Even the young-earth creationists think Wyatt is out on a thin twig: My
father-in-law sent me this from the OKC paper:
"Critics, including geologist Andrew Snelling, while writing for Creation
magazine, points out that Turkish officials have blocked further digs at the
site.
"Wyatt's purported discoveries have come under harsh scrutiny from other
creation scientists, including geologists who predicate much of ther studies
on the scientific findings associated with the flood that prompted Noah's
biblical voyage."
"In particular, his assertion that the site held rib timbers and metal
brackets from the ark brought on the ire of creation scientists, including
some who accompanied him on visits to the site in 1985.
"In a letter sent to Tentmaker.org, an online Christian Publication,
geophysicist John Baumgardner, a creation scientist working for the Los
Alamos National Laboratory said in a subsequent visit t the site abut 12 to
15 miles from Mount Ararat, proved to him that Wyatt's claims were false.
"The core drilling we performed in 1988 settled the issue as far as I am
concerned.' Baumgardner wrote. "The site is a natural formation, nothing
more, produced by a mud slide as mud flowed around a ridge-shaped block of
basement rock that is still present inside the resulting boat-shaped form."
George Lang, “Pair Say They’ll Reveal Discoveries,” Daily Oklahoman Jan 22,
2000, p. 1b ff.
And here is the letter written by Baumgardner--url when I got it off the web
is at the end--
Letter from John Baumgardner
Regarding the claims of Ron Wyatt
From: John Baumgardner <johnrb@terra.lanl.gov >
To: gamirault@vax2.rain.gen.mo.us
Cc:
Subject: Statement
Date: Thursday, September 26, 1996 7:13 PM
September 26, 1996
Dear Gary,
You recently requested that I formulate a statement that
summarizes my conclusions regarding the boat-shaped formation located about
15 miles south of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey which Ron Wyatt and David
Fasold maintain represent the final resting place of Noah's Ark. Let me
first reproduce a statement I provided for the CRSnet of the Creation
Research Society about a year ago in response to a similar request:
Regarding my position on the Durupinar site, the core drilling we
performed in 1988 settled the issue as far as I am concerned--the site is a
natural formation, nothing more, produced by a mud slide as mud flowed
around a ridge-shaped block of basement rock that is still present inside
the resulting boat-shaped form. My position on the many other claims and
questions is accurately represented in the article in the September 1992
issue of Creation Magazine, Volume 14, Number 4, entitled 'Amazing Ark
Expose' by Dr. Andrew Snelling that critiqued assertions by Ron Wyatt, David
Fasold, and others that the site indeed contained remains of the Ark. I
refer people on the CRSnet who are interested in the controversy to this
article. The footage of me in the video that has been shown several times on
U.S. and British television during the last three years reflects my early
enthusiasm about the possibility of a connection of the site with Noah's
Ark, but it does not accurately represent my very firm conclusions reached
after the extensive geophysical investigations we conducted at the site in
1987 and 1988. I realize this answer is brief, but I hope it is clear I am
convinced the remains of the Ark must be somewhere else, that such remains
are emphatically _not_ associated with this boat-shaped formation. The
central claims Wyatt and Fasold have been making about the site are bogus.
Let me next reproduce some email I sent to Mr. Jim Pinkoski last May at your
request. Mr. Pinkoski operates the 'Museum of God's Treasures' at
Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which features the claimed discoveries of Ron Wyatt.
Gary Amirault called me this morning and mentioned the email exchange
he has been having with you concerning the character and veracity of Ron
Wyatt. He mentioned your remark that the reason I did not support Ron's
position that the boat-shaped site did indeed contain the remains of Noah's
ark was concern for my job. Gary suggested I contact you directly and set
the record straight on this point. My reasons for concluding the site has
nothing to do with the ark are based on the geophysical surveys my team
performed in 1987 together with the core drilling we performed in 1988 which
revealed a massive ridge of inside the site and aligned with the site's long
axis. This ridge actually outcrops at the surface over about 40% of the
length of the site. The ridge accounts for the stability of the site
relative to the surrounding terrain as well as for its distinctive boatlike
shape. The rock material that comprises the ridge matches that in nearby
outcrops, especially that in the roadcut above the visitor's center.
Furthermore, the material Ron claims is petrified wood is nothing but
igneous rock of basaltic composition. We have analyzed many samples of it
here at our laboratory, and Ron is aware of these analyses.
Ron's assertion that I take the position I do because I am afraid I will
lose my job is a falsehood. I am very bold in my creationist convictions
here. For example, in February I presented a public lecture entitled
"Exposing Evolution as Intellectual Fraud" in our community center. This has
since been aired several times on our local cable television station. I
just wanted to make you aware of some of these matters. I could share much
more on a variety of claims that Ron continues to make. I encourage you not
just to take Ron's word that his claims are honest and true but to make some
independent checks yourself.
