Editing Noah's Ark (section)

==Historicity==
[[Encyclopædia Britannica First Edition|The first edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']] from 1771 describes the Ark as factual. It also attempts to explain how the Ark could house all living animal types: "... Buteo and [[Athanasius Kircher|Kircher]] have proved geometrically, that, taking the common [[cubit]] as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it ... the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of [[quadrupeds]]."<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Ark |volume= 02 |last= Cook |first= Stanley Arthur |author-link= Stanley Arthur Cook | pages = 548&ndash;550; see page 549 | quote= Noah's Ark... }}</ref> It also endorses a supernatural explanation for the flood, stating that "many attempts have been made to account for the deluge by means of natural causes: but these attempts have only tended to discredit philosophy, and to render their authors ridiculous".<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Deluge, The |volume= 07 |last=Cheyne |first= Thomas Kelly |author-link= Thomas Kelly Cheyne | pages = 976&ndash;979 }}</ref>

The 1860 edition attempts to solve the problem of the Ark being unable to house all animal types by suggesting a local flood, which is described in the 1910 edition as part of a "gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible" that resulted in "the '[[higher criticism]]' and the rise of the modern scientific views as to the origin of species" leading to "scientific comparative mythology" as the frame in which Noah's Ark was interpreted by 1875.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===Ark's geometry===
[[File:Allessandro Masnago - Cameo with Noah's Ark - Walters 421447.jpg|left|175px|thumb|This engraving features a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark. It is based on a woodcut by the French illustrator [[Bernard Salomon]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher = [[The Walters Art Museum]] |url = http://art.thewalters.org/detail/23266 |title = Cameo with Noah's Ark |access-date = 10 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131213133855/http://art.thewalters.org/detail/23266 |archive-date = 13 December 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref> From the [[Walters Art Museum]].]]
In Europe, the [[Renaissance]] saw much speculation on the nature of the Ark that might have seemed familiar to early theologians such as [[Origen]] and [[Augustine]]. At the same time, however, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. In the 15th century, Alfonso Tostada gave a detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air. The 16th-century [[geometry|geometer]] [[Johannes Buteo]] calculated the Ark's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators.<ref name=Cohn>{{harvnb|Cohn|1996|p=}}</ref>{{rp|40-41}}

[[Irving Finkel]], a curator at the British Museum, came into the possession of a [[cuneiform]] tablet. He translated it and discovered an hitherto unknown Babylonian version of the story of the great flood. This version gave specific measurements for an unusually large [[coracle]] (a type of rounded boat). His discovery led to the production of a television documentary and a book summarizing the finding. A scale replica of the boat described by the tablet was built and floated in Kerala, India.{{sfn|Finkel|2014|}}{{Page needed|date=August 2024}}

===Searches for Noah's Ark===
[[File:The Durupinar site in July 2019.jpg|thumb|The Durupinar site in July 2019]]
{{Main|Searches for Noah's Ark}}
[[Searches for Noah's Ark]] have been made from at least the time of [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]] (c. 275 – 339&nbsp;CE) to the present day.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> In the 1st century, Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]] claimed the remaining pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is understood to be Mount Ararat in [[Turkey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Landing-Place of Noah's Ark: Testimonial, Geological and Historical Considerations: Part Four|author-first1=Rick|author-last1=Lanser|date=26 October 2011|publisher=Associates for Biblical Research |url=https://biblearchaeology.org/research/contemporary-issues/4112-the-landingplace-of-noahs-ark-testimonial-geological-and-historical-considerations-part-four |access-date=27 April 2023 |website=biblearchaeology.org}}</ref> Today, the practice of seeking the remains of the Ark is widely regarded as [[pseudoarchaeology]].<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|last1=Fagan|first1=Brian M.|last2=Beck|first2=Charlotte|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1996|isbn=978-0195076189|location=[[Oxford]]|author1-link=Brian M. Fagan|access-date=17 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208073258/https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cline 2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNIDHSPsSMC&pg=PA72|title=Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction|last=Cline|first=Eric H.|pages=71–75|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0199741076}}</ref><ref name="Feder 2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlRz2symkAsC&pg=PA195|title=Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum|last=Feder|first=Kenneth L.|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2010|isbn=978-0313379192|location=[[Santa Barbara, California]]|author1-link=Kenneth Feder|access-date=17 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208073258/https://books.google.com/books?id=RlRz2symkAsC&pg=PA195|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live|page=195}}</ref> Various locations for the ark have been suggested but have never been confirmed.<ref name="Mayell-2004">{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|title=Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer|last=Mayell|first=Hillary|date=27 April 2004|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=29 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414031733/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|archive-date=14 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Lovgren-2004">Stefan Lovgren (2004). [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0920_040920_noahs_ark.html Noah's Ark Quest Dead in Water] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030621/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0920_040920_noahs_ark.html |date=25 January 2012 }} – National Geographic</ref> Search sites have included the [[Durupınar site]], a site on [[Mount Tendürek]], and [[Mount Ararat]], both in [[Eastern Anatolia Region|eastern Turkey]], but geological investigation of possible remains of the ark has only shown natural sedimentary formations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Sutton%20Hoo%2014.pdf|last=Collins|first=Lorence G.|title=A supposed cast of Noah's ark in eastern Turkey|year=2011|access-date=26 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305191940/http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Sutton%20Hoo%2014.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> While biblical literalists often maintain the Ark's existence in archaeological history, its scientific feasibility, along with that of the deluge, has been contested.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Review of John Woodmorappe's "Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study"|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/woodmorappe-review.html|access-date=6 April 2021|website=www.talkorigins.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark {{!}} National Center for Science Education|url=https://ncse.ngo/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark|access-date=6 April 2021|website=ncse.ngo|language=en}}</ref>