmud (AD 200-1000). Moreover, the Codex reveals much continuity of the Hebrew language from Noah, to Abraham, Moses, David, Talmudic scholars, and ultimately to Ben-Yehuda and modern Hebrew.

The Codex supports the conclusions of the Patriarch Moses, Jesus Christ, and Islam's Prophet Muhammed that the Semitic language group is the oldest and progeniture for all languages on earth. The complexity of the Epipaleolithic language in the Codex reflects an array of verbs, nouns, and adverbs that continue today in modern Semitic languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic. As such, the manuscript starkly conflicts with Western nationalist and secular theories that downplay Semitic cultures, the Abrahamic faiths, and the veracity of ancient scholarship.

Moreover, the differing orientations of the characters, from at least three authors of the Codex, continued to be represented in ancient alphabets of different language groups such as the Western Greek, Near Eastern Semitic, and Far Eastern Indus civilizations. As such, Noah's Ark is not only an origin site for technical complexity such as maritime architecture, domestication of plants, and invention of ceramics, but also cultural complexity as the germination point for different languages, from the consistency of Hebrew to the floruit of Arabic."

Klenck concludes, "Ultimately, the pressure is on the central government of Turkey to capture and preserve the Noah's Ark Codex from Ahmet Ertugrul, before it is forcibly taken by the PKK, sold for $100 million dollars, and used to fund Marxist terrorism in Tuerkiye for the next decade. The secular left and religious right must halt the denigration and looting of Noah's Ark, this pogrom of prehistory, entailing the willful destruction of a defenseless archaeological site, religious shrine, and origin point for civilizations after the great Deluge."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist Joel Klenck describes how the rediscovered Noah’s Ark will provide $38 billion dollars per year of new revenue for the Republic of Türkiye because Noah’s Ark is a fact, a foundational account for three world religions, and solely Turkish. If unguarded, the PKK terrorist group will loot the Ark and spread Stone Age viruses and bacteria from thawing animal feces and other organic material within the Ark.

Lighthouse Point, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/06/2022 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., non-profit Ararat Conservation, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, reports the rediscovered Noah's Ark will provide $38 billion dollars per year of new revenue for the Republic of Tuerkiye because Noah's Ark is a fact, a foundational account for three world religions, and the infrastructure surrounding the prehistoric barge is solely Turkish. If the Turkish government does not guard the prehistoric barge on Mount Ararat, the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane ("PKK"), a Marxist terrorist organization, will find the structure, loot the site, and spread bacteria and viruses from the Stone Age.

Klenck confirms, "Noah's Ark is the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, 158 meters in length, in two general areas, within ten smaller locations, 3,900 to 4,700 meters in elevation, currently exhibiting 14 archaeological features, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the surface. The vessel dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC)."

The maritime barge shows veneration for millennia, unique artifact placement, stone carvings, prehistoric diet, especially of chickpea, frozen animal dung, and carpentry using stone adzes, covered with pitch. Within the Ark are lithic tools, stone containers, and frozen vegetal baskets, textiles, cords, bone, and wood artifacts. The prehistoric vessel exhibits angled hulls, thousands of cages, sloping ramps, three decks, ballasts, and cargo holds. The structure matches descriptions of Noah's Ark in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus and Josephus. Akkadian seals from 2,300 BC portray the Ark on greater Mount Ararat and Hittite tablets from 1,300 BC mention Noah.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC and improved its concealment to support Armenian independence. When this revolution failed, Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) issued orders to further obscure the Ark, a secret insured by Stalinist purges, which impacted Armenian history, and is causing a range of emotions. Klenck battles a group with ties to the PKK, who denigrate and destroy Noah's Ark, a prehistoric shrine for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Klenck asserts, "Noah's Ark will expand tourism revenue in eastern Tuerkiye because the prehistoric barge is a foundational account in both Sunni and Shia Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Noah's Ark will generate at least $38 billion dollars per year for Turkey because Noah's Ark is a belief that predates any schisms between and within these three faiths. Religious pilgrimage in 2018-2019 generated up to $92.1 billion dollars for Iran, Israel, Italy, and Saudi Arabia."

"If the central government of Tuerkiye does not protect Noah's Ark," Klenck warns, "the PKK will discover the archaeological site. The threat from the PKK is two-fold. First, the artifacts and architecture from the Ark are worth at least $100 million dollars. The region around eastern Tuerkiye is known for its brisk trade in illegal antiquities and their exchange for weaponry by terrorist organizations including the PKK and Al Qaeda (Da'esh). Second, the PKK's discovery and looting of Noah's Ark will expose their militia to bacteria and viruses not seen since the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC).

Glacial ice on greater Mount Ararat has melted by 50 percent in recent decades causing terrible decomposition within Noah's Ark. Within the Ark, layers of animal feces on the floors, pens, and cages are thawing and the wood architecture and organic artifacts are rotting. During the height of the summer, portions in the barge smell like an open sewer. From this mix of animal feces, organic decomposition, and wood rot, viruses and bacteria are being released from the last part of the Stone Age. Ancient visitors to the Ark were wary of the hazards in the interior of the Ark because they built small enclosures and left votive objects near the entrances to the vessel but not within the prehistoric barge."

By removing at least 138 large artifacts from Noah's Ark, Klenck believes Ahmet Ertugrul, the rediscoverer of the Ark, brought disease and death to his family: "When Ertugrul was in the Ark, Ahmet wore a hazmat suit and mask. Then Ertugrul took artifacts from the Ark, covered with microbes, into the homes of his family. Ahmet did not put the artifacts in acid-free bags but left the specimens in the open exposing his entire family to the pathogens. Ahmet was repeatedly hospitalized for digestive issues and surgeries. Ahmet's brother, Mehmet, became very ill, and Mehmet's wife died, all in proximity to artifacts from Noah's Ark."

Klenck states he was more fortunate. Although Klenck was terribly ill and had blisters and sores covering his legs, Klenck states his quick recovery was probably due to the range of inoculations he received, including the anthrax vaccine in 1998, while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. Also, being an archaeologist in North America, Europe, Near East, and Polynesia, Klenck was exposed to many types of pathogens, which he believes gave him added immunity. Further, Klenck took precautions around the Ark and its artifacts and always wore surgical masks and gloves, which he discarded after each study. Finally, Klenck was at the Ark only briefly to locate each context and report to the Turkish government.

"If the PKK starts looting Noah's Ark," the archaeologist warns, "their militia members will be in the vessel for prolonged periods and breathe in and touch viruses and bacteria from the Stone Age including plagues and other diseases. Stone Age anthrax was released from ordinary soil within melting permafrost in Russia. In the Ark, pathogens are emerging from contexts much more conducive to disease, especially tons of thawing animal feces. The PKK will unknowingly spread diseases to their families, throughout eastern Tuerkiye, and potentially to the global community. Pathogens from Noah's Ark require administrative control by the central government of Turkey because these ancient diseases in the Ark will create a public health crisis."

Klenck concludes, "For the Turkish Republic, Noah's Ark offers prosperity or tragedy. If President Erdogan and the Turkish military protect Noah's Ark, a sacred site lauded by the Muslim Prophet Muhammed, Jesus Christ, and the Patriarch Moses, the Republic of Tuerkiye will acquire incredible prestige and fortune as eastern Anatolia becomes a global pilgrimage center. But if Tuerkiye fails to protect Noah's Ark, the PKK will find the Ark, because they are searching for the vessel, and will acquire more than $100 million dollars from looting the Ark. The PKK are staunch Marxists and will sell Ark artifacts for weaponry to commit terrorists acts against the Turkish military and its civilians. When the PKK loot Noah's Ark, they will be exposed to ancient pathogens, from tons of thawing animal feces, organic artifacts, and wood architecture within the prehistoric barge. PKK militia will become agents for the spread of terrible diseases throughout Tuerkiye and the world. It is imperative that President Erdogan and AK Parti guard Noah's Ark before the PKK discover the Ark and start a global health crisis."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist Joel Klenck reports that within Noah’s Ark on greater Mount Ararat, explorers retrieved a calf-skin parchment from Area A1, Locus 14, in an archaeological context from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 and 9,600 BC), exhibiting Paleo-Hebrew letters and numbers.

Lighthouse Point, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/30/2022 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., and non-profit Ararat Conservation, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, reports that within the rediscovered Noah's Ark a calf-skin parchment was found in a context dating between 13,100 and 9,600 BC. The parchment exhibits Paleo-Hebrew letters, numbers, and grammar. Moreover, the characters reflect the writings of four individuals, most likely Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, or their wives, as noted in Genesis 6:10 and the Qur'an.

Klenck confirms, "Noah's Ark is the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, 158 meters in length, in two general areas, within ten smaller locations, 3,900 to 4,700 meters in elevation, currently exhibiting 14 archaeological features, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the surface. The vessel dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC).

Noah's Ark offers life or death to the Turkish Republic. Noah's Ark will provide at least $38 billion dollars annually to the Turkish Republic via religious tourism because the Ark is lauded by Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The Noah's Ark Codex is priceless and supports the views of the three Abrahamic faiths that the Semitic language group includes the earliest language. The nearest city, Dogubayazit, could soon rival Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Rome. If the central government of Turkey does not protect Noah's Ark, the PKK, a violent Marxist terrorist organization, renown for killing women and children, will the discover the vessel, exchange its looted codex and artifacts for armaments, and spread Stone Age pandemics from tons of thawing animal feces in the Ark, bringing harm to Turkish civilians."

The prehistoric maritime barge exhibits angled hulls, thousands of cages, frozen animal dung on midden floors, sloping ramps, three decks, ballasts, cargo holds, nautical carpentry using stone adzes, and the interior and exterior of the vessel covered with pitch. Inside the Ark there is no pottery, but a Late Stone Age (13,100-9,600 BC) assemblage featuring stone tools and containers, vegetal baskets, textiles, cords, bone and wood artifacts, a prehistoric diet of chickpea, bitter vetch, pea, and cereal grains in various stages of domestication.

Conversely, near entrances leading inside the Ark, later cultures constructed small areas of worship, with unique artifact placements, showing veneration for thousands of years with pottery types from the Pottery Neolithic (7,000-5,800 BC) through Medieval periods (AD 700-1375), filled with the residue of wine, milk, and seeds. Also, stone figures, from the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period (2,900-2,334 BC), were found in these small worship areas.

Akkadian seals from 2,300 BC portray the Ark on greater Mount Ararat and Hittite tablets from 1,300 BC mention Noah. The structure matches descriptions of Noah's Ark by the Patriarch Moses in Genesis, renown scholars Berossus and Josephus, and Islam's Prophet Muhammed throughout the Quran.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC and improved its concealment to support Armenian independence. When this revolution failed, the leader of the Armenian Church, Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907), issued orders to further conceal the Ark, a secret insured by Stalinist purges, which impacted Armenian history, causing a range of emotions. Klenck battles a group with ties to the PKK, who denigrate and destroy Noah's Ark, a prehistoric shrine for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

The archaeologist notes: "The Codex rebuffs modern linguistic views that the earliest languages emerged from an amalgam of populations distributed throughout the globe. Instead, the presence of the Ark on Mount Ararat, and its Paleo-Hebrew manuscript, supports claims by the Patriarch Moses, Jesus Christ, and Islam's Prophet Muhammed that the Semitic language group includes the first language on earth, which survived the catastrophic global flood.