Mr. Pinkoski shortly thereafter forwarded my email to a friend of his, Joel
Davenport, who lives in Graysville, Georgia. Mr. Davenport then sent me a
list of questions, which I answered as follows:
Dear Joel,
Let me try to give you some quick answers to your most reasonable questions.
1. Did you witness evidence of the metal rivets in this "igneous rock?"
--none whatsoever.
I have seen pictures of these rivets and wonder, based on what you state
above, if they're from another site or from that location. Do you have any
comments on that?
--I am almost 100% certain that Ron 'planted' them.
2. As a layman, it sure looks like petrified wood that he found (and I've
seen a sample of it in Nashville). Is it your contention that Ron Wyatt
fabricated this evidence or that he brought it from another location?
--Yes. I have spent weeks at this site and never once saw any sample that
even remotely resembled petrified wood.
3. Are the "beams" (or "rib timbers") which I have seen in the video and on
pictures not actual formations there at the site?
--The dark, weather-resistant rocks are genuine parts of the formation. They
are of igneous composition. Calling them "beams" or "rib timbers" is
something that comes from (Wyatt's) human imagination.
4. Do you believe that the object at that site, which you yourself have
tested, is a natural phenomenom, or is it man-made? (I ask you this as an
expert in your field.)
--it is the natural product of a geological process (a catastrophic mud
slide)
And if so, were there not metal rivets throughout the object?
--absolutely not!
5. Were you misquoted or misrepresented in David Fasold's book which quoted
you as testing the brackets and finding them at regular intervals throughout
the formation?
--One sample we collected in June of 1985 was mostly iron oxide. But this
was the only sample of this kind ever found there. And there was nothing
about it to argue that it was not natural, especially given the fact that
the underlying rock formation is a strip of igenous seafloor.
6. Was the article in that Fasold quotes in his book just a fabrication of
David Fasold, or did you really "using a metal detector, Baumgardner has
been able to confirm the existence of metal at regular intervals.
Baumgardner says he believes that metal is at the points where these lines
intersect, giving rise to the speculation metal was used in the
infrastructure of this craft?"
--The method was a type of dowsing that David Fasold introduced and I
naively copied. Upon discerning what it was, I forsook it.
Gary, I trust these excerpts of email from the last few months will give the
visitors to your web site a better grasp of who is claiming what, regarding
this boat-shaped formation. It should be evident that I, as a scientist with
a Ph.D. in geophysics but also an earnest Christian, am absolutely convinced
the site contains no remains of Noah's Ark. This conclusion was reached
after eight trips to the area between 1985 and 1988 and two major
geophysical investigations during the summers of 1987 and 1988 in
collaboration with Dr. Salih Bayraktutan, a geologist, at Ataturk University
in Erzurum, Turkey. In the 1987 effort we surveyed the site with ground
penetrating radar that involved 72 separate traverses spaced two meters
apart. We also took 1200 magnetometer readings in a detailed magnetometer
survey. In addition we made several traverses with an exploration
seismograph. In the 1988 effort we drilled four core holes and performed
additional seismograph scans. It was the results of the core drilling that
revealed, with no room for debate, that a long ridge-shaped block of rock
lies along the centerline of the site. Mud flowing around this obstacle is
responsible for the almond, or boat-like shape. The dark colored boulders
are pieces of the igneous seafloor rocks that happen to underlie the site.
The glaring absence of human artifacts of the sort implied by the visitation
of multitudes of pilgrims reported by historians like Josephus is a final
forceful argument against this being the true resting place of the Ark.
Also from these excerpts it should be clear that I consider Wyatt's
misrepresentation of my views as morally wrong and dishonest. But his
deception of multitudes of Christians who have not had the opportunity to
check his claims firsthand as I have is an even worse crime. I give you
permission to use these words of mine to warn people of this snare.
Sincerely,
John Baumgardner
Los Alamos, New Mexico
http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/BaumgardnerLetter.html
glenn
see http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
for lots of creation/evolution information
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
> Behalf Of William T. Yates
> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 12:45 AM
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: Ron Wyatt Museum
>
>
> Hi--
>
> On a mailing list I belong to I saw a recommendation for this site,
> http://www.wyattmuseum.com. He cliams to have found Noah's Ark, the Ark
> of the Covenant, Pharoah's chariots, and more. Needless to say, I am ,
> shall we say, dubious. Does anyone know anything about this guy?
>
> --Bill Yates
>
>
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