A Chinese-Turkish group of explorers have announced their discovery of Noah’s Ark, 4,000 metres up a mountain in eastern Turkey. The team, named Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI), claim to have taken photographic and physical evidence of the remains on Mount Ararat, near the Turkish-Armenian border.
The ‘evangelical explorers’ even say they have carbon-dated the ‘ark’ to around 4,800 years, bringing it in line with most historians’ views on the Biblical flood story. The group, comprising 15 adventurers from Hong Kong and Turkey, have also shown reporters wooden fragments, rope and nails they claim to have brought from the wreckage.
Local officials will ask the Turkish government in Ankara to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status for the site, so it can be excavated further. NAMI member Yeung Wing-Cheung is confident his team have finally cracked one of the Bible’s biggest mysteries. “It’s not 100 percent that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it,” he says.
Dutch expert Gerrit Aalten is also upbeat about the discovery. “The significance of this find is that for the first time inhistory the discovery of Noahs Ark is well documented and revealed to the worldwide community,” he says. “Theres a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey is the legendary Ark of Noah.”
The whereabouts of Noah’s Ark is one of Biblical archaeology’s greatest conundrums. Noah famously built his ark to accommodate two of every animal, to escape a worldwide flood caused by God after having seen how corrupt humans had become. The Bible then says the ark came to rest on a mountain, of which Ararat is the region’s largest.
This isn’t the first time someone has claimed the discovery of the ark on Mount Ararat. American archaeologist Ron Wyatt found a boat-shaped object stretching across the region in 1987, that was promptly labelled a national park by Ankara. Check out this video of the discovery:
The likes of the British Museum, Louvre and Metropolitan may get the lion’s share of publicity, artefacts and controversy, but small museums are the staple of any dedicated culture lover. And while meandering through the interweb I came across Brooklyn’s Living Torah Museum, one of New York’s quaintest collections.
While its illustrious downtown neighbours are afforded giant beaux arts buildings, the Living Torah Museum is in a private home in Borough Park, 1601 41st Street. Its surroundings may not be as epic as most museums, but its collection is not to be sniffed at: since its inception curator Rabbi Shimon Deutsch has amassed over 900 artefacts worth a combined $14m (9.1m).
Its surroundings might not be epic, but it boasts a fearsome collection
Among the items, astonishingly, is the oldest copy of the Ten Commandments in the world, dating back around 2,500 years. Ancient pottery from the times of King Hezekiah and a 3,500-year-old toy chariot are other highlights. In total the collection is divided into four sections: ‘Torah Times’; ‘Talmud Times’; ’39 Melahos’ and ‘Great Torah Personalities’. Rabbi Deutsch also frequently gives lectures on the history of the Jewish faith.
The vast majority of visitors to the museum are Jewish, but its collection alone is impressive enough for anyone interested in biblical history – and according to the Biblical Archaeology Review it’s the only museum in the US solely dedicated to the archaeological history of the sacred text. It’s certainly a hidden gem, something we’re constantly finding during our Ancient World in London video series – places like the Maunsell Sea Forts and the Petrie Museum. If anyone has visited the Living Torah Museum, let me know !
London is a complex delight of cultures and crime, of poverty and wealth, of gang warfare and suburban bliss, of traffic jams and serene parks and gardens. People of all races and religions flock to London always have, always will. Some have come more peacefully than others.
When discussing attacks on London, the idea that comes into your head is of some foreign power invading the city or, in more modern times, attacking from the air. The reality is that the majority of the attacks on the capital have come not from a foreign enemy but from members of the (now) British population or even from Londoners themselves.
The Attack of the Romans
The first attack on the city was actually carried out by the native population of Britain on the foreign founders of the city, the Romans. Although there have been problems with immigration throughout history and up to the present day, thankfully not many of the new arrivals have been as severely treated as those Roman inhabitants of London were by Boudicca in 60 AD.
The attack on London by Boudicca was the most ferocious and devastating attack London ever faced. Not only was almost the entire population slaughtered but the town as it was then was entirely destroyed. London grew again, however, and achieved an even greater level of importance.
The departure of the Romans supposedly led to the almost abandonment of London according to some the invading Saxons had no use for towns. This may have been a slight exaggeration as when areas of Kent were attacked by the Jutes in the fifth century, the native population fled to the stronghold of London, which still had the Roman wall.
There were to be further foreign attacks on the town when the Vikings arrived on their raids in the ninth century. By this time, of course, the Saxons were themselves seen as British.
It may shock some to learn that by the following century, all Jews in Britain over the age of seven years old were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothes
Vikings attacked London in 842 with a resulting slaughter of many of the inhabitants. They returned in 851 and actually destroyed much of the town before occupying it in 871. At this time there were no standing armies, so as in the attack by Boudicca, when the Roman army had departed, the main victims were civilians.
