David Fasold
Encyclopedia
David Franklin Fasold was a former United States Merchant Marine
officer and salvage expert who is best known for his book The Ark of Noah, chronicling his early expeditions to the Durupınar Noah's Ark
site in eastern Turkey. Repudiating and then changing his views about the site, Fasold was a participant in a suit with Australian geologist
and skeptic Ian Plimer
against an Australian creationist
group. The suit, dubbed the "Monkey Trial
II," was an important case in the debate between science and religion
and its role in society.
in 1939 and grew up in Wheaton
, Illinois
, son of Frank, an architect
, and Ruth Fasold, who raised him as strict Plymouth Brethren
. In 1957 he joined the United States Merchant Marine
becoming an officer and traveling the world. He met his wife Anna Elizabeth Avila, from El Salvador
, in San Jose, California
, in the 1950s. After beginning a family he moved to Key West
, Florida
, where Fasold built up a respectable marine salvage
company. In the 1970s and 1980s he assisted various marine treasure hunters
, including Mel Fisher
. He raised two sons, Nathan and Michael, before dying of cancer
in Corvallis
, Oregon
, on April 26, 1998, financially broken from years of expeditions and research.
and Noah's Ark
, Fasold studied pre-Christian
accounts of the Deluge and came to believe that the ark would be found not on Mt. Ararat but somewhere to the southwest. In 1985, Fasold teamed up with Ron Wyatt
to investigate the Durupınar site (located at approximately 39°26′26.26"N 44°14′04.26"E), a boat-shaped mound site named after Turkish Army
Captain İlhan Durupınar who identified the formation in a Turkish Air Force
aerial photo while on a mapping mission for NATO in 1959.
In 1985, Fasold and Wyatt were joined by geophysicist Dr. John Baumgardner
for the expedition recounted in Fasold's The Ark of Noah. As soon as Fasold saw the site, he exclaimed that it was a ship wreck. Fasold had brought a state-of-the-art frequency generator, set on the wavelength for iron
and searched the formation for internal iron loci. This technique was later compared to dowsing
by the site's detractors. Fasold and the team measured the length of the formation as 538 feet, close to the 300 cubits of the Bible
if the Egyptian
cubit of 20.6 inches is used. Later measurements by others found it to be 515 feet, exactly 300 Egytpian cubits in length. Fasold believed the team had found the fossilized remains of the upper deck and that the original reed substructure has disappeared. In the nearby village of Kazan, so-called drogue stones that they believed were once attached to the ark were investigated.
wrote of Fasold's searches in his 1987 book The Lost Ship of Noah, also printing part of an extensive 1985 interview with Fasold on pages 157-161. Wyatt wrote a small booklet, presenting his evidence found at the site, including what he considered petrified wood from deck timbers, pitch, and metal rivets. Fasold took a different approach, concentrating on pre-biblical literature and, as a nautical engineer, recognized the likelihood that it was made, like other ancient large boats and rafts, of reeds. He concluded that the enigmatic "gopher wood" of Genesis 6:14 was in fact a covering of bitumen and reeds
, and the words was related to kaphar or pitch
. He also made the claim that there were two Dilmun
s, one located on Bahrain
and the original one in the Zagros mountains. In 1988, Fasold published his own book, The Ark of Noah.
In The Ark of Noah, Fasold took many fundamentalists and creationists to task for insisting that the ark was rectangular in shape, made of wood, and must have landed on Mount Ararat (when the Bible states "the mountains of Ararat"). He also critically examined and dismissed many previous ark sightings at Ararat. The exposure of his find in the media led to further expeditions to the site in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, Wyatt supposedly discovered petrified wood and metal items, and exposed the remains of decayed rib timbers at the site. Fasold doubted many of Wyatt's claims during this time, and broke with Wyatt's interpretations. During this time, Fasold formed the Noahide Society and issued a newsletter called Ark-Update. He also produced several audio and video tapes.
in September 1994, and in a subsequent interview noted his change of mind saying "I believe this may be the oldest running hoax in history. I think we have found what the ancients said was the Ark, but this structure is not Noah's Ark." At other times he claimed that the site was only what the ancients believed was Ziusudra
's 'ark of reeds'. In 1996 Fasold coauthored a paper with geologist Lorence Collins entitled "Bogus 'Noah's Ark' from Turkey Exposed as a Common Geologic Structure" that concluded the boat-shaped formation was a curious upswelling of mud that happened to look like a boat.