Notable scholars such as Abraham Ibn Ezra (AD 1089-1167) opined the initial chapters of Genesis were memorized by each generation from Adam to Moses. 'Toledot' are first mentioned in Genesis 2:5 and continue, for example, in Genesis 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 10:32, and 11:10. Ibn Ezra theorized that Toledot, which means 'account' or 'generations,' were used as segments so early descendants would memorize key Biblical accounts from creation, through the Flood, to the Exodus from Egypt. With the Codex evidencing a written language, Paleo-Hebrew, before the Flood, at the end of the Pleistocene and Late Stone Age, Ibn Ezra's claims about memorization should be revised. In lieu of the Noah's Ark Codex, Toledot represented written documents that were compiled by Moses in his writing of the Pentateuch, from Genesis to Deuteronomy.

The context where the Codex was found was in Area A1, Locus 14, a small enclave within the second deck of the vessel, that was used to heat food and water. The manuscript was found in a small hidden niche, behind partially cut, vertically placed, cypress beams which formed the walls of the installation. In Locus 14, the precursors of ceramic containers were found, where Noah and his family placed wood containers, covered with clay mud, and heated them in the Ark. These containers elucidate the origins of ceramics manufacturing, where it was assumed that pottery developed from gypsum and burnt lime containers or White Ware (Vaiselles Blanches).

Now, due to Noah's Ark, archaeologists must contend with a simpler model for the origins of pottery: Stone Age populations fashioned wood containers, covered them with clay, and heated them over fires. Eventually, humans eliminated the wood containers and focused on solely clay containers that were hardened via heat, thus providing the genesis of ceramic manufacturing.

There are several different types of handwriting in the Codex, from the heavy blocky writing of one individual to the lighter gracile characters of an editor which corrects a misspelling, the Paleo-Hebrew word for 'life.'

The Noah's Ark Codex is written on specially prepared parchment known as klaf or vellum, made from the skin of kosher animals such as a calf. The cover of the Codex measures 14.67 cm in length and 10.59 cm in width. Both the cover and three bindings are made of soft leather. The Codex comprises seven (7) pages of thin klaf, with disintegrating edges, measuring 9.75 cm in length and 7.53 cm in width.

Vellum has much collagen. When water in paint impacts the parchment's surface, the collagen melts, forming grooves in the klaf and raised surfaces for the paint. Vellum is affected by the environment, especially humidity. The context where the Codex was found was in Locus 14, Area A1, the most elevated and best preserved section of the Ark. Locus 14 is surrounded by four larger structures and ultimately the vessel's hull. The interior and exterior of these structures are covered by layers of pitch or bitumen and resin. Area A1 has an elevation above 4000 meters on greater Mount Ararat and is buried under eight (8) meters of glacial ice and lithic material, with no humidity. Much of the paint of the Codex has faded. What remains are the grooved striations caused by the melting of the collagen when the paint was initially applied in the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC).

The Codex is written right to left, similar to modern Hebrew and Arabic, and from top to bottom. The pages are mostly adhered together. Somewhat tragically, the discoverers of the manuscript pried apart two sections of the manuscript exposing pages 2, 3, 4, and 5. For pages 2 and 4, impressions of the collagen striations in the vellum are discernable but portray reverse images. Hence, at this point, scholars can discern the reverse of pages 2 and 4, and front of pages 3 and 5. The Paleo-Hebrew characters evidence a range of clarity from bold, deeply incised letters to faint striations. Multi-spectral and x-ray imaging is needed to discern more verbiage and symbols from the Codex.

The Codex also shows the first evidence for illumination, where three images: Mount Ararat, the mountain range immediately south of Ararat, and a camel are covered with gold powder mixed with either gum arabic or egg, a layer known as shell gold. Lastly, the Codex portrays two 5-candle menorahs without bases under greater Mount Ararat.

There is a belief among Kurdish populations, living near greater Mount Ararat, that Noah's Ark contains gold. This belief is correct. The illumination on the Codex was made from gold powder somewhere within the vessel. The Ark is in a remote location, on the highest mountain in the Near East, distant from sources of gold. Also, the Codex reveals imagery, such as the low northern summit behind the southern plateau, present only at the end of the Epipaleolithic Period, around 9,600 BC, before volcanism increased the elevation and altered the morphology of the Mountain's north side.

Also, the Codex suggests there might be other klaf manuscripts inside Noah's Ark. The authors of the Codex do not fully utilize the space of the vellum pages and instead treat the manuscript as a literary exercise featuring Paleo-Hebrew word plays, brief expressions, and descriptions of the illuminated images. Also, the manuscript mentions aspects about Noah and the Flood described in Genesis and the Qur'an but does not match phrases in either document. As such, I believe other manuscripts, such as 'Toledot' sections noted in the Bible and discussed by Ibn Ezra are still hidden in the vessel."

Klenck concludes: "This precious Codex, like so much of the artifacts and architecture in Noah's Ark, must be controlled by the central government of Turkey. Now, priceless artifacts from Noah's Ark, lauded by the Muslim Prophet Muhammed, Jesus Christ, and the Patriarch Moses, which represent the dawn of civilization and the origin of the Neolithic Period, are being looted and damaged with limited supervision by Turkish archaeological authorities. This destruction of the Ark and its artifacts is a catastrophe."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist Joel Klenck details how the rediscovered Noah’s Ark will provide $38 billion dollars per year of incremental revenue for the Republic of Turkey because Noah’s Ark is a fact, a foundational account to three world religions, and exclusively Turkish. If not protected, the Marxist PKK terrorist group will find and loot the Ark to support attacks against the Turkish military and civilians.

Lighthouse Point, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/20/2022 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., non-profit Ararat Conservation, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, reports the rediscovered Noah's Ark will provide $38 billion dollars per year of incremental revenue for the Republic of Turkey because Noah's Ark is a fact, a foundational belief to three world religions, and the infrastructure surrounding the prehistoric barge is exclusively Turkish. Conversely, if the Turkish government does not guard the prehistoric barge on Mount Ararat, the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane ("PKK"), a violent Marxist organization, will find the structure, loot the artifacts worth at least $100 million dollars, supporting attacks against Turkey for several decades.

Klenck confirms, "Noah's Ark is the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, 158 meters in length, in two general areas, within ten smaller locations, 3,900 to 4,700 meters in elevation, currently exhibiting 14 archaeological features, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the surface. The vessel dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC).

The maritime barge shows veneration for millennia, unique artifact placement, stone carvings, prehistoric diet, especially of chickpea, frozen animal dung, and carpentry using stone adzes, covered with pitch. Within the Ark are lithic tools, stone containers, and frozen vegetal baskets, textiles, cords, bone, and wood artifacts. The prehistoric vessel exhibits angled hulls, thousands of cages, sloping ramps, three decks, ballasts, and cargo holds. The structure matches descriptions in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus and Josephus. Akkadian seals from 2,300 BC portray the Ark and Hittite tablets from 1,300 BC mention Noah.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC and improved its concealment to support Armenian independence. When this revolution failed, Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) issued orders to further conceal the Ark, a secret insured by Stalinist purges, which impacted Armenian history, and is causing a range of emotions. Klenck battles a group with ties to the PKK, who denigrate and destroy Noah's Ark, a prehistoric shrine for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Klenck insists, "Noah's Ark will rocket tourism revenue in eastern Turkey because the prehistoric barge is a foundational belief in both Sunni and Shia Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Noah's Ark will generate at least $38 billion dollars per year for Turkey because Noah's Ark is a belief that predates any schisms between and within these three faiths. In 2018 and 2019, religious pilgrimage comprised up to $92.1 billion dollars of annual income from only four countries."

For Shia Islam, the former CEO of Iran's Tourism Development Corporation, Gholamhossein Hosseini, states that Iran has 8,000 sacred sites and pilgrimage places, especially the religious cities of Mashhad, Qom, Shiraz and Tehran. Iran's deputy tourism minister, Vali Teimouri, states that in 2018 nearly 8 million tourists brought an average of $1,490 dollars per person or the equivalent of $11.92 billion US dollars into Iran.

For all Muslims, the Qur'an demands a pilgrimage to Mecca in the predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia. According to 2019 data, tourism receipts in US dollars accounted for $19.85 billion in Saudi Arabia. For Christianity, Israel and Italy are primary places of religious tourism, with the latter being the ancestral origin of Judaism. Data from 2019 shows tourism receipts totaled $8.46 billion in Israel and $51.91 billion in Italy. Rome itself acquired $5.61 billion in tourism revenue.

The archaeologist explains: "What is special about Noah's Ark is all three faiths hold the prehistoric vessel to be a central tenet inviting all believers to venerate this monumental structure. Conversely, non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Mecca and Medina. Many Muslims find it difficult to travel to Israel. Muslims and Jews have little interest in visiting Italy, especially for religious tourism. However, Noah's Ark is a foundational belief in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The most zealous imam, fundamentalist preacher, and orthodox rabbi will venerate Noah's Ark.

Noah's Ark is on greater Mount Ararat, a Turkish national park near the city of Dogubayazit. Turkey is very equipped to accommodate the rediscovery of Noah's Ark. First, their military is very strong in the Agri Province. Second, their religious community is presided over by the Diyanet or Directorate of Religious Affairs, which manages multiple faiths within the Turkish Republic. Third, Turkish archaeologists are excellent in conserving maritime sites and wood architecture. Fourth, only Turkish companies provide flights to airports in eastern Turkey. Fifth, President Erdogan has championed the continuity of low interest rates, enabling the rapid buildup of infrastructure within eastern Turkey. This fiscal strategy is crucial for the construction of lodging, transportation, museums, and religious centers at the base of Mount Ararat."

"If Turkey's central government does not protect Noah's Ark," Klenck warns, "the PKK will find this archaeological site. The artifacts and architecture from the Ark are worth at least $100 million dollars. In the next several months, the PKK will be able to access the vessel and rob the artifacts from the family of Ahmet Ertugrul, who rediscovered the Ark. The PKK are staunch Marxists, oppose religious beliefs, and will sell Ark artifacts for weapons to fund terrorism. The PKK are renown for attacks against the Turkish military and soft targets, such as women and children. The region around eastern Turkey is notorious for its brisk trade in illegal antiquities and their exchange for weaponry by terrorist organizations such as the PKK and Al-Qaeda."

