This time Ron had been able to get a good selection of specimens, and again he went to Galbraith for the analyses. This time the results were spectacular- one specimen that Ron believed to be the remains of a metal fitting of some type, proved to contain 8.08% iron, 11.55% ferric oxide, 11.45% alumina and 6.06% aluminum.

Ron sent some samples to Jim Irwin who had offered to send them to a laboratory he worked with for analysis. One of those specimens was of the strange "rock" Ron had obtained from the 120 x 40 foot area above the ark's present site.  Jim sent some of the specimens to Los Alamos National Laboratories, the very high-profile government facility in New Mexico.

After the Marv Steffins incident, an official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Kafji (sp. ?) appointed several Turkish scientists to go to Dogubeyazit and check out the boat-shaped object.  When Ron became aware of this, he felt it was imperative that they have the use of a high tech metal detector so that they could check the metal readings for themselves.  Ron returned in October of 1984, and contacted one of the liaisons he had met on the last trip, Mine Unler, who arranged for him to obtain proper permission to again use the metal detectors.  He also arranged to loan the Turkish scientists one of his White Metal Detectors.

He again took numerous specimens (with permission) and continued metal detector scans.  He later learned that the Turkish scientists had indeed received the same results with their metal detector surveys and were convinced that this was a fossilized boat.  Finally, PROGRESS!

Returning home, Ron again had analyses run on his samples. This time he had brought a sample of what he believed was the ballast material. This analysis showed that the material wasn't just a rock- in fact, it proved to be 84.14% manganese dioxide.  But, it didn't contain the other minerals present in the other samples which was very significant, since it came from the same location.  Ron believed that a ship the size and proportions of Noah's Ark would have HAD to have had ballast in its hull. And this strange "rock" was heavy and in large chunks, perfect for use as ballast.  But what exactly was it?

It gave the superficial appearance of being tailings (waste product) of some type of metal production. When a chemist with Reynolds Aluminum examined the specimen, he said without qualification that it WAS metal production tailings, or waste product. The lab analysis confirmed that it could not be something natural.

One ark hunter while attempting to explain away this metal ballast, attacked these specimens by claiming that they are nothing more than what are called "manganese nodules," which are found on the sea-floor in the Pacific.  However, they do NOT meet the criteria of those nodules.  According to common scientific knowledge, the manganese nodules found on the ocean floor are known to average about 2 inches in diameter, significantly smaller than these massive "chunks" of ballast material, some of which are 10 inches or more in size.  In addition, the nodules found on the ocean floor have an average content of 35% manganese, with 50% being considered the highest percentage amount of manganese.  The ballast material found by Ron contains over 84% manganese!!! Also, the manganese nodules on the sea floor contain nickel and cobalt, which is not found in the ballast material, which was thoroughly tested for mineral content. There is no doubt that these specimens are not naturally occurring nodules.

Many people accused Ron of having too vivid an imagination- they claimed that he just imagined that these man-made metals were actually present.  But as time would pass, the reality of the evidences would soon necessitate that these critics should come up with much better excuses, - because the facts would soon attract much "higher academic interest", as Tom Jarriel would state on ABC's "2O/2O."

He had been able to get more specimens from the site that he believed were from metal structures, and again took control samples for comparison. This time three of the samples he thought were metal showed high metal content- 19.97%, 12.30% and 11.55% Ferric oxide; 8.08%, 13.97% and 8.60% iron. Yet, the control samples showed .77% ferric oxide and .54% iron.  If Noah had built a ship of the size specified in the Bible, it made perfect sense to expect that he used metal in attaching the timbers together.  After all, in Genesis we learn that metal production was a science long before the time of the flood:

GENESIS 4:22  "And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah."

With all of the evidence collected thus far in favor of the ark site Ron had been working on, the other "ark hunters" who had dedicated their efforts to finding the ark on Mt. Ararat, were becoming very frustrated and upset with the attention given the site on what is called locally, "Doomsday Mountain."  It was time for "damage control," to try and discredit the site as much as possible.  But  if they couldn't discredit the site, they would discredit the man.  Ron became very unpopular.

GENESIS 8:4   "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."

The next verse goes on to state that even after the ark had come to rest, the tops (plural) of the mountains couldn't yet be seen until almost 3 months later. Remember Ron's experiment with the miniature mountain configurations in a stream with a small boat model? The little boat simply zipped past a solitary peak extending out of the water- but when it approached a crescent shaped configuration, the hydraulic action of the water eddy formed within this, caused the little boat to be sucked into the space within the crescent shape. If at the time the ark "rested" in the "mountains of Ararat", the tops were not even visible, the only explanation he could visualize was that it came to rest within a group of mountains that formed a similar crescent shape- even though they were underwater, the water action still drew the ship into such a protected area. This is an entirely reasonable concept- we are all probably familiar somewhat with the dangers of rip tides and other water currents caused by underwater terrain which definitely affects the water action on the surface.

The present location of the ark site fits this description perfectly- it was located at 6,300 feet above sea level in a mountain valley surrounded by higher mountains on 3 sides.

A pattern began in 1984, that would continue until the present time- almost everyone that Ron would take to the site and who SAW and UNDERSTOOD the tremendous evidence, would beat a fast track to Ankara to explain to the Turks that THEY were actually the discoverer of Noah's Ark.  Steffins was the first - for a while, as he attempted to raise money to work on the site, never mentioning the efforts of Ron. An artist was the second one, and the Turkish files show that he told their ministry that it was HE who actually showed Ron the site and that HE deserved to be recognized as the true discoverer.  Even Ron didn't discover the site, he was just the first person to really dedicate his efforts to proving it was the ark.

