Overview
- Pottery fragments were recovered during road construction near the boat-shaped Durupınar Formation on Mount Ararat, according to Prof. Faruk Kaya of Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University.
- Laboratory analyses at Istanbul Technical University were described as consistent with habitation in the Chalcolithic period, roughly 5500–3000 BC.
- Team members also reported “polygenic” clays and traces of marine organisms in soils that they interpret as evidence of human activity.
- Researchers are urging formal protection of the site and a halt to the removal of stones or marked fragments, warning of erosion and landslide damage.
- Many geologists and archaeologists say the formation is a natural feature and maintain that any connection to Noah’s Ark remains unproven without controlled, peer‑reviewed excavation.