In April 1997 during his testimony in an Australian court case Fasold repudiated his belief in the Ark, and stated that he regarded the claim as "absolute BS".
Creationist Ark researchers such as Don Patten, David Allen Deal and Australian friend and biographer June Dawes reported that before his 1998 death Fasold again claimed the Durupınar site to be the location of the ark. Dawes wrote:
, was one of the first Americans
to investigate the notion that Jabal al-Lawz
in Saudi Arabia
might be the Biblical Mount Sinai
. During an illegal trek through the desert around the mountain, Wyatt and Fasold were arrested and detained for a short period. Former New York Times journalist Howard Blum
wrote of Fasold's journeys in his 1998 book The Gold of Exodus.
and skeptic Dr. Ian Plimer
. Plimer sued Roberts's organization Ark Search, claiming that Roberts and Ark Search made false and misleading claims about the Durupinar site. Plimer argued that Robert's speech was not protected free speech, but instead he sued under the Fair Trading Act, claiming that Roberts was misleading the public. The case was promoted by the media around Australia and the world as a second Scopes Monkey Trial. Plimer's action failed, Judge Ron Sackville said "Courts should not attempt to provide a remedy for every false or misleading statement made in the course of public debate on matters of general interest." Judge Sackville accepted that Roberts had infringed Fasold's copyrights, but Fasold described the award of $2,500 Australian dollars in damages as "a slap in the face," pointing out that he had won more in two similar cases in the United States
.
Anti-Durupinar Sites
Fasold/Plimer v. Allen/Ark Search Case
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
officer and salvage expert who is best known for his book The Ark of Noah, chronicling his early expeditions to the Durupınar Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
site in eastern Turkey. Repudiating and then changing his views about the site, Fasold was a participant in a suit with Australian geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
and skeptic Ian Plimer
Ian Plimer
Ian Rutherford Plimer is an Australian geologist, academic, professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and a director of four mining companies...
against an Australian creationist
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
group. The suit, dubbed the "Monkey Trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
II," was an important case in the debate between science and religion
Creation-evolution controversy
The creation–evolution controversy is a recurring cultural, political, and theological dispute about the origins of the Earth, humanity, life, and the universe....
and its role in society.
Biography and marine career
Fasold was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1939 and grew up in Wheaton
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, son of Frank, an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, and Ruth Fasold, who raised him as strict Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
. In 1957 he joined the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
becoming an officer and traveling the world. He met his wife Anna Elizabeth Avila, from El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, in the 1950s. After beginning a family he moved to Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where Fasold built up a respectable marine salvage
Marine salvage
Marine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...
company. In the 1970s and 1980s he assisted various marine treasure hunters
Treasure hunting
Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure which has been a notable human activity for millennia. -In modern times:In recent times, the early stages of the development of archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunt; Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy, and later at...
, including Mel Fisher
Mel Fisher
Mel Fisher was an American treasure hunter best known for finding the 1622 wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha named after a shrine in Madrid for protection. He discovered the wreck July 20, 1985...
. He raised two sons, Nathan and Michael, before dying of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Corvallis
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462....
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, on April 26, 1998, financially broken from years of expeditions and research.
The Durupınar Site
Always interested in the history of the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, Fasold studied pre-Christian
Pre-Christian
Pre-Christian may mean:*before Christianization**historical polytheism *BC**Classical Antiquity**Iron Age...
accounts of the Deluge and came to believe that the ark would be found not on Mt. Ararat but somewhere to the southwest. In 1985, Fasold teamed up with Ron Wyatt
Ron Wyatt
Ronald Eldon Wyatt was an adventurer and former nurse anaesthetist noted for advocating the Durupınar site as the site of Noah's Ark, among other Bible-related pseudoarchaeology...
to investigate the Durupınar site (located at approximately 39°26′26.26"N 44°14′04.26"E), a boat-shaped mound site named after Turkish Army
Turkish Army
The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire...