Klenck concludes, "For the Turkish Republic, Noah's Ark offers life or death. If President Erdogan and the Turkish military protect Noah's Ark, a sacred site lauded by the Muslim Prophet Muhammed, Jesus Christ, and the Patriarch Moses, the Republic of Turkey will acquire incredible prosperity as eastern Turkey becomes a global pilgrimage center. But if Turkey fails, the PKK will find the Ark and fund horrific attacks. President Erdogan and AK Parti must protect Noah's Ark."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist Joel Klenck reports Hurrian cuneiform tablets, from the Hittite capital Hattusas in archaeological contexts from the 13th century BC, mention an ancient global flood, Noah, Mount Ararat, and supreme deity, similar to accounts in the Bible and Quran.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/23/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, reports Hurrian cuneiform tablets, from the thirteenth century BC, mention Noah, a global Flood, Mount Ararat, and a supreme deity, similar to accounts in the Bible and Quran.

Klenck is certain: "The cuneiform tablets coincide with the rediscovery of Noah's Ark, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, in eastern Turkey. Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is more than 150 meters in length, in two general areas, within 10 larger features, exhibiting 13 distinct loci, at elevations between 3,900 and 4,700 meters, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the gorge's surface. The vessel's origin dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC) and earlier and represents the progenitor site for the Neolithic.

The maritime barge shows veneration for thousands of years, unique placement of artifacts, stone carvings, prehistoric diet of bitter vetch, pea, and chickpea seeds, floors covered with cyrodessicated animal dung, diverse carpentry methods, stone artifacts, vegetal baskets, textiles and cords, bone and wood artifacts, with walls and features covered with pitch coatings of bitumen and resin. The vessel features angled hulls, thousands of cages, sloping ramps, three decks, ballast features, and large cargo holds. The Ark's wood architecture shaped by stone tools, baskets, stone containers, and botanical remains of grape and pre-domesticated cereals were frozen or freeze-dried causing enhanced preservation for millennia. The structure follows all traits described in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus, Josephus, and in Alexandrian traditions.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC, improved concealment tactics in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and used the Ark to support Armenian independence from Ottoman Turkey. When this revolution failed, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907), issued orders to conceal the Ark, a secret ensured by Stalinist purges in the 1930s, which impacted Anatolian history, the Armenian diaspora, and is causing a range of emotions over the Ark's public exposure in 2021."

The archaeologist battles a small group of detractors, who denigrate the protection, conservation, of research of Noah's Ark, and attempt to destroy the iconic archaeological site and shrine to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

The archaeologist notes: "This site was ignored because European and North American secular views discounted the accuracy of ancient religious accounts. Western scholars also disregarded four major traditions describing Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat. Moses in Genesis 8:4 describes the Ark landing on the mountains of Ararat or Urartu. Canaanite, Mesopotamian, or Hurrian accounts describe a deity, El, other spiritual entities, and Noah on the mountains of Ararat. The Islamic Prophet Mohammed in the Quran (Sura 11) states Noah's boat landed on the highest mountain, which is greater Mount Ararat in the Near East. Also, greater Mount Ararat is portrayed as the twin mountain or 'Mashu' or 'Masu' in Mesopotamian and Hurrian accounts. From this twin mountain tradition, two Akkadian cylinder seals reveal the Ark's location.

Two clay tablets were discovered during archaeological excavations of the Hittite capital of Hattusas, near the village of Boghazkoy, in the Republic of Turkey. The archaeological contexts were dated to thirteenth century BC and comprised cuneiform inscriptions in Hurrian describing an ancient global flood. These scripts were described and numbered in two volumes: Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazkoi ("KUB") 8.61 and Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazkoi ("KBo") 8.144. Inscriptions are located on the reverse of each cuneiform tablet: KUB 8.61 on line 6 and KBo 8.144 in section 7, position 22. In both clay tablets, a composite name is inscribed: NA-ACH-MA-SU-LE-EL. NA-ACH is very similar to the Biblical Noah (NO-ACH) and Quranic Nuh (NUCH or NU-CHU). MA-SU translates as the twin mountains of greater and lesser Mount Ararat. LE translates to the preposition for or to. Lastly, EL is the name of the supreme deity to the Hurrians and Canaanites, similar to the Biblical Elohim and Quranic Allah. Combined together the inscriptions translate to "Noah Mount Ararat for God."

Klenck concludes: "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark represents a paradigm shift and the greatest discovery of the ancient world. Denigrators who attempt to destroy the Ark need to be careful because the site is a Muslim shrine, cultural heritage site for the Republic of Turkey, prehistoric archaeological site of revolutionary importance, and a source of prosperity for the entire region, with religious and cultural tourism. Harming Noah's Ark and preventing its conservation harms three world religions, the Republic of Turkey, and Middle Eastern populations."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist Joel Klenck exhibits Mesopotamian cylinder seals from the third millennium BC showing the location of Noah’s Ark, on a plateau beneath the summit, on the south side of greater Mount Ararat.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/16/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, chairperson and senior lecturer of the archaeology and cultural heritage department at the National University of Samoa, and current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, exhibits Mesopotamian cylinder seals from 2,300 BC showing the location of Noah's Ark on a plateau beneath the summit of greater Mount Ararat.

Klenck is certain: "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is more than 150 meters in length, in two general areas, within 10 larger features, exhibiting to date 13 distinct loci, at elevations between 3,900 and 4,700 meters, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the gorge's surface. The vessel's origin dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC) and earlier and represents the progenitor site for the Neolithic or farming revolution. The structure is a maritime barge with angled hulls, thousands of cages, sloping ramps, three decks, ballast features, and large cargo holds with a prehistoric diet of bitter vetch, pea, and chickpea seeds. The Ark's wood architecture, baskets, containers, and botanical remains of grape and pre-domesticated cereals were frozen or cryodesiccated causing enhanced preservation for millennia. The structure follows all traits described in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus, Josephus, and in Alexandrian traditions.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC, improved concealment tactics in the 19th and early 20th centuries, using the Ark to support Armenian independence from Ottoman Turkey. When this revolution failed, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907), issued orders to conceal the Ark, a secret ensured by Stalinist purges in the 1930s, impacting Anatolian history, the Armenian diaspora, and causing a range of emotions over the Ark's public revelation in 2021."

The archaeologist notes: "This site was ignored because European and North American secular views discounted the accuracy of ancient religious accounts. Western scholars also disregarded four major traditions describing Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat. Moses in Genesis 8:4 describes the Ark landing on the mountains of Ararat or Urartu. Canaanite, Mesopotamian, or Hurrian accounts describe God (El), other spiritual entities, and Noah on the mountains of Ararat. The Islamic Prophet Mohammed in the Quran (Sura 11) states Noah's boat landed on the highest mountain, which is greater Mount Ararat in the Near East. Also, greater Mount Ararat is portrayed as the twin mountain or 'Mashu' in Mesopotamian and Hurrian accounts. From this twin mountain tradition, two Akkadian cylinder seals reveal the Ark's location.

The black Serpentinite seal from southern Iraq, created during the Akkadian period, dates to around 2,300 BC. The seal shows Shamash standing between the Mashu or twin mountains of Ararat holding a 'shasharu' or pruning knife of judgment. Above greater Mount Ararat, shown with a higher elevation, is the symbol of Noah's Ark with three decks following Genesis 6:16. Also portrayed is a spade, the method to access the Ark, by digging under the ground to enter the vessel. The twin mountains are between a portal where mortals are able to meet and converse with deities similar to Noah's communications in the Bible, in Genesis 6-9, and Quran, in Surah 11. Lastly, a plateau-like feature on the seal was made with a sharp horizontal incision beneath the southern summit of greater Mount Ararat.

The greenstone Adda Seal from Sippar, likely formed during the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2,334-2,279 BC), also shows the twin mountains from the southern perspective of Mesopotamia, with greater Mount Ararat to the west. Here, the Zu bird is flying toward greater Mount Ararat holding a branch in its beak, similar to the dove in Genesis 8:11. Ishtar is standing on greater Mount Ararat with Shamash holding the pruning knife of judgement, staring at a point beneath the summit on the south side of the Mountain, surrounded by other Akkadian deities.

These cylinder seals accurately show Noah's Ark on the south side of greater Mount Ararat, on a plateau beneath the summit, and accessible by digging from the surface into the Ark.

These seals also reveal how Akkadians, during the 3rd millennium BC, portrayed human faces with an emphasis on the eyes, a pronounced nose, and indistinct face. A similar depiction is exhibited in Artifact 13 made from pumice, a light and porous volcanic rock, retrieved near a reliquary from Noah's Ark. Here, eye notches form the pronounced nose of the specimen, which lacks other facial features, similar to Akkadian artistry for their deities around 2,300 BC.

Klenck concludes, "Noah's Ark represents the beginning of the post-secular age, a stunning Rosetta Stone between the faiths of three world religious: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and positivist science. Still, this magnificent ancient vessel is subject to continual looting and widespread decomposition. The Republic of Turkey and world community must accelerate the protection and conservation of this religious and cultural masterpiece."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist states the father of Tom Brady, of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, gave him the impetus that led to the rediscovery of Noah’s Ark in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/02/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, reports that Tom Brady Senior, the father of the future Hall of Fame quarterback, provided the motivation for the rediscovery of Noah's Ark in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat.

Klenck is certain: "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is nearly 150 meters in length, broken in two sections, at elevations between 3,900 to 4,700 meters above sea level, with an origin dating to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC) and earlier. The structure is 100% a maritime barge and exhibits angled hulls, thousands of cages, large sloping ramps, three decks, and large cargo holds covered with legumes. The Ark's wood architecture was preserved in ice. Most of the organic artifacts were cryodesiccated causing their excellent preservation for millennia. The structure matches all traits described in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus, Josephus, and in Alexandrian traditions."

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC. The archaeologist met with the heirs of Armenian guides that led foreigners to Noah's Ark in the early twentieth century and descendants of Armenian interrogators that worked for the Soviet state during the 1930s. The archaeologist researched the artifacts and features from the Ark for ten years sending reports to historic preservation authorities. The descendants and archaeological data provide insight to the impact of Noah's Ark on modern Anatolian history and part of the Armenian diaspora.

The archaeologist notes: "At the turn of the twentieth century, the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian guides at the base of Mount Ararat refined tactics to conceal Noah's Ark while raising funds from visits to the vessel, by foreigners from Tsarist Russia and the United States, to fund independence initiatives against Ottoman Turkey. As this revolution failed, Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) issued four orders regarding Noah's Ark, which concealed the vessel until recently, causing a range of emotions."

Klenck remarks, "In 2006, I was a maritime executive but wanted to start an applied archaeology business. We merged operations with an excellent ship-assist company named BayDelta and celebrated at a corporate golf tournament. Here, BayDelta's sales executive introduced me to Tom Brady Senior. During lunch the elder Brady told me he was going into church ministry, then met his wife, got married, and had a wonderful family. He asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I replied I wanted to start an archaeology firm. He then asked me why I was in the maritime business. It was a good question.

The conversation then turned to life's disappointments. Tom Brady Sr. told me how terrible his family felt when his son was drafted in a low round after scouts ignored his abilities. The experience was painful for their family. As the lunch ended, I will never forget the last thing Mr. Brady said to me: "One day you will make a big decision—I feel you will make the right one."