But his efforts were beginning to pay off, as those in authority were now taking an official interest in the site.  Meanwhile, the Ararat ark hunters got busy working on stories that would place a large lake in the region of the boat-shaped object, or creating myths that people in antiquity built either a large ship in the region, or a replica of the ark.  It's strange how these stories never surfaced until this time.  In time, a story would be fabricated that this site was actually the remains of an ancient fortress- a fortress built in a mountain valley with hills surrounding it on 3 sides which would have allowed attackers to simply fire down upon the hapless inhabitants of the fortress like defenseless subjects.  We still laugh about that one.

Others who had more impressive "credentials" were satisfied to state simply that they had "examined" the site thoroughly and found that it was simply an unusual geologic formation.  Some have stated that this was only one of many boat-shaped objects in the area, and insisted that it was only a "obstructed flow formation." However, in "obstructed flow" formations the pointed end it always down-flow, or at the low end- the complete opposite of this site.

But to Ron, the bottom line was always this- if this site did indeed contain the remains of the ark as he believed, God was certainly capable of making it known. With that thought in mind, Ron was at peace. If the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the TRUE GOD, and if He had created the universe and destroyed the old earth by a Flood, then He was certainly capable of preserving enough evidence to prove whatever He wanted.  But would He provide enough evidence to convince the entire world?  Well, even those who saw Christ perform miracles with their own eyes, crucified Him.  Some people will never believe "even if one came back from the dead."

Ron's original purpose in coming to Turkey was now accomplished, as he came not to make a great discovery, but to satisfy his own curiosity.  He was personally completely sure that this was the remains of the ark.  But now he felt compelled to hang in there and continue work on the site, even with its tremendous financial drains- after all, if God had preserved the ancient vessel, it had to be for a reason, and it was certainly for the benefit of more than just Ron Wyatt.

To some it would seem as if Ron had become obsessed- but to Ron, this was of such incredible importance that nothing else seemed very important anymore.  He believed with every iota of his being that this was Noah's Ark, and if he didn't gather the evidence for all those people who had been taught that the Bible was full of fables and myths, who would?  His reasoning was simple- he believed the Bible was absolutely factual, and as such, the only real importance we, as individuals, have during our short existence in this present life is what we do for the Creator who gave us that life. What He wants us to do is also quite simple: obey His Commandments and spread His Truth to others.

There are many, many people dedicated to spreading His Word to those who never had an opportunity to learn about Him.  But what about those who had heard and rejected His Truth because they had been taught that the Bible was fiction? What about those who had been taught as FACT the THEORIES of the evolutionists that now dominate our lives in all areas? We live in a time that is fraught with dangers everywhere we turn, even in our churches.  Ron knew what his decision was- he would continue the work, no matter what. He knew he would be up against both Christian evolutionists and the secular evolutionary camps, but even if one person benefited from his efforts, that would make it worthwhile.

Even some of those who claim to champion the cause of "creationism" state that the earth is about 10,000 years old- yet, the biblical account tells us it is around 6,000.  If we can't believe ALL of the Bible exactly as it is, what DO we believe?  These comments may sound harsh- this is not our intent.  We are most aware that all of us are what we are, and believe what we believe, because of where we were born and what we have been taught. The only hope for those of us who were taught incorrect concepts is that we would be willing to investigate and discard the wrong and accept the right.

After seeing the boat-shaped object and being present when the first metal detector scans were done, Col. Irwin agreed that the site needed to be thoroughly investigated. Although he was dedicated to completely searching Mt. Ararat, he was always helpful to Ron if there was anything he could do.  Since he is deceased, I want to be sure and stress that he never said he believed the site was the ark- he did say that he found the site "intriguing," and that before he made any conclusions, he wanted more scientific evidence.  He died before Ron could supply him with the accumulated evidence.  But unlike others who would come along later, he never tried to sabotage the research- in fact he was willing to do whatever he could to help Ron.

And so, when Jim got a call from a man who was interested in searching for the ark in a different location than Mt. Ararat, he referred the man to Ron. This man had called Jim with the idea of searching for the ark in the lava flows at the foot of Mt. Ararat- he didn't believe the ark could have possibly landed on Mt. Ararat and survived a volcanic mountain. If it survived at all, he believed, it would not be on the mountain. He wanted to search in the lava flows with the relatively new sub-surface interface radar, a ground penetrating radar system which could show objects beneath the earth's surface.  Jim gave Ron's phone number to this man.

So David Fasold called Ron for the first time and Ron told him about the boat-shaped object and all the research that had been done to the present time.  David was very excited and wanted to go as soon as possible.  Of course, so did Ron.  When he had told David about the metal detector scan results, Dave mentioned that he had a new type of metal detector that was capable of discerning types of metal, which would be very useful. He also told Ron about the "sub-surface interface radar" which would reveal the ark remains below the surface.  Dave was a former merchant marine, a marine salvage expert and treasure hunter.  He kept up with the latest technology, which is just what the ark project needed at this time. His excitement and enthusiasm were just what Ron needed, and they were about to embark on some serious research, or at least that's what Ron hoped.