Captain İlhan Durupınar who identified the formation in a Turkish Air Force
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It ranks 3rd in NATO in terms of fleet size behind the USAF and Royal Air Force with a current inventory of 798 aircraft .-Initial stages:...
aerial photo while on a mapping mission for NATO in 1959.
In 1985, Fasold and Wyatt were joined by geophysicist Dr. John Baumgardner
John Baumgardner
John R. Baumgardner is a geophysicist, young earth creationist, intelligent design supporter and Christian fundamentalist.-Biography:He became a Christian at 26 and has tried to prove the Deluge myth scientifically ever since, creating a computer program called Terra to model the flood...
for the expedition recounted in Fasold's The Ark of Noah. As soon as Fasold saw the site, he exclaimed that it was a ship wreck. Fasold had brought a state-of-the-art frequency generator, set on the wavelength for iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and searched the formation for internal iron loci. This technique was later compared to dowsing
Dowsing
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation , without the use of scientific apparatus...
by the site's detractors. Fasold and the team measured the length of the formation as 538 feet, close to the 300 cubits of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
if the Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
cubit of 20.6 inches is used. Later measurements by others found it to be 515 feet, exactly 300 Egytpian cubits in length. Fasold believed the team had found the fossilized remains of the upper deck and that the original reed substructure has disappeared. In the nearby village of Kazan, so-called drogue stones that they believed were once attached to the ark were investigated.
The Ark of Noah and the break with Wyatt
Ron Wyatt and David Fasold were both featured on a 20/20 television special soon after their expedition. Charles BerlitzCharles Berlitz
Charles Frambach Berlitz was an American linguist and language teacher known for his books on anomalous phenomena, as well as his language-learning courses. He is listed in The People's Almanac as one of the fifteen most eminent linguists in the world.-Life:Berlitz was born in New York City...
wrote of Fasold's searches in his 1987 book The Lost Ship of Noah, also printing part of an extensive 1985 interview with Fasold on pages 157-161. Wyatt wrote a small booklet, presenting his evidence found at the site, including what he considered petrified wood from deck timbers, pitch, and metal rivets. Fasold took a different approach, concentrating on pre-biblical literature and, as a nautical engineer, recognized the likelihood that it was made, like other ancient large boats and rafts, of reeds. He concluded that the enigmatic "gopher wood" of Genesis 6:14 was in fact a covering of bitumen and reeds
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...
, and the words was related to kaphar or pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
. He also made the claim that there were two Dilmun
Dilmun
Dilmun or Telmun is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route...
s, one located on Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
and the original one in the Zagros mountains. In 1988, Fasold published his own book, The Ark of Noah.
In The Ark of Noah, Fasold took many fundamentalists and creationists to task for insisting that the ark was rectangular in shape, made of wood, and must have landed on Mount Ararat (when the Bible states "the mountains of Ararat"). He also critically examined and dismissed many previous ark sightings at Ararat. The exposure of his find in the media led to further expeditions to the site in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, Wyatt supposedly discovered petrified wood and metal items, and exposed the remains of decayed rib timbers at the site. Fasold doubted many of Wyatt's claims during this time, and broke with Wyatt's interpretations. During this time, Fasold formed the Noahide Society and issued a newsletter called Ark-Update. He also produced several audio and video tapes.
Doubts and changing views
During the 1990s, Fasold was caught between three opposing camps that derided his interest in the site. On one side were orthodox creationists who believed the ark could only lie on Mt. Ararat; the second camp included Wyatt and others who continued their research and reported significant discoveries; the third camp included skeptical geologists and biblical minimalists who called the site a hoax. After a few scientific expeditions to the Durupınar site that included drillings and excavation in the 1990s, Fasold began to have doubts that the Durupınar formation was Noah's ark. He visited the site with geologist Ian PlimerIan Plimer
Ian Rutherford Plimer is an Australian geologist, academic, professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and a director of four mining companies...
in September 1994, and in a subsequent interview noted his change of mind saying "I believe this may be the oldest running hoax in history. I think we have found what the ancients said was the Ark, but this structure is not Noah's Ark." At other times he claimed that the site was only what the ancients believed was Ziusudra
Ziusudra
Ziusudra of Shuruppak is listed in the WB-62 Sumerian king list recension as the last king of Sumer prior to the deluge. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of the Sumerian flood epic...