Starting an applied archaeology business was the toughest thing I ever did. In 2010, a Chinese religious organization and Turkish officials announced they rediscovered Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. After their announcement, various individuals denounced the discovery as a hoax. The CEO of our historic preservation firm asked me to look at the evidence, determine if the discovery was legitimate, and if so, offer our services to the discoverers."

The archaeologist notes, "I spent the night looking at the photographs and videos of the discovery. I was just about to turn off my computer, when ESPN mentioned a statistic about Tom Brady. This comment reminded me of my conversation with Tom Brady Sr. I took another look at the data. I did not want to discount an iconic archaeological site, similar to the teams that dismissed Tom Brady, based on false critiques.

This time, something caught my eye. One photograph from the press announcement was what the discovers' called "white pellets." These pellets were chickpea seeds but were smaller than modern domesticated chickpeas or garbanzo beans. Chickpeas were a principal part of the Neolithic diet, beginning in the tenth millennium BC, with other legumes such as bitter vetch. For the discoverers to call the undomesticated chickpea seeds 'white pellets' indicated they did not know the archaeological significance of these specimens.

Since this initial analysis, much archaeological work has been completed on Noah's Ark including the documentation of its features, artifact analyses, and ethnographic interviews. Now, the Republic of Turkey and Turkish archaeologists have begun the curation of artifacts from Noah's Ark and its protection and preservation. This year, Noah's Ark will be revealed to the general public."

Klenck concludes, "Noah's Ark represents the Super Bowl of Archaeology. It is wonderful that a former seminary student, Tom Brady Sr., with kind words and encouragement provided the motivation for the protection, conservation, and research of the greatest archaeological site in history. Noah's Ark will fundamentally alter views on prehistory, discount most secular theories, and facilitate a greater understanding of ancient religious accounts."

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports how Noah’s Ark impacted modern Anatolian history, at the turn of the twentieth century, and was a revenue source for some of the Armenian diaspora including an ancestor of the Kardashian family.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/25/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, reports how Armenian involvement with Noah's Ark, at the turn of the twentieth century, provides understanding to modern Anatolian history and reported origins of the Kardashian fortune.

Klenck is certain: "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The vessel, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, has many characteristics similar to modern maritime barges and exhibits bulkheads, ballasting features, mortise-and-tenon joinery, and thousands of animal pens and cages. The Ark is preserved under 4 to 11 meters of glacial ice and lithic material. Also, much of the organic artifacts such as seeds of cereals and legumes, baskets, spider webs, wood tools, wood vessels, animal droppings, and cords have been cryodesiccated or freeze-dried enabling the specimens to preserve for millennia. The structure matches all traits described in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus, Josephus, and in Alexandrian traditions."

The archaeologist met with the heirs of Armenian guides that led foreigners to Noah's Ark in the late nineteenth century and the descendants of Armenian interrogators that worked for the Soviet state during the 1930s. Also, the archaeologist researched the artifacts and features from the Ark for ten years sending reports to historic preservation authorities.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark for two thousand years employing the twin tactics of misdirection and concealment. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian guides at the base of Mount Ararat refined tactics to conceal Noah's Ark while raising funds from visits to the vessel, by trustworthy foreigners from Tsarist Russia and the United States, to support independence initiatives against Ottoman Turkey. As this effort failed, Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) issued four orders regarding Noah's Ark to conceal the vessel in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat.

The archaeologist remarks: "The acquisition of capital and influence, from Noah's Ark visits by Americans and Tsarist Russians, during the 1890s to the early 1900s, provides insight to Anatolian history in the modern era. Ottoman and Turkish governments wondered why Americans were so involved in the advocacy of Armenians during World War I and the Turkish-Armenian War. The answer is that Armenians led prominent Americans to Noah's Ark and these influential American Christians wanted the Ark to remain within Christian Armenia. Moreover, these Americans helped Armenian Ark guides emigrate to the U.S. and become citizens.

Turkish historians have questioned why Armenians were so focused on retaining Mount Ararat when the region had no economic value. The answer: Noah's Ark had tremendous economic and symbolic value to Armenians. If Armenia had retained greater Mount Ararat, and left their pricing the same as in 1895, they would charge $150,000 per person for tours to the interior of Noah's Ark. At 10,000 visitors per year, the income from Ark visitation fees alone would be $1.5 billion dollars for the Armenian nation.

Further, historians in the Republic of Georgia and Azerbaijan have questioned how some Armenians from eastern Turkey had monies to purchase farms, vineyards, businesses, afford large dowries for their daughters, or move to distant countries such as the United States. The answer is that these Armenians were former guides to Noah's Ark that accumulated significant wealth.

The descendants of Armenian guides mentioned several prominent Americans and Armenians that were closely involved with Noah's Ark. One descendant noted that American Alice Stone Blackwell entered Noah's Ark, did not reveal its secrets, but became angry at God for Armenian losses because she believed Armenians were destined to protect and conceal the Ark. Blackwell was prominent in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, suffrage associations, Armenian causes, and literature.

The heirs also mentioned Tatos Saghatel Kardashian, who was born in the Kars Oblast, but whose extended family had property at the base of Mount Ararat. Tatos was reportedly very strong and as a young boy led mules up greater Mount Ararat, which transported Americans and Russians to Noah's Ark in the southern gorge. From 1907 to 1910, Tatos helped other Armenian guides remove artifacts from the Ark and transport these specimens from Ararat, through the Kars Oblast, to southern Georgia. Yet, once in Georgia, Tatos was given only a few artifacts from the Ark due to his youth and because his family belonged to a Christian group having conflicts with the Armenian Apostolic Church. The group's leaders prophesied that the Turks would conquer much of Armenia until the return of Jesus Christ and that Armenians should flee eastern Anatolia. Tatos used his money from being an Ark guide to emigrate to the U.S., purchase a business, and pay the dowry for his wife, Hamas Shakarian, from Ardahan Province north of Kars. Tatos became the grandfather of Robert Kardashian and great grandfather of Kim Kardashian. The Kardashian family is reportedly worth over $2 billion.

The heirs uniformly state that their families were blessed because of their ancestors' involvement with Noah's Ark as they have prosperous farms, vineyards, and businesses. Still, they lament the younger generations' indifference to the Ark and its artifacts."

Klenck concludes, "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark has the potential to provide the populations of eastern Anatolia with billions of dollars. This sacred site is lauded by Jesus Christ, the Muslim Prophet Muhammed, and Jewish Patriarch Moses. Noah's Ark represents a stunning Rosetta Stone between the faiths of three world religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism and positivist science. Still, this magnificent ancient vessel is subject to looting and horrific decomposition. The Republic of Turkey and world community must maximize the protection and conservation of this religious and cultural masterpiece."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports how in the final year of his life, the Armenian Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) issued four orders regarding Noah’s Ark that continued to conceal the vessel in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/15/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck , describes how during the final year of his life, Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, gave four orders to the Church and Ark guides near Mount Ararat that concealed the vessel until recently.

Klenck asserts: "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is a maritime barge, close to 150 meters in length, located in two sections, at elevations between 3,900 to 4,700 meters above sea level, with origins dating to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC) and earlier, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat. The structure emulates all traits described in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus, Josephus, and in Alexandrian traditions. Noah's Ark has many characteristics similar to modern roll-on-roll-off and trot-on-trot-off maritime vessels."

The archaeologist met with the heirs of Armenian guides that led foreigners to Noah's Ark in the late nineteenth century and the descendants of Armenian interrogators that worked for the Soviet state during the 1930s. Also, Klenck studied artifacts and features from the Ark for ten years sending numerous reports to the Turkish government. The descendants and archaeological data provide insight to the reasons and methods Armenians used to conceal Noah's Ark from 247 BC until today.

Klenck states: "In the nineteenth century, Armenians refined tactics to conceal Noah's Ark. Further, the Ark was used by Khrimian (1820-1907) to support Armenian independence from Ottoman Turkey. However, Khrimian began to doubt Armenian independence was possible. The Ottoman Empire lost territory during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Some Armenians fought with Russian armies in eastern Europe. In 1878, during negotiations of the Treaty of Berlin, Khrimian led the Armenian delegation demanding autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. Enraged by Armenian independence initiatives, Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909) directed Ottoman forces to enforce Pan-Islam, arrest Armenian nationalists, and confiscate their provisions and livestock. Further, Ottoman military and police forces captured and prosecuted Armenian nationalist forces. Also, Tsarist Russia abandoned Armenian independence. Moreover, Marxist groups emerged that were hostile to nationalist initiatives by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In 1907, in failing health and realizing Armenian independence in Turkey was lost, Khrimian issued four orders that concealed Noah's Ark until recently. First, Khrimian ordered Armenian guides, at the base of Mount Ararat, to cover entrances to Noah's Ark in the southern gorge. In antiquity, Armenians excavated and maintained tunnels, between 4 and 11 meters in depth, from the gorge's surface to apertures leading inside Noah's Ark. Before these entrances, Armenians built reliquaries for approved visitors to worship without entering the vessel. Khrimian's command, to fill the tunnels to prevent access to the Ark, caused unique features to form on the surface of the gorge. Former entrances to Noah's Ark exhibit dark sandy-silt loam ovals surrounded by lighter colored scree.

Second, Khrimian ordered the guides to remove and transport hundreds of artifacts from the Ark in eastern Turkey to locales in southern Georgia. The families removed artifacts from inside the Ark and from reliquaries, where visitors left votive objects from later periods. These artifacts represent a range of specimens including those that were originally part of the Ark, dating to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC), to several artifacts from Armenian reliquaries around 120 years old.

The division of artifacts between guides was not equal. Senior guides that were part of Armenian militias chose the most ornate artifacts, while younger guides got the leftover specimens. Still, this incongruity helped the younger guides obtain some of the most ancient specimens, as older guides chose later ceramic containers and left the ancient stone and freeze-dried organic artifacts for younger guides.

Third, Khrimian ordered guides and their descendants to direct everyone away from Noah's Ark, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, until Armenians conquered eastern Turkey or until Jesus Christ returned and established the Messianic Kingdom. Armenians, such as Armais Arutunoff in the 1910s, George Hagopian in the 1970s, and Arthur Chuchian in the 1980s, directed Ark expeditions away from the southern gorge of Mount Ararat. These misdirection practices so detrimentally affected searches for Noah's Ark, modern explorers developed a predisposition against the southern gorge.

Finally, Khrimian ordered the Armenian Church to regularly survey the Ark, to ensure its preservation, even if Turkey controlled Mount Ararat. Each year the Catholicos sends several Armenians to determine the degree Noah's Ark is affected by looters or environmental factors. The Turkish government denies TURSAB climbing visas to anyone with Armenian names. To avoid TURSAB applications, the Catholicos pays higher fees to several Kurdish guides. This way, the Catholicos performs annual inspections of Noah's Ark without Turkish interference."

