Durupınar project head says small burnt-wood fragments are out for carbon dating, cautions the formation may still prove geological

Prof. Dr. Cenker Atila of Sivas Cumhuriyet University, who heads the Durupınar Formation research project near Doğubayazıt in Ağrı province, told the 8th International Ağrı Mountain and Noah's Ark Symposium on Oct. 15 that the team found a small amount of burnt wood remains during its 2026 field season, according to the İhlas News Agency (İHA).

Atila said the fragments have been sent for identification of the tree species and for carbon-14 dating at laboratories in Turkey and France. He said results were expected from the French laboratory in about 15 days and from the Turkish analyses in about three months. He did not say where in the formation, or at what depth, the wood was found.

He said about 20 percent of the radar work has been completed so far. The team has again detected corridor-like features and room-like voids reported in earlier surveys, as well as what he described as a three-layered geological formation. Atila noted that the Bible describes the Ark as having three decks, but said the current data are not enough to reach a firm conclusion and that the possibility the features are geological must also be weighed. "As scientists, we must speak cautiously," he said, as quoted by İHA.

Atila added that soil samples taken to about 18 meters deep are still being analyzed, and that earlier tests showed organic-matter levels inside the formation differ from the surrounding ground.

The comments come after Noah's Ark Scans, the U.S.-based group partnering on the project, released a preliminary radar reading on Oct. 1 that it said pointed to a man-made object. No laboratory has yet identified any wood or published a date for material from the site. Sivas Cumhuriyet University has said wider analysis of the roughly 366 core samples sent to Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University will run into 2027.

The symposium was hosted by Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University from Oct. 15 to 17.