It was the success of the attack by King Alfreds men in 886 that finally took London back into native hands. It is also from this period that London seems to have become more than just another town due to its position.
For the next few centuries the position of London was to become one of uncertainty as the crown of England was disputed between a number of Saxon and Viking rulers whose supporters seemed to have changed sides as often as they changed their clothes. The loyalty of Londoners in the past was also just as questionable. It was finally to be the arrival of William the Conqueror, himself descended from Vikings that put an end to the dispute over the city and it became firmly entrenched in Norman hands. This was especially the cas once he built the Tower of London.
There was to be some time before any foreign enemy was to attack the city again. This is not to say that London was now safe and peaceful: the next few centuries were to see never-ending disputes between the king and the Aldermen of the city, rebels and Parliament. Little seemed to have changed from earlier days when former allies changed sides at the drop of a hat.
A Riotous 12th Century for London
The 12th century was to see a number of disputes over the city, the first being when Matilda, the daughter of Henry l, became queen but was then deposed by her cousin Stephen. The population of London accepted Matilda but preferred Stephen because Matilda had revoked some of the rights of the Aldermen. When Matilda took the Tower, the population revolted against her.
Later in the 12th century, King John had his falling out with the rebel barons who invited the eldest son of the King of France to become king. When he arrived in London he was greeted with pleasure by the population who had by then turned against John.
One royal who held a grudge against the population of London was Edward I. His mother had been attacked by Londoners from the bridge as she tried to sail from the Tower to Windsor. During the battle of Lewes in 1263, he led his father’s cavalry against the rebel infantry, who were mainly Londoners, and committed widespread slaughter.
The 12th century also saw an increase in violence towards the Jewish population of the city. There were a number of violent attacks due on the surface to the difference in religion and the mania prompted by the crusades. An underlying reason was that murdering the Jewish was a way of getting out of paying debts to Jews the main moneylenders. It may shock some to learn that by the following century, all Jews in Britain over the age of seven years old were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothes.
Tax Riots:Thatcher Had It Easy
The Middle Ages saw a number of attacks on London by peasants from various parts of the country. In 1381, Wat Tyler and his men arrived in the original Poll Tax riots. They were more forceful than the poll tax protestors of the Thatcher era, and destroyed a number of large houses in the city; they were helped by a large proportion of the London population, who joined them.
In 1450, Jack Cade arrived with another mob that also wanted to show their displeasure over taxes. They did this by executing a number of government officials and by grabbing as much loot as they could before going home. There were no doubt also a number of looters who did not have far to go to carry their haul home. Attacks on London were not always feared by the local people, who were not averse to joining in if it meant they could pocket some of the loot on offer. This wasnt only the case in the medieval period the danger was greater by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Religious persecution had not disappeared by this time and the main target of this persecution was Roman Catholics. There had even been a strong belief that it was a Catholic plot that had led to the Great Fire of London; when the monument to the fire was first erected, one of the plaques on it said that Papists had started the fire deliberately.
Religion Becomes an Issue
The proof that violence in the city was not only inspired from outside was shown in the Gordon Riots of the late 18th century. What began as a demonstration against pro-Catholic moves by Parliament led to serious rioting that resulting in widespread damage to several parts of the city, hundreds of deaths and ended with the almost complete control of the city by the army.
The untrustworthy nature of the native population was shown again during the Napoleonic Wars when military forces had to be available in London not only in case of invasion, but also as a means of controlling the huge underclass that had grown around the city. Frequent riots causing widespread damage in London were to carry on until the beginning of the 20th century. There may be problems in London today with knife crime and gang culture, but in comparison with the past, London today is much safer than it ever was.
Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered an amphitheatre in Tiberias, overlooking the sea of Galilee. It has taken 19 years of research and excavation work to enable the site to be made public by the team of experts, led by the late Professor Izhar Hirshfeld from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Yossi Stefanski.
The team now believes that the amphitheatre dates from the first century AD, which would mean it was built near the time when Tiberias was founded in 20 AD (by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, during the reign of Tiberius). According to Dr Wallid Atrash, an archaeologist from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the site would have been a central meeting point for the community of Tiberias and could have seated more than 7,000.
According to a report in Haaretz, the site will be named after Amir Drori, the first director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
London is a complex delight of cultures and crime, of poverty and wealth, of gang warfare and suburban bliss, of traffic jams and serene parks and gardens. People of all races and religions flock to London always have, always will. Some have come more peacefully than others. 
The proof that violence in the city was not only inspired from outside was shown in the Gordon Riots of the late 18th century. What began as a demonstration against pro-Catholic moves by Parliament led to serious rioting that resulting in widespread damage to several parts of the city, hundreds of deaths and ended with the almost complete control of the city by the army.