Now, after further investigation on Mount Ararat, Randall Price, a Judaic studies expert at Liberty University, and geologist Don Patton have issued an in-depth critique on the matter, standing firm in their contention the evidence shown to international news media was actually material transported from the northeastern Turkish town of Trabzon near the Black Sea, and transplanted atop Ararat as part of a movie production about Noah's Ark.
Kurdish guide Ahmet Ertugral, also known as Parasut (Parachute) for his trademark mustache.
The report places much of the blame for the scheme on Kurdish guide and former Price colleague Ahmet Ertugrul, nicknamed "Parasut" (pronounced parachute), for his large, parachute-like mustache:
According to one source some of the wood came from an old barn, however, other sources said the large wood came from an old ferryboat ... The wood was carried by large trucks to 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) and then by horses to 3,700 meters (12,100 feet). Then each worker carried two pieces of wood until all of it was at the site. They started by putting the wood on the ground to make floors. Then they made sides and finally a roof. There is a ladder in one cave that leads down to the wood. The workers took ash and rubbed it on the wood to make it look old.
They piled up snow against the wood frame they built and let the rain, ice, and snow cover everything inside and out. Rocks and other things fell on the roof and one caved in.
The government may or may not have known about the transportation of the wood and the construction of the structures, but, as our source said, the government is only interested in furthering tourism since the economy is so poor, so they probably wouldn't care or say even if they knew. The workers said they worked on the inside for one month from around November 1 to December.
Parasut took many old things to put into places in the structure like stone bowls, seeds, and a rock. The piece of old wood that the Chinese gave to be tested was just a single piece that came from Alamut, a 3,500-year-old castle located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Esfahan, Iran. Parasut also put straw and other things on the floors. When the people heard on the news that Parasut claimed to have found the ark many of them laughed, but others said they would keep quiet because it would be good to bring in the tourists. ...
They were told they were building a "movie set" and that the movie people would arrive to film what they made. According to them, Parasut himself never actually went to the site, but continually asked them for details to be sure everything was looking good.
They only came forth to tell their story once they learned that the movie makers were claiming their "movie set" was the real thing! They did not want to be considered "a liar like Parasut." They did not want to be thought of as "bad people." However, because they live in close proximity to Parasut and continue to work on Mt. Ararat, they have asked that their identities not be revealed. This is a dangerous part of the world and there is a lot of money at stake and Parasut is not someone to be trifled with.
Noah's Ark Ministries International is firing back at the report, stating, "We are very disappointed and enraged by some Christian scholars, who used partially factual, and plausible-yet-false materials, piled into an article looking like a scholarly report, with bold titles accusing NAMI of making a fraud. It severely maligned and hurt this organization and the exploration-team members. ...