Klenck concludes, "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark provides tremendous insight to Anatolian prehistory and archaeology. Still, protection and conservation measures need to be expeditious, as the vessel is subject to continual looting and horrific decomposition of its wood architecture and organic artifacts."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist details how the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) used Noah’s Ark to support Armenian independence initiatives against the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/06/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, describes how the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian employed Noah's Ark as a source of capital and political support to achieve Armenian independence from the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Klenck states, "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The structure on greater Mount Ararat is 100% a maritime barge and exhibits bulkheads, ballasting features, mortise-and-tenon joinery, thousands of animal pens and cages, entire midden floors covered with cryodesiccated animal waste, and the interior and exterior of the vessel covered with sealants made of bitumen or resin. Moreover, the site matches non-Biblical descriptions of Noah's Ark."

The archaeologist met with the heirs of Armenian guides that led foreigners to Noah's Ark in the late nineteenth century and the descendants of Armenian interrogators that worked for the Soviet state during the 1930s. Also, the archaeologist has studied the artifacts and features from the Ark for ten years sending numerous reports to the Turkish government. The descendants and archaeological data provide insight to the reasons and methods Armenians employed to conceal Noah's Ark from more than 2,000 years ago until today.

Noah's Ark became the domain of the Catholicos, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church. To summarize the history of the Christian church in Armenia, two disciples of Jesus Christ, Nathaniel and Jude, were the first to spread the Gospel in Armenia. In 301 AD, the Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion under the rule of King Tiridates III. Tiridates made Gregory the Illuminator (AD 257-331) the first Catholicos of the Armenian Church. Another Catholicos, Sahak I, commissioned Mesrop Mashtots to write an Armenian translation of the Bible, which was completed in AD 406. During these events, the Catholicos guided the rediscovery of the Noah's Ark and became responsible for the concealment and protection of the vessel. The Catholicos' responsibility for the Ark continued through the nineteenth century until today.

Klenck remarks: "While it was extremely rare to have non-Armenians visit Noah's Ark, this practice changed when Mkrtich Khrimian was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 1869 and Catholicos in 1892. Khrimian is a popular figure in Armenian history and is referred to as Khrimian Hayrik (Papa Khrimian). Khrimian was born in Van, on April 4, 1820, 124 miles south of greater Mount Ararat. In 1847, Khrimian made his first pilgrimage to Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat through payments by his uncle, who was a prominent merchant. In 1854, Khrimian became a 'vardapet' (celibate priest) after his wife and daughter died. Khrimian also studied antiquities in Jerusalem, Anatolia, and Armenia.

In 1869, Khrimian was ordained as the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. Here, he began to petition the Catholicoi George IV (1866–1882) and Magar (1885–1891) to allow more Armenians and foreigners to visit and worship at Noah's Ark, to increase the monies for the Armenian Apostolic Church. As Khrimian lived in Ottoman Turkey, he established the foreign visitor vetting and payments of the modern currency equivalent of $150,000 per person for Ark sojourns. Patriarch Khrimian also directed guides, from villages at the base of greater Mount Ararat, to improve the pathways on Mount Ararat and construct or repair reliquaries at entrances to Noah's Ark to prevent visitors from damaging the interior of the vessel and its artifacts. As monies rapidly increased due to Noah's Ark visits, Khrimian used these funds to pay the debts of the Catholicos, aid Armenian peasants and refugees, and renovate Armenian churches and monasteries.

After becoming the Catholicos in 1892, Khrimian was progressive favoring education and voting for women. However, Khrimian was also an Armenian nationalist, who promoted independence through armed revolutionary struggle. Khrimian regaled the wars of independence in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire and desired similar initiatives in eastern Turkey that Armenians referred to as western Armenia. As such, a portion of the new monies from visits to Noah's Ark were used to pay Armenian militias that attacked Ottoman forces. These Armenian militias included the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun or Dashnak), Black Cross (Sev Khach) and Defenders of the Fatherland (Pashtpan Hayreniats). With financial aid from Khrimian, these Armenian nationalist groups formed powerful 'fedayi' or militias.

Khrimian publicly supported and advised Armenian militias utilizing 'deror' or terror tactics to execute Ottoman officials. Armenian militias also assassinated Armenians they considered traitors that allegedly cooperated with Ottoman forces. For example, Khrimian told leaders of the Pashtpan Hayreniats not to write the name of their members on cards. The leaders ignored Khrimian. Ottoman police or gendarmerie soon obtained the cards, researched the names, and arrested Pashtpan Hayreniats members.

The archaeologist concludes: "Noah's Ark was partially used to raise funds for Armenian independence initiatives. To preserve the high prices for visits to Noah's Ark and fund the Armenian revolutionary struggle against Ottoman Turkey, the concealment of the vessel was vital. However, as this struggle failed, the final orders of Khrimian ensured Noah's Ark remained a secret."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports on Armenian motives and methods, from the nineteenth century until today, to conceal the Ark of Noah, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat. Armenians desired that Noah’s Ark remain a secret, despite the vessel’s accessibility, due to the Ark’s cultural and religious importance for Armenians.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/05/2021 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, describes the motives and methods Armenians employed, since the nineteenth century, to conceal Noah's Ark and misdirect foreigners away from the ancient vessel. Although Noah's Ark is relatively easy to access, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, Armenians hid the ancient vessel because of its cultural and religious importance.

The archaeologist states, "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is close to 150 meters in length, fragmented in two sections, at elevations between 3,900 to 4,700 meters above sea level. The structure is buried 4 to 11 meters below surface in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat. The architecture and earliest artifacts, from the interior of the vessel, conventionally date to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC) and earlier.

Klenck is adamant, "The structure on greater Mount Ararat is 100% a maritime barge and exhibits angled hulls, patches of the hull's exterior with crustaceans, large sloping ramps, furniture fixed to walls, three decks, interior stairwells of notched logs, and large cargo holds covered with legumes such as bitter vetch, pea, and chickpea."

The archaeologist met with the heirs of Armenian guides that led foreigners to Noah's Ark in the late nineteenth century and the descendants of Armenian interrogators that worked for the Soviet state during the 1930s. Klenck has studied the artifacts and features from the Ark for ten years sending numerous reports to the Turkish government. The descendants and archaeological data provide insight to the reasons and methods Armenians employed to conceal Noah's Ark from the nineteenth century until today.

Non-Armenians such as modern searchers for Noah's Ark failed to comprehend how important the Ark was to Armenians and that Armenians would conceal and misdirect foreigners away from the Ark. The Ark was the sacred unifying symbol of the Armenian people. Armenians protected their national treasure more than 2,000 years using misdirection and concealment and these methods were refined in the nineteenth century and continue today.

The archaeologist reports: "To conceal Noah's Ark from visitors, the Armenian guides practiced several measures. These tactics applied from 1890 to 1907, but most of these methods were employed in earlier periods. The Catholicos, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and his staff thoroughly vetted Armenians and later exceptional foreigners, who were invited to witness the Ark. The qualities the Catholicos considered were the rank of the person in Armenian society, whether the person would keep the Ark confidential, their health and ability to climb to the Ark, and their service to the Catholicos, Armenian Apostolic Church, and Armenian people. In the late 1800s, an additional requirement for exceptional foreigners, mostly from Tsarist Russia and the United States, was their ability to pay around 6,000 Russian Rubles or 5,000 U.S. Dollars, respectively. Further, these foreigners had to demonstrate a prolonged service to the Armenian people and included diplomats, educators, and medical doctors. Factoring in inflation to today's currency, foreign visitors paid at least $150,000 dollars per person to witness and worship at Noah's Ark. For Armenians, the expected donation to worship at the Ark varied according to their position in Armenian society such as in the church, business, or militias, and their income.

After vetting visitors, the Catholicos or priests administered an oath to visitors not to reveal Noah's Ark, and after collecting monies, the Catholicos instructed priests to notify guides to take the visitors to Noah's Ark. Priests then led the visitors to Armenian guides living in villages at the base of Mount Ararat, who would accompany the visitors and guide them to Noah's Ark. Although most of the monies were collected by the Catholicos, the guides were also paid as much as $10,000 in the modern currency equivalent per person, forming a productive Armenian middle class at the base of Mount Ararat.

The Armenian guides led sojourners to the Ark in snowstorms, fog, or at night to inhibit visitors from seeing where the Ark was in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat. If the visitor was strong, the guides led them to the Ark using circuitous routes, to prevent the invitee from knowing the location of the Ark. If the visitor was weak, the guides carefully led them near the Ark and set up camp, until fog or a light snowstorm set in, then guides led the visitor to Noah's Ark.

Once visitors reached Noah's Ark, the guides led the guests to underground reliquaries, prepared enclosures near entrances to the Ark, where the visitor would worship and leave votive objects such as a jar of wine, bowl of grain, or a clothing item. Here, visitors could look inside Noah's Ark but were prevented from going inside the vessel to prevent damage. Guides permitted this worship only for a short time, around fifteen minutes, to prevent the weather from clearing and the visitor from noting the location of the Ark.

After witnessing the Ark, the guides led visitors down the mountain and back to Armenian priests, who reminded the visitors of their oath not to reveal the Ark. The priests then accompanied the visitors to the train station or point of departure."

Klenck concludes: "We are beginning to understand the role that Noah's Ark played at the turn of the nineteenth century for Armenians and in modern Anatolian history. In 2021, Noah's Ark will be revealed to the public but it is important to understand the cultural perspectives of those that wanted to conceal this ancient, iconic archaeological site and religious shrine."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports Armenian concealment of Noah's Ark began in 247 BC with a ruse on Mount Qardu or 'Judi', near the southern border of Armenia, to prevent incursions by the Parthian Empire and later cultures searching for Noah’s Ark, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat in Armenia’s interior.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/14/2020 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, reports that for millennia Armenians directed foreigners away from Noah's Ark, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, beginning with a ruse on Mount Qardu.

The archaeologist states, "The rediscovery of Noah's Ark is a fact and the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is nearly 150 meters in length, broken in two parts, between 3,900 and 4,700 meters above sea level, buried 4 to 11 meters below surface, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat. The Ark and earliest artifacts, from the interior of the vessel, conventionally date to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC). Much of the Ark is still preserved and represents a cultural triumph for the Republic of Turkey."

Klenck is emphatic, "The structure on greater Mount Ararat is 100% a maritime barge and exhibits angled hulls, patches of hull exterior with crustaceans, large sloping ramps, furniture fixed to walls, three decks, large cargo holds, bulkheads, ballasting features, mortise-and-tenon joinery, thousands of animal pens and cages, and the interior and exterior of the vessel covered with sealants made of bitumen or resin."

The archaeologist met with the heirs of Armenian guides that led foreigners to Noah's Ark in the late nineteenth century and the descendants of Armenian interrogators that worked for the Soviet state during the 1930s. Also, the archaeologist studied the artifacts and features from the Ark for ten years sending numerous reports to the Turkish government. The descendants and archaeological data provide insight to the reasons and methods Armenians used to hide Noah's Ark from outsiders.

