Durupınar radar scientist says scans show organized structure, not solid rock

Researchers studying the boat-shaped Durupınar Formation in eastern Türkiye say a subsurface radar specialist has concluded that returns from under the mound look organized rather than like a solid geological mass. Third-party laboratory results on drilled cores are still not out.

On October 1, 2026, Noah's Ark Scans published a GlobeNewswire release summarizing a preliminary assessment from Dr. Khosrow Bakhtar of Bakhtar Research and Engineering, LLC. Bakhtar, who deployed his BakhtarRadar system at the site, is quoted as saying the processed imagery resolves patterns he reads as corridors, chambers and hallways, and that a continuous solid rock or homogeneous geological body would not have produced that signature. He also said people may argue about what the object is, and that he is reporting what the instrument resolves rather than naming it. The release says a fuller technical report on the BakhtarRadar dataset is expected by November.

Andrew Jones, founder of Noah's Ark Scans, said in the same release that core drilling has already begun on coordinates drawn from the radar work, and that the next evidence the project wants is material tested in a laboratory, not another scan image. The release describes the 2026 field program as led with Prof. Dr. Cenker Atila of Sivas Cumhuriyet University. Early holes have been linked to a hard layer about four to five meters down that the team wants third-party labs to examine. Possible petrified or mineralized wood remains one hypothesis among others, not an identified finding.

As of this week, independent wires and Turkish university-linked coverage still describe soil and core samples as awaiting analysis in Ankara, with no published wood identification or radiocarbon dates. Faith & World Brief's earlier September coverage noted Atila pushing back against viral claims that the Ark had been "proven," and Jones telling Newsweek that ancient wood had not been identified and that the organic-layer language described a hypothesis under test. Those caveats still apply: this update is a project-side radar interpretation, not peer-reviewed confirmation that Durupınar is Noah's Ark.