's 'ark of reeds'. In 1996 Fasold coauthored a paper with geologist Lorence Collins entitled "Bogus 'Noah's Ark' from Turkey Exposed as a Common Geologic Structure" that concluded the boat-shaped formation was a curious upswelling of mud that happened to look like a boat.
In April 1997 during his testimony in an Australian court case Fasold repudiated his belief in the Ark, and stated that he regarded the claim as "absolute BS".
Creationist Ark researchers such as Don Patten, David Allen Deal and Australian friend and biographer June Dawes reported that before his 1998 death Fasold again claimed the Durupınar site to be the location of the ark. Dawes wrote:
He [Fasold] kept repeating that no matter what the experts said, there was too much going for the [Durupınar] site for it to be dismissed. He remained convinced it was the fossilized remains of Noah's Ark.
Jabal al-Lawz
In 1986 Fasold, along with Ron WyattRon Wyatt
Ronald Eldon Wyatt was an adventurer and former nurse anaesthetist noted for advocating the Durupınar site as the site of Noah's Ark, among other Bible-related pseudoarchaeology...
, was one of the first Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to investigate the notion that Jabal al-Lawz
Jabal al-Lawz
Jabal al-Lawz is a mountain located in northwest Saudi Arabia, near the Jordan border, above the Gulf of Aqaba at 2580 metres above sea level. The name means mountain of almonds....
in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
might be the Biblical Mount Sinai
Biblical Mount Sinai
The Biblical Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Book of Exodus states that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God...
. During an illegal trek through the desert around the mountain, Wyatt and Fasold were arrested and detained for a short period. Former New York Times journalist Howard Blum
Howard Blum
Howard Blum is an American author and journalist.In 1986, Blum began working as a reporter for the New York Times, where he earned two Pulitzer Prize nominations. Since 1994, Blum has been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair....
wrote of Fasold's journeys in his 1998 book The Gold of Exodus.
Plimer case
In 1997, Fasold was involved in an Australian case against a creationist named Allen Roberts who reproduced some of Fasold's artwork without permission. A co-plaintiff was Australian HumanistSecular humanism
Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...
and skeptic Dr. Ian Plimer
Ian Plimer
Ian Rutherford Plimer is an Australian geologist, academic, professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and a director of four mining companies...
. Plimer sued Roberts's organization Ark Search, claiming that Roberts and Ark Search made false and misleading claims about the Durupinar site. Plimer argued that Robert's speech was not protected free speech, but instead he sued under the Fair Trading Act, claiming that Roberts was misleading the public. The case was promoted by the media around Australia and the world as a second Scopes Monkey Trial. Plimer's action failed, Judge Ron Sackville said "Courts should not attempt to provide a remedy for every false or misleading statement made in the course of public debate on matters of general interest." Judge Sackville accepted that Roberts had infringed Fasold's copyrights, but Fasold described the award of $2,500 Australian dollars in damages as "a slap in the face," pointing out that he had won more in two similar cases in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
External links
Pro-Durupinar Sites- Excerpts from The Ark of Noah
- "A Debate the Site of Noah's Ark: At Uzengili (Nisir)" by Donald W. Patten
- NoahsArk-Naxuan.com
- Nu'hun Gemisi
- David Fasold - in memoriam (early 1998)
- Letter written by Mr. David Fasold
Anti-Durupinar Sites
- Letter by Larry Collins
- Bogus 'Noah's Ark' from Turkey Exposed as a Common Geologic Structure
- Noah's Ark Search: Durupinar
- Genesis Files: Durupinar
- Has Noah's Ark Been Found
- Special report: Amazing "Ark" Exposé
- Who Really Sunk the Noah’s Ark Site?
- That Boat-Shaped Rock … Is it Noah’s Ark?
Fasold/Plimer v. Allen/Ark Search Case