Klenck states: "Foreigners such as modern searchers for Noah's Ark failed to comprehend how important the Ark was to Armenians and that Armenians would misdirect foreigners away from the Ark. The Ark was simply worth everything to Armenians. The fifth century historian Moses of Khoren noted Armenians considered Noah's Ark their national treasure, themselves as the chosen people to protect the Ark, and their ancestor, Hayk, the great grandson of Noah. Armenians have protected their national treasure more than 2,000 years using misdirection and concealment beginning with the Qardu deception in 247 BC.

The archaeologist notes, "The Armenians initial and most successful strategy was to misdirect people away from the actual ark on greater Mount Ararat. In 247 BC, to avoid incursions by the Parthian Empire, the Armenians manufactured a false account that the Ark was located on a small mountain near Armenia's southern border called Qardu or Gardu, near the town of Thamanin. From Thamanin, Armenians carried wood planks to the summit of Qardu to support their ruse. Qardu was close enough to the the border of Armenia, to keep foreigners away from the actual Ark on Mount Ararat in the center of the kingdom, but far enough from the border to establish the ploy. By the first century BC, the Armenian ruse at Qardu was successful, as populations in northern Syria adopted the artifice as genuine.

Klenck remarks: "Changing a legend to modify boundaries is a familiar concept in anthropology. In Polynesia, altering lore to move property lines is resolved in cultural courts where legends and boundaries are examined to correctly ascertain borders. Armenians created the false ark legend at Qardu to prevent repeated incursions by the Parthians and later cultures wanting to claim the actual Ark on Mount Ararat. The Armenian misdirection at Qardu, mentioned by the Armenian descendants of guides and interrogators, is also supported by the archaeological material on greater Mount Ararat and in ancient accounts.

No artifacts from the classical period, between 250 BC to AD 250, were found in Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat or among the six collections of Ark artifacts that were studied in the republics of Georgia and Turkey and reported to the Turkish government.

Further, the Armenian misdirection at Qardu in 247 BC is supported by ancient accounts. Berossus noted, between 330 and 278 BC, the distance between the two Ark sections was 5 stadia long and 2 stadia wide. Also, manuscripts in Africa note that Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) witnessed the Ark in a mountain lake. That both accounts correctly describe Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat, supports the descendants' claims that the Armenian Qardu ploy emerged after Alexander and Berossus, at the advent of the Parthian Empire in 247 BC.

To prevent Parthian and later militaries from accessing Noah's Ark, Armenians established the ruse at Qardu and then concealed all entrances to the Ark's actual location, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, for several centuries."

The archaeologist notes, "In the Quran, the Muslim Prophet Mohammed stated in Sura 11:44 that Noah's vessel rested on "Al-Judiyee," correctly translated as the highest place. It is clear that the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, the first Rashidun Caliph, Abu Bakr, and the undefeated Muslim general, Khalid bin al-Waleed, disregarded the Armenian ploy at Qardu. Khalid invaded Armenia, never stopping at the false ark site at Qardu and headed toward greater Mount Ararat. Still, each attempt by Khalid to reach the Ark on Mount Ararat was sidelined by battles with Byzantine, Sasanian Persian, Armenian or other forces. A series of events then preserved the Armenian Qardu ruse. The Islamic Prophet Mohammed passed in 632, Caliph Abu Bakr died in 634, Khalid was dismissed in 638, and famine and plague ensued in 639 preventing Muslim armies from invading Armenia.

The Muslim Prophet Muhammed clearly equated Al-Judiyee with greater Mount Ararat, the highest mountain in all the Near East, having an elevation of 16,854 feet, with Noah's Ark in its southern gorge. Still, the Armenian misdirection at Qardu succeeded.

Scholars Ibn Khordadbeh, Yaqut al-Hamawi, and Ibn Battuta, from the ninth to fourteenth centuries, incorrectly ascribed 'Mount Judi' to the insignificant height of Qardu, the seventy-second highest place in just the Republic of Turkey, with an elevation of only 6,854 feet."

Klenck concludes, "The damaging impact of the Armenian ruse at Qardu continues today as many Turkish officials incorrectly equate Mount Judi with Qardu. Until recently, the Qardu ruse has inhibited the protection and conservation efforts of the actual Noah's Ark on greater Mount Ararat because the Armenian ploy in 247 BC was absorbed by later Turkish cultural and religious traditions. Now the Ark is within the Republic of Turkey led by President Erdogan and AK Parti. For the first time in history, the Republic of Turkey is able to fulfil the aims of the Muslim Prophet Muhammed and protect and preserve Nuh'un Gemisi, in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, or squander the opportunity and let Noah's Ark decompose and be desecrated."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologists confirms Noah’s Ark is real and that its location and features in the southern gorge on greater Mount Ararat matches ancient descriptions by Berossus, Josephus, and in accounts of Alexander the Great.

Istanbul, Turkey -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/07/2020 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist, former maritime executive, Chairperson and Senior Lecturer of the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Department at the National University of Samoa, and president of PRC, Inc., Joel Klenck, reports that Noah's Ark is a fact and its location in a gorge on Mount Ararat in Turkey conforms to three ancient non-Biblical traditions.

Berossus, a Babylonian scholar around 330 BC noted that Noah's Ark was 5 stadia long and 2 stadia broad. Manuscripts in historic libraries in Africa note that Alexander the Great sighted the Ark in the middle of a mountain lake. Also, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote the Ark is "braced with cross beams" around AD 93.

Klenck states, "Noah's Ark is a fact. The vessel is nearly 150 meters long and broken in two parts in the southern gorge on Mount Ararat. The upper part of the Ark in Area A is on the eastern part of the gorge and the lower portion or Area B is in the western part of the gorge—an area exactly two stadia wide and five stadia in length. Second, the upper portion of the Ark in Area A is located behind a glacial moraine. Here, sediment patterns show that during warm periods the ice melted and a lake formed around the vessel. Finally, the interior of the Ark has many large cross beams at different levels strengthening the hull of the maritime vessel.

The archaeologist concludes, "Noah's Ark is factual and represents the greatest archaeological site in history and paradigm shift in our understanding of the ancient world. It is remarkable that the placement and features of the Ark conform precisely to descriptions made thousands of years ago by Berossus, Josephus, and in Alexandrian romance traditions."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeological remains, from a monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat, indicate later cultures venerated the locale by placing artifacts at an entrance to the site.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/25/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that a prehistoric site on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibits a unique division of artifacts.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). Inside the monumental wood structure, there is a very interesting placement of artifacts."

The archaeologist states, "To access the structure, later cultures excavated a sharply angled passage through rocks and glacial ice to access an entrance to an ancient monumental wood structure. This entrance, Locus 4, is also sharply angled and features a rudimentary stair-like feature, a notched log, in the center of a narrow passage made of cypress wood. The base of Locus 4 comprises a rectangular installation, exhibiting a series of cypress planks on the floor covered by a dark bitumen or resin material, which leads to four other loci at the site. In Locus 4, cultures from the Pottery Neolithic Period (7,000-5,800 B.C.) to the time of the Bronze-Iron Age transition (around 1,350 B.C.), deposited ceramic containers and other artifacts. These mostly small bowls were filled with libations or other materials as evidenced by stains in the interiors of several of these containers. Other artifacts found at the base of Locus 4 include a basalt figure resembling a claw or foot, a limestone artifact, and an artifact of unknown composition—perhaps originating from a naturally occuring petroleum-based substance."

Klenck continues: "It is extremely interesting that the ceramic bowls from later periods were only found in Locus 4. Farther into the interior of the structure there appears to be no ceramic remains but artifacts from the Late Epipaleolithic Period comprising stone bowls, wild grains and legumes, a non-ceramic container, and bone and flax artifacts. The placement of the artifacts suggests that later visitors venerated the locale by leaving ceramic artifacts and other objects at an entrance to the site without significantly disturbing the interior of the wood edifice with their own material culture."

The archaeologist remarks, "The deposition of small ceramic objects at temples is a very familiar practice in the Levant during the Bronze Age (3,000-1,200 B.C.). During this period, worshippers would leave small votive bowls or juglets in pits within a cult area. Two examples of this practice are the archaeological sites of Byblos in Lebanon and Tel-Haror in Israel. What is interesting about Locus 4, in the monumental wood structure on Ararat, is that the ceramic artifacts represent cultures temporally separated by thousands of years. The ceramic artifacts evidence that cultures, from the Pottery Neolithic Period (7,000-5,800 B.C.) to the time of the Bronze-Iron Age transition (around 1,350 B.C.), considered the monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat to be special—so special that they deposited whole ceramic bowls and other artifacts at the entrance to the structure without significantly disturbing the interior of the edifice."

The archaeologist concludes, "The placement of the artifacts in the monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat is unique and reveals that the site was considered a place of veneration for thousands of years by different cultures. These acts of veneration helped preserve the more ancient material culture, from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.), within the interior of the structure."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric site on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibits two carvings made of volcanic stone.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/25/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibit anthropomorphic carvings of basalt and pumice.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). From the monumental wood structure, a variety of stone artifacts including percussor or hammer stones, flakes or debitage, and lithic bowls were observed and analyzed."

The archaeologist states, "Two of the lithic objects retrieved from the monumental wood structure or Area A comprise very unique artifacts. The first artifact is made of pumice, a lightweight volcanic stone. This artifact was found on the surface in Area A and exhibits a rectangular carving on one side of the object. Another faint incision appears on the opposite side of the artifact. Observed from an angle, the object exhibits two eye-like impressions and a nose. This anthropomorphic face design resembles other artifacts at Epipaleolithic and Neolithic sites—several on the edges of grinding stones. Anthropomorphic figurines are rare in Epipaleolithic assemblages and this artifact is one of very few carved from pumice. The other carving comprising a basalt figure, less than ten centimeters in length, resembles a foot or claw. This artifact was found in Locus 4 with other ceramic votive objects from later periods."

Klenck concludes, "The figures associated with the monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat are important because they reveal artistic expressions at a prehistoric site with mostly utilitarian features such as storage areas, habitations, and small installations—several with animal dung."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibit assemblage of Epipaleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic botanical remains with several surprises.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/24/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibit excellent preservation of a wide array of plant remains.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). From the cave and the interior of the monumental wood structure, a variety of well-preserved botanical remains were identified. From the monumental wood structure, I observed what appeared to be wild wheat (Triticum species) from loci 5 and 7 as evidenced by smooth abscission scars on the rachises and thin spikelets. Also, I believe wild barley (Hordeum vulgare) is evidenced by three spikelets on a side of a rachis in Locus 5. From loci 3 and 8, the floors of these contexts contain the remains of chickpea (Cicer species) and bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia). At the base of Locus 2, there is a rope measuring three centimeters in diameter that appears to be made of flax (Linum species). Also, a passage in Locus 3, a sealed entrance evidences strands of flax. These remains are superbly preserved in installations made of cypress wood, inside a monumental wood structure, within a glacier. These specimens comprise an expected botanical assemblage from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.) through the beginning of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Period (9,600-8,500 B.C.), which is roughly associated with the beginning of the farming."

