New satellite images of the northeastern slope of Mt. Ararat, near the border of Russia, Iran and Turkey, have inspired an American businessman to invest $900,000 to send a joint U.S.-Turkish team there to see if a dark patch in the middle of a glacier might be the remains of Noah's ark. The pictures were taken during a record heat wave in the summer of 2003 that melted large amounts of snow and ice at the highest elevations of the perpetually snow-covered, 17,000-foot-high peak.

Scientists, adventurers and treasure hunters have been searching for centuries for remains of the ark. So far all the supposed arklike structures have turned out to be natural features or have been too remote to reach. There have been many false accounts of people finding the ark. But the American, Daniel McGivern, says he's 90 percent sure about the location of the ark (Christianity Today, June 25, 2004). We'll see. It would be an exciting find, but our faith isn't based on whether someone can locate a 4,500-year-old boat. Genesis 8:4 says that Noah's ark came to rest on "the mountains of Ararat."