More surprising to Klenck was the remains from the cave site. He notes, "The cave site also had an Epipaleolithic / PPNA botanical assemblage evidenced by many strands of flax and the remains of chickpea, wild wheat, and wild barley. The cave site is very interesting because this locus has artifacts that are similar to specimens found in the monumental wood structure. The cave site was sealed by glacial ice and lithic material and was only entered twice to obtain a few photographs, before being covered and sealed again by the team. In the cave there were some very big surprises including the remains of what appears to be cinnamon (Cinnamomum species), ginger (Zingiber species), and wild cherry (Prunus avium)."

The archaeologist comments, "I am not convinced that the vegetal remains from the cave site on Mount Ararat are only for food. The bone and wood artifacts and the flax strands and wool fabric in the cave might indicate activities of textile dyeing. Ancient texts and ethnographic accounts indicate that ginger, cinnamon, and cherries provided a range of red, beige, brown hues to textiles depending on the amount and duration these remains were boiled."

Klenck concludes: "The assemblages from the prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat mostly support the current scientific consensus that, during the transition from the end of the Stone Age to the beginning of agricultural communities, human populations gathered and stored both wild grains and legumes. However, the Ararat sites also evidence that early populations used a wider array of plants for either food stuffs, dyes, or both."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports that an entrance to a monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibits ceramic artifacts evidencing deposition of votive objects for millennia.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/23/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that a monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibit a series of mostly small ceramic bowls from a range of periods from the Pottery Neolithic Period (7,000-5,800 B.C.) through the Bronze Age / Iron Age transition, around 1,350 B.C.

Klenck states, "A series of ceramic vessels from different periods were identified in Locus 4, an entrance to a prehistoric monumental wood structure or Area A on Mount Ararat. Two bowls were retrieved from the floor of Locus 4, in front of the entrance to several interior structures. Both vessels comprise hand-made, tan, grit-tempered artifacts. One bowl, Artifact 3, appears to have no burnish or slip. The other, Artifact 4, has evidence for burnish and a slip cover. It is clear that time has affected these vessels, as the most of their exterior coatings have fallen off the artifacts. Further, a crystal-like mat has covered portions of the artifacts. The vessels are not strictly symmetrical with bases and gross widths varying over a centimeter. The gross width of these vessels, depending on the side, measure between 15.99 and 15.42 centimeters; circular bases between 8.05 and 9.18 centimeters, and the heights from 7.95 to 6.33 centimeters. The widths of the bowls vary between 0.51 and 0.71 centimeters. These bowls are similar to vessels excavated at Bademagaci in Turkey, in early Pottery Neolithic 3 strata, dating between 6,400 and 5,800 B.C.

The archaeologist continues: "Another small bowl, Artifact 17, was identified from the base of Locus 4. The maximum breadth of the vessel is between 8.22 and 8.46 centimeters with a height of approximately 6 centimeters. The grit-tempered artifact exhibits a whitish color and is not slipped or burnished. The artifact is pinch-pressed with portions of thumb and finger prints still visible on the vessel. It appears very similar to vessels made of molded plaster called white ware or 'vaisselle blanche' that were the precursors to the invention of pottery. The artifact possesses a reddish-pink interior, perhaps caused by an evaporated libation. The rim of the bowl appears to have broken away; however, an 's'-profile is evident on one side of the artifact. The ceramic material was smoothed before the clay dried as evidenced by deep gouges, scratches and undulations on the surfaces of the artifact. The small bowl has thick walls, except near the s-shaped rim, and was poorly fired. This artifact is similar in color and in shape, particularly regarding the 's'-shaped profile on the rim, to sherds from Early Neolithic levels at Hacilar (6,800-6,600 B.C.) and Bademagaci Levels 6-4 (7,000-6,400 B.C.). However, the manufacturing of the artifact resembles the rough appearance of Group D Ware, from Levels 11 to 8, at Kurucay. These sherds range in color from pale gray to tan and are rarely burnished, were smoothed before the clay dried, thick-walled, poorly fired and show considerable scarring on their surfaces. These strata at Kurucay reflect a temporal range from 5,850 to 5,100 B.C.—from the latter part of the Pottery Neolithic through the early Chalcolithic. The wide ranging archaeological analogies for this small bowl, from Locus 4 on Mount Ararat, suggest a manufacturing period sometime between the earliest Pottery Neolithic and early Chalcolithic periods."

The researcher notes, "Another ceramic bowl (Artifact 18) from Locus 4 reflects a wheel-made, symmetrical, mottled grey and black ceramic bowl, with a well-fired exterior. The measurements: maximum breadth 16.74 centimeters; base width 5.85 centimeters; and height 8.64 centimeters make this artifact the largest ceramic vessel at the base of the structure. The size, color, and shape, particularly near the lip of the bowl, resemble similar styles from the Early and Late Bronze Age periods as shown by studies from several archaeologists including professors Mellaart, Kelly-Buccellati, Rothman, and Fuensanta. The wide ranging forms of Bronze Age bowls and the presence of Early Bronze and Late Bronze sites in eastern Turkey suggest the manufacture of this artifact sometime during this expansive period, between 3,000 and 1,350 B.C.

Dr. Klenck notes, "The final ceramic artifact identified to date, Artifact 5, was located in a niche carved into ice and stone above the sharply-angled wood passage (Locus 4) that leads into the interior of the monumental wood structure. The artifact was placed in the midst of burnt debris, with the bottom portion of the vessel exhibiting charred organic material. The large, black, grit-tempered, double-handled vessel exhibits a slip covering and the following measurements: gross width from exterior of handles, 36.01 centimeters; gross width from exterior of rim between 26.79 and 26.45 centimeters; height between 31.79 and 29.95 centimeters; and base width from 25.05 to 24.01 centimeters. This vessel is the first artifact that shows similarities with ceramics from eastern Anatolia. Archaeological analogies comparable to the large jar derive from early Iron Age burials at Kertenkele and Dogubayazit. These artifacts exhibit dark grey or black burnished wares similar to the vessel near Locus 4. In addition, pottery from burials at Greherse, which dates to the end of Late Bronze and beginning of Iron Age around 1,350 B.C., emulates the diagonal cross-hatch design on the double-handled jar from the Ararat site."

The archaeologist concludes, "This archaeological data shows that after the site's origin in the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 B.C.), the edifice was venerated by cultures from the Pottery Neolithic through the end of the Bronze Age. Conversely, older artifacts such stone and non-ceramic bowls and wild grains and legumes are found in the innermost rooms of the structure. The older artifacts in the interior and the later artifacts in Locus 4, near an entrance to the monumental wood structure, suggest later visitors to the site considered the large edifice and the interior rooms as special. Curiously, the Mount Ararat sites contrasts sharply with other sacred areas in the Near East as the interior the large wood structure appears to suggest a mostly utilitarian function with storage rooms, domestic dwellings, and a wide array of smaller installations—some with animal dung on the floors."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibit evidence for the domestication of the chickpea or garbanzo bean.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/23/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, provide evidence for the domestication of the chickpea or garbanzo bean.

Klenck remarks, "The remains of wild chickpea have been found in archaeological contexts in a monumental wood structure and cave on Mount Ararat, which originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). From loci 3 and 8 in the monumental wood structure, the floors of these contexts are covered with chickpea seed, bitter vetch, and other botanical remains. These assemblages comprise thousands of uncharred seeds in contexts that appear to function as storage areas for food stuffs. This discovery is very important because the chickpea is one of four Southwest Asian legumes associated with wild wheat and wild barley in archaeological contexts from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.) through the beginning of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A or PPNA Period (9,600-8,500 B.C.). The PPNA roughly correlates with the beginning of farming."

The archaeologist continues: "Early human populations encountered wild chickpea seeds that were small with thick coats. These traits enabled the chickpea to delay germination to avoid environmentally poor years. In the process of domestication, early farmers selected for larger seeds with thin coats, which facilitated annual production of chickpea crops and a greater source of chickpea meal."

Klenck remarks, "The wild chickpea specimens from the Ararat sites exhibit much smaller seeds with proportionally much thicker exteriors compared to modern chickpeas. From seed sellers in Dogubayazit, the modern chickpea that most emulates the Ararat specimens is a smooth-coated seed called gevrek leblebi. The modern seeds have an average diameter of 101 millimeters; the average diameter of the Ararat specimens in 38 millimeters. The hulls of these modern chickpeas comprise 12.6% of the total diameter of the seeds. Wild chickpea seeds from Locus 3 on Mount Ararat have seed coats that represent 20.9% of the total diameter of the seeds."

The archaeologist concludes, "The botanical remains from the prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat provide archaeologists wonderful insight into the domestication processes of legumes in the Near East."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey show few faunal remains but large amounts of animal coprolites in the interior rooms of a monumental wood structure.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/22/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibit few bone remains but much evidence of coprolites or animal dung, within a monumental wood structure.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). Excepting the bone tools, only two animal bone remains were remotely associated with the site. These remains comprise a horn core from a wild goat (Capra species) and a mostly complete cranium of a horse (Equus caballus). I determined the cranium belonged to a horse rather than other equid species by bone measurements and traits on the maxillary teeth including U-shaped interstylar profiles and thick styles, complex fossette folds, well developed Pli caballin, and asymmetric protocones. These morphological traits are very familiar to zooarchaeologists or those that analyze animal bone remains from archaeological contexts. These faunal remains might not be related to the archaeological sites because they were found on the surface between the archaeological sites, Areas A and B, at higher and lower elevations. Still, for good measure I analyzed these faunal remains."

The archaeologist continues: "What we observed in the interior of the monumental wood structure (Area A) was significant amounts of animal coprolites or dung. This factor was especially odd because Locus 4, an installation near the exterior of the site, evidenced veneration by later cultures in the form of small ceramic bowls. Animal dung is pronounced in Locus 6 and visible in Locus 7. In Locus 3, where vegetable materials such as wild chickpea and bitter vetch were stored, there is a wood door lined with flax, straw, and wool. Here, the odor is terrible and suggests an adjacent installation with dung. Having entered the locus during the end of the summer on Mount Ararat, the experience was eye-watering."

Klenck concludes, "Although I advise future archaeologists at the site to wear masks, the animal dung remains in the monumental wood structure provide researchers with an ideal opportunity to ascertain the animal species that deposited the dung by analyzing the genetic material from these remains."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

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Archaeologist reports prehistoric monumental wood structure and smaller installations on Mount Ararat in Turkey evidence a range of complex joinery methods.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/22/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibit advanced wood joinery features that were previously unknown to exist during this period.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, comprising a monumental wood structure and smaller wood edifices originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). Various loci from the monumental wood structure around 4,200 meters above sea levels (Area A) and smaller wood edifices at elevations around 4,000 meters (Area B) exhibit joinery methods in wood working that show a remarkable degree of complexity."

The archaeologist continues: "The monumental wood structure or Area A exhibits large mortise-and-tenon joints, notched cross-beams, and shaped ends of logs. The smaller wood structures in Area B are just as interesting. Locus 1 in Area B represents a small collapsed wood structure. The remains from Locus 1 exhibit refined joinery techniques including planks with dowel joints, stub mortise-and-tenon joints, and deep rectangular notches. Several stone tools are located in this locus including a retouched scraper. At both prehistoric sites, the ancient inhabitants of Ararat exhibited complex carpentry skills."

Klenck concludes, "With the wood structures at Ararat, archaeologists are able ascertain a wider range of carpentry methods during the transition from the end of the Stone Age to the advent of farming communities."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibit range of lithic tools from a period that represents the transition from the Stone Age to the advent of farming.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/21/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibit an array of lithic or stone tools.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). From the cave and the interior of the monumental wood structure, a variety of stone tools including percussor or hammer stones, flakes or debitage, stone cores, and basalt bowls."

The archaeologist states, "Lithic artifacts are prevalent in and above the monumental wood structure. On the surface of the site, near tunnels excavated to enter the structure from the surface, a melange of stone tools were identified including stone cores, debitage, and pounding stones. Another artifact made of pumice appears to be an anthropomorphic or human-like figure. An L-shaped grinding platform was located in Locus 4—a sharply angled entrance to three other loci. Three stone bowls were found in Locus 7. One stone bowl was identified from Locus 5."

Klenck states, "Several of the stone cores and debitage appear to be from local material. Conversely, the grinding stone is made of limestone and several of the hammer stones do not resemble lithic materials from the surface and are most likely from another locale—perhaps the Levant. Future petrological analyses should clarify the geographical origins of these lithic artifacts."

The archaeologist comments, "Currently, there is a debate amongst archaeologist about the origins of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A or roughly the first farming cultures. Turkish professors Oktay Belli and Mehmet Ozdogan suggest the origins of the Neolithic were in the mountainous regions of eastern Turkey. Other archeologists suggest a Levantine origin for the Neolithic. The Ararat assemblage suggests both views might be correct. Several of the artifacts are not from the Ararat area and suggest a Levantine origin or a source somewhere in Jordan, Israel, or Lebanon. Furthermore, there is surprisingly no evidence of obsidian at the site. Obsidian or volcanic glass is visible at many Neolithic sites showing trade with the Nevsehir Province in Central Anatolia. The Ararat sites originate from the Epipaleolithic and its lithic assemblage most likely dates from a period before widespread obsidian trading with sites in Cappadocia."

Klenck concludes, "The prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat will add to our knowledge of the origins of the Neolithic and prehistoric stone tool technology during the transition from the Stone Age to the advent of farming communities."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibit containers made from organic material—precursors to the invention of pottery.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/21/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey, associated with Noah's Ark by several religious organizations, exhibit non-ceramic containers that date before the invention of pottery.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). From the cave and the interior of the monumental wood structure, a variety of extremely rare artifacts constructed of a lightweight organic material have been located."

The archaeologist states, "The current consensus of Near Eastern archaeologists is that vessels made of molded lime plaster called white ware or 'vaisselle blanche' were the precursors to the invention of pottery. At the Ararat sites, specifically from the cave site and Locus 3 in the monumental wood structure, we discovered a variety of non-ceramic containers made of an unidentified organic material. These vessels would have quickly decomposed at most archaeological sites but are preserved in the high altitude and freezing temperatures near the summit of Mount Ararat."

Klenck states, "The archaeological material from the Ararat sites has more affinity with assemblages from Australasia and Polynesia, where indigenous communities used—and still use—a variety of containers from animal skins, vegetal material, and gourds. The Ararat material introduces a new level of complexity in discussions about the invention of pottery. Now archaeologists must contend with the notion that both white ware and containers made from organic materials may have influenced the invention and development of ceramic containers. The Ararat assemblage also suggests that containers made from an organic material may represent stylistic templates for early pottery designs. The assemblage from Ararat exhibits excellent preservation and introduces new lines of research in the evolution of ceramic design and manufacturing."

The archaeologist concludes, "The assemblages from the prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat evidence that human populations, during the transition from the end of the Stone Age to the beginning of the Farming Age or Neolithic, used both lime-plaster white ware and lightweight vessels made of organic materials before the invention and widespread use of ceramic containers."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist reports prehistoric site on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibits no direct evidence for metal artifacts although a context on a decomposing wood wall might indicate residue from a copper or bronze artifact.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/20/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, reports that prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat in Turkey exhibit no direct evidence for metallurgy although one context might suggest the remains of a bronze or copper artifact.

Klenck remarks, "Archaeological sites on Ararat, which comprise a monumental wood structure, smaller wood edifices, and a cave, originate from the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100 to 9,600 B.C.). From all contexts, no direct evidence for metal artifacts have been observed, which is somewhat expected considering the antiquity of the site and rarity of metal artifacts during this period. Interest in metallurgy dates to the eleventh millennium B.C. where contexts at Shanidar Cave in northern Iraq and Rosh Horesha in Israel exhibit blue and green copper beads. Also, archaeologists retrieved evidence for copper annealing at the end of the 9th millennium B.C. at Cayoenue Tepesi in eastern Turkey."

The archaeologist comments: "Although there is no direct evidence for metallurgy at the Ararat sites, one context might suggest the presence of a copper or bronze artifact. In Locus 7 of the monumental wood structure, a twenty-centimeter square area on one of the walls of the edifice shows a concentration of greenish-colored wood. Greenish hues on organic material sometimes indicate the presence of copper or bronze."

Klenck concludes, "Laboratory analysis of this context will be able to confirm the presence of a metal artifact that might add to our knowledge of metallurgy in prehistoric cultures of the Near East."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Archaeologist defends veracity of prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat and conservation of these archaeological features.

Miami, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/19/2013 -- Harvard University educated archaeologist and president of the archaeological contract firm PRC, Inc., Dr. Joel Klenck, defends the veracity of prehistoric sites and efforts by Turkish researchers and government ministers to protect archaeological sites on Mount Ararat in eastern Anatolia, associated with Biblical and Quranic accounts of Noah's Ark.

Klenck states, "A former American tour guide, Amy Louise Beam, and her Kurdish partners at Murat Camping, Murat and Saim Sahin, have attempted to denigrate the veracity of prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat and archaeologists associated with this research. In 2012, Turkish authorities deported Amy Beam from Turkey for crimes against tourists, being an illegal worker, not having a license to lead tours in Turkey, and having no authorization to provide permits to climb Mount Ararat. Both her and Murat Sahin made hidden videos of tourists and then attempted to extort monies if their demands were not met. They also engaged in harassment by revealing personal items they stole and hidden videos they filmed on the internet. The Turkish government is prosecuting Amy Beam and Murat Camping for their crimes. Court action against Amy Beam is pending in several countries. Currently, Amy Beam lives in the Republic of Georgia and Barbados."

Beam and Sahin have made various allegations against Klenck, other archaeologists, and Turkish officials. Klenck retorts, "When I attempted to climb Mount Ararat with Murat Camping, Amy Beam and Murat Sahin illegally searched through my baggage and discovered that I was an archaeologist researching prehistoric sites on Mount Ararat. When I returned to Murat Camping, they threatened to take me to the gendarme [military police] if I did not reveal the locations of the sites and give them thousands of dollars. I refused to tell them what they wanted to know, paid them no money, demanded that they return materials they stole from me, and asked them take me to the gendarme. At the gendarme station, Beam accused me of climbing Ararat illegally, being an archaeologist, and having Kurdish friends that competed with Murat Camping. At the station the officer asked me if I had a permit to climb Mount Ararat. I showed him my receipts for monies, paid to Amy Beam, for a permit to climb Mount Ararat."

The archaeologist comments: "Beam's accusation was similar to a rental car company accusing a customer of riding in a stolen car, which the company rented to the customer. All I had to show is receipts for monies paid to Amy Beam for a climbing permit. The Turkish authorities then focused on whether Beam had the appropriate permits and licenses."

Klenck continues: "The officer questioned Amy Beam if she was a legal worker in Turkey and had a license to lead tours in Anatolia. Amy admitted she had no permit to work in Turkey, no license to provide tours in Anatolia, and no permit to lead ascents up Mount Ararat. The officer then defended me and told Beam that it was not a crime to be an archaeologist, research prehistoric sites, or have friends that competed with Murat Camping. The officer then demanded that Amy Beam and Murat Sahin return all the items they had stolen from me. Lastly, the officer drove me to another hotel away from Murat Camping and apologized for the antics of Beam and Sahin. His last comment to me: "Amy Beam is crazy." Ten minutes later, Murat Sahin showed up at the hotel, returned all my personal items to me, apologized, and asked me to not report their actions to TURSAB, the organization that oversees tourism in Turkey."

Murat Sahin has condemned Turkish professors, Oktay Belli and Ahmet Oezbek, and Turkish government ministers stating they received bribes to facilitate an ark hoax. Amy Beam claims that the prehistoric sites represent a fraud and that there are no wood structures on Mount Ararat. Randall Price and Don Patton have printed similar allegations stating the sites are a hoax and that Turkish government ministers are taking bribes and supporting a fraud. Klenck responds: "These allegations are false. Worse, these allegations are slanderous and libelous. Who are you going to believe—a convicted murderer, Sahin; a deported criminal, Beam; and a trio of adventurers—who have all profited from bogus ark searches? Professors Belli and Oezbek are excellent scholars and good people. The Turkish government ministers are trying to protect and conserve archaeological sites. It is time for the world to accept the scientific data, reports, pictures, and even a full-length movie exhibiting a prehistoric monumental wood structure and other archaeological sites on Mount Ararat, which are confirmed by a growing number of scholars striving to study and preserve these archaeological features."

The archaeologist states that Sahin and Beam's attempts to malign archaeologists and prehistoric archaeological sites on Mount Ararat are mostly due to greed. "For years Murat Sahin and Amy Beam have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from gullible tourists looking for Noah's Ark. They provided illegal expeditions on Mount Ararat and explained to the local gendarme that they were conducting short-term climbs up Ararat. In reality, they guided teams of mostly Americans and Australians led by Randall Price, Richard Bright, and Don Patton, to stay near the summit for weeks digging through annual deposits of snow to look for Noah's Ark. These efforts had no scientific merit."

The archaeologist concludes, "That there are prehistoric sites including a monumental wood structure on Mount Ararat, which exhibits excellent preservation, is an absolute fact—and provides a very big threat to Murat Camping, Amy Beam, and ark search groups. Instead of being able to accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars from trusting believers looking for the ark, religious adherents and tourists will be able to read surveys and research reports or pay small fees to observe artifacts from the Ararat sites in museums administered by the Turkish government. The prehistoric sites will benefit science by providing archaeologists with wonderful data about the transition from the Stone Age to the advent of farming communities, increase attendance at Turkish museums, and benefit the entire Agri province."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc. provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm