THIS is not the type of article likely to get published in mainstream media because it comes from the realm of “creationism”. It has been published by a Facebook group called Bible Digs, Archaeology and Biblical History, and attracted some hostile reactions.
The article, because it lacks bibliography and references, does not quite qualify as “academic”, but it does draw on a large body of ancient history related to the lands of Armenia, where creationists believe Noah’s Ark came to rest.
The author assumes the biblical narrative is true and proceeds to gather historical, biological, archaeological and other data to support that position. He presents a fairly thorough and well-researched case to support the hypothesis that Noah’s Ark did in fact “come to rest on the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4).
By TIM MCCLARD,
Contributor to Bible Digs, Archaeology and Biblical History
The study of ancient animal remains is primarily known as “Zooarchaeology” (or “Archaeozoology”). It sits at the intersection of anthropology, biology, and paleontology, focusing on what animal bones, teeth, shells, and ancient DNA can tell us about past human environments and behaviors.
Zooarchaeologists analyze animal remains to discover what archaic humans were eating. By looking at “midden” (trash) heaps, researchers can determine if a population relied on hunting, fishing, or livestock. They can identify when and where wild species were first domesticated. By examining growth rings in teeth or shells, archaeozoologists can determine what time of year a site was occupied. They look for tool marks on bones to understand how carcasses were processed and distributed. They can also identify the presence of “indicator species” that only thrive in specific climates. For example, finding reindeer bones in Southern Europe suggests an Ice Age environment.
A subranch of these sciences called “Ethnobiology” is the scientific study of the dynamic relationships between people and “biota” (plants, animals, and other organisms). Ethnobiologists seeks to understand how ancient cultures perceived, used, and managed the living world around them. Researchers in this field rely heavily on the evolutionary models of old-earth advocates who see gradual changes in the animal kingdom going back 538 million years.
However, the research of Archaeozoologists has actually provided ample evidence for the reality of a global flood 4400 years ago that wiped out all the birds, land animals and humans who were living on earth, except for Noah and his family and the animals with him on the Ark. In that year-long flood, the only provision available to the survivors, both humans and animals, were the victuals that Noah stored in the holds of the Ark.
“By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.”
“Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.’”
“So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.” (Genesis 8:13-19)
1. The Starting Point For All Land Animal and Bird Migrations After the Flood…
The Ark made landfall in “The Mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4), today called the “Armenian Highlands”, where several archaeological sites like “Çayönü”, “Nevalı Çori”, and “Göbekli Tepe” are also found.
In the “Table of Nations” (Genesis 10), the expansion of Noah’s descendants (Japheth, Shem, Ham) into these regions aligns with the establishment of those high-altitude ritual centers. From the Armenian Highlands “all the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another”…and began their long journeys into every continent.
2. The First Use of Cereal Grains
For decades, scientists searched for the “wild ancestor” of modern wheat. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DNA fingerprinting finally tracked it down to a specific location in this region. Geneticists discovered that “Einkorn wheat”, one of the founding crops of civilization, can be traced back to a single wild population growing on the slopes of “Karaca Dağ”, a volcanic mountain near the headwaters of the Tigris.
At sites like “Çayönü, archaeologists found that humans were harvesting wild grains so intensely that the plants transitioned from “wild” (where seeds shatter and fall to the ground) to “domestic” (where the seed stays on the stalk for humans to harvest). In the higher elevations of the Armenian Highlands at sites like “Aknashen” and “Aratashen”, discoveries show sophisticated farming, using obsidian tools from local volcanoes to harvest it.
The Armenian highland zone provided the founder crops…”Einkorn” and “Emmer Wheat” which were the primary staples, “Barley” which was tougher and more drought-resistant, and “Bitter Vetch” and “Chickpeas” which provided added protein to supplement the grains.
3. Where did Noah Get His Wine?
“Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.” (Genesis 9: 20-21)
The wild grape – “Vitis Vinifera” grows naturally in the river valleys of the Armenian Highlands. It is believed that the earliest inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands were the first to identify “hermaphroditic” vines (vines that can self-pollinate), which allowed for the reliable, large-scale harvests necessary for winemaking.
In 2007, archaeologists excavating the “Areni-1 cave complex” in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia discovered a specialized winemaking facility from the Early Bronze Age. Researchers found a large, shallow clay basin (about 3 feet wide) designed for treading grapes by foot. The basin was angled so that the juice would drain into a deep ceramic vat for fermentation (see AI-generated image above).
Inside the vats and surrounding soil, scientists found grape seeds. DNA analysis showed these were “Vitis vinifera”, the domesticated wine grape, rather than a wild variety. The capacity of the vats (holding several gallons) suggests that wine was being produced on a systematic, possibly communal or ritual scale.
4. The Earliest GPS…
“After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark.
He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.” (Genesis 6-11)
Science confirms that Noah’s descendants used birds to help them navigate and migrate into a whole new world. The “Avian Transportation Network” hypothesis suggests that Noah’s descendants didn’t just wander; they followed a pre-existing biological map established by migratory species that led them to the most hospitable environments on Earth.
In the first years after the Flood geographic knowledge was observed in real-time from the sky. Noah’s descendants were following the flyways of birds. That would explain the rapid and precise movement of human lineages into specific ecological niches (like the “Green Sahara” or Southeast Asian archipelagos) that would otherwise be difficult to navigate blindly. They followed a biological map established by migratory species that led them to the most hospitable environments on Earth.
The Levantine Corridor, is one of the world’s most critical bottlenecks for avian migration. It is the primary funnel for the “Palearctic-African Flyway”. Every year, over 500 million birds (storks, pelicans, and birds of prey) pass through this narrow strip to avoid crossing the open Mediterranean Sea or the deep desert.
For the descendants of Noah’s son, Ham, migrating into Africa, the massive, visible pulse of birds flying North in the spring and South in the fall provided a consistent directional cue.
Birds don’t just fly; they stop at refueling stations. The Levant’s freshwater springs and wetlands (like the Hula Valley) were—and are—magnets for both migrating birds and migrating humans. Following the birds would lead humans directly to these essential water and food sources.
White Storks are one of the most visible migrants in the Levant. They rely on “thermals” (rising warm air) to soar, which only form over land. Because storks must stay over land to migrate from Africa to Eurasia, their flight path created a perfect land-bridge map in the sky.
Located in the “Vayots Dzor” province of the Armenian Highlands, the “Areni-1 Cave” (where the wine processing vats were found) is literally nicknamed “Bird’s Cave” because of the massive amount of avian remains found inside. Archaeologists found the remains of teenage girls buried in clay pots alongside mummified goats and diverse plant remains. The presence of bird feathers and bones in these burial contexts suggests birds were used as grave goods or sacrificed as part of the funerary rites.
Excavations in Levantine caves, occupied by the first descendants of Noah’s grandson, Canaan, show a sophisticated relationship with avian species. Evidence from “Qesem Cave” situated about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) east of modern Tel Aviv in Israel, shows that residents were hunting a variety of birds.
The presence of specific species suggests they were timing their activities to match the seasonal arrival of migratory flocks. There is evidence of humans processing large birds (like the “Golden Eagle” or “Griffon Vulture”) not just for meat, but for feathers and talons. This implies a high degree of observational study of these birds’ life cycles and movements.
5. All the Creeping Things that Creepeth Upon the Earth…
God’s provision for Noah’s migrating family also included insects. “Ethnoentomology” is a specialized branch of Ethnobiology that investigates the multifaceted relationships between human beings and insects throughout history and across different cultures.
Many ancient peoples utilized the byproduct of bees as a source of food. However, they didn’t just want the honey; they were also after the bee larvae (brood). Larvae are a “superfood” packed with essential amino acids and fats that are often more prized than the honey itself.
There is a strong tradition in the Near East of “Bee Goddesses” and “Bee Priestesses.” The symbolic adoption of the bee often signified a royal and ordered society (resembling the hive). Hamitic Lineages often show a heavy focus on the “Scarab” and “Honeybee” (symbols of resurrection and kingship in Egypt).
Semitic lineages frequently featured the locust as both a divine judgment and a survival food. While many winged insects were later culturally sidelined, the locust remained a recognized food source across the Levant and Mediterranean, famously cited in the Bible as a permissible (kosher) food for John the Baptist and others. It was served as a delicacy in ancient empires.
Japhetic lineages in the steppes and highlands placed a greater emphasis on the ant as a symbol of industry, and Gall-forming insects used for dyes (like the Kermes oak scale).
6. The First Domesticated Goats and Sheep…
While goats were tamed across a wide arc, the specific “Mouflon” (wild sheep) of the Taurus/Armenian mountains are the direct ancestors of almost all domestic sheep today. Archaeologists found that the mortality profiles at these sites shifted. Instead of hunting prime-age wild animals, humans were culling young males—a classic sign of herd management.
7. From Wild Boar to Domesticated Pigs..
The Armenian Highlands and the Taurus foothills also provided the perfect vertical landscape for taming wild animals. One of the most significant discoveries at Çayönü was the gradual reduction in the size of pig teeth over centuries. As Noah’s family began to pen and feed wild boar, their fierce tusks and large teeth were no longer needed for survival.
8. From Wild Aurochs to Domesticated Cattle…
The wild Aurochs was a massive, aggressive beast—standing nearly six feet at the shoulder. Through selective breeding starting in the years after the flood, this single wild ancestor gave rise to all the diverse bovine lineages we see today.
All “European-style” cattle found globally today are the direct descendants of the Aurochs, first domesticated in the Upper Euphrates and Armenian Highlands, precisely where Noah’s Ark came to rest.
The Zebu/Humped Cattle – “Bos indicus” was primarily domesticated in the Indus Valley. In ancient times, as trade routes opened, the heat-resistant Zebu from the East were crossbred with the cold-hardy “Bos Taurus” of the Armenian Highlands. This created hybrid vigor, allowing cattle to survive the extreme temperature swings of the Armenian Plateau—freezing winters, and the much warner climates in the south.
Water Buffalo (“Bubalus bubalis”) became the primary “powerhouse” for plowing the marshy headwaters of the rivers.
DNA evidence shows that a very small number of wild oxen (perhaps only 80 females) were originally tamed in the “Mountains of Ararat”, and their descendants eventually spread across the entire world.
The “Wisent” (European Bison) was the “wild cousin that stayed wild. While the Aurochs was being tamed in the valleys, the Wisent remained in the high Caucasus forests. They were hunted but never domesticated.
“Steppe Bison” (*Bison priscus*), the “American Bison” (“Bison bison”) and the “European Bison” (Wisent) were adapted to open grasslands and colder, harsher “mammoth steppe” environments.
9. The Earliest Domestication of Donkeys, Camels and Horses…
As the “Green Sahara” began to dry out during the lifetime of Abraham’s grandfather, NAHOR, the lush grasslands turned into desert. Humans and animals were forced to congregate around shrinking water sources like the Nile or the desert oases. This forced proximity made it easier for humans to capture and begin taming the animals that were coming to the same water holes.
Over generations of living with humans, the physical structure of the animals changed. Domestication often leads to a slight reduction in size compared to wild counterparts. The muzzle of the domestic donkey became slightly shorter. Because they were being used as “beasts of burden,” their bones—specifically their metacarpals (leg bones)—adapted to be more robust to handle the weight of copper, grain, and water jars.
Genetic and archaeological evidence confirms that the domestic donkey (“Equus Asinus”) descends from the “African Wild Ass”. This occurred just as the Sahara was beginning to dry out. Pastoralists needed an animal that could carry heavy loads through increasingly arid landscapes, making the donkey the first “beast of burden” in human history.
In the Syrian Desert, at “Umm el-Marra”, archaeologists found a fascinating “hybrid” from around the time of King Sargon of Akkad (descended from Noah’s grandson, Arphaxad)
These were “Kungas”, elite animals, used for war and prestige before the horse became common in the region.
Instead of domesticating the Onager, the people of the Syrian Desert imported domesticated donkeys from Africa and then crossbred them with the wild Onagers. The final result was a smaller, sturdier, and highly intelligent worker.
While the Highlands had plenty of wild horses during the Ice Age, donkeys are desert-adapted animals. They were brought north by traders and migrating tribes as the “Secondary Products Revolution” spread into the mountains.
By Abraham’s lifetime, 10 generations after the flood, donkeys and camels were working alongside horses in Armenia, providing the logistical support needed to move goods between the Highlands and the Mesopotamian plains. creating the first truly globalized transport system.
While it might seem surprising, llamas and camels are actually very close relatives. Both are members of the family “Camelidae”.
“Paracamelus” was the first ancestor of all modern camels. Early versions of this animal were much more “llama-like” in appearance—slender-limbed and lacking the massive fat-storage humps of modern camels. “The Giant Camel of Syria” (“Camelus moreli”) found in the Syrian Desert was essentially a “mega-llama” in its skeletal structure.
As the massive Ice Sheets and glaciers first began to form in the century after the Flood, some of the “camel kind” migrated accross the “Mammoth Steppe with all the other Megafauna, crossed the Beringian land bridge into the Americas, then crossed the Isthmus of Panama into South America (Peru/Bolivia). While the llamas stayed in the Americas, their cousins in the Syrian Desert and the Armenian Highlands shared many of their physical traits.
After the Ice Age ended, all camelids in North America went extinct. This left the world with the geographical gap we see today. Camels in the East (Asia/Africa) that grew larger, developed humps needed to survive the rapidly expanding deserts, and Llamas in the West (South America).
Most archaeologists agree that the Bactrian camel was first domesticated in Central Asia or the Iranian Plateau.
In Armenia, burials have revealed camel bones alongside horses, suggesting they had become prestigious animals for transport and elite status. The Bactrian camel was essential for the Armenian Highlands because it could survive the freezing winters and traverse high-mountain passes.
At the same time domestication of the Llama occurred in the high Andes, particularly in the “Puna” high altitude grasslands) of modern-day Peru and Bolivia. By the time of the Inca, llamas were the only “beast of burden” in the Americas. They were used for carrying goods, providing wool, and as ritual sacrifices.
While Armenia is famous for being a “cradle of horse domestication” in the Bronze Age, archaeologists have found that wild horses (“Equus ferus”) were also a primary food resource for Noah’s family living in the region long before they were ever ridden.
One of the most important archaeological sites in the Armenian Highlands is “Aghitu-3 Cave”, located in the Syunik region at an altitude of about 1,600 meters (a mile high). In some of the layers corresponding to the coldest periods of the Ice Age, horse remains make up about 37% of all animal bones found in the cave. This indicates that Noah’s people were specialized horse hunters. At high altitudes, the open steppe-tundra of the Highlands provided the perfect grazing ground for large herds of wild horses, which humans successfully targeted for food and hides.
The Ice Age horse in Armenia was a hardy animal, likely similar in appearance to the modern “Przewalski’s horse” (short, thick neck and a tan/dun coat)…and They would have been the first “horse kind” to gallop out of the ark.
This deep history explains why horses became so sacred in Armenian tradition (sacrificed to the Sun god, as recorded by Xenophon) and why the “House of Togarmah” in the Bible (Ezekiel 27:14) was specifically identified as a source of horses and mules.
10. Göbekli Tepe is NOT a Mystery…
“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’” (Genesis 8:13-22)
Göbekli Tepe sits in the Taş Tepeler region, in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. Geographically, this area is often considered the southwestern fringe or the “outer rim” of the Armenian Highlands. In antiquity, this broader region formed a “Fertile Crescent” arc where the high plateaus of Armenia transitioned into the plains of Upper Mesopotamia.
In the days of Noah, Göbekli Tepe served as a religious and large-scale social gathering place. Archaeologists found massive stone temples but no permanent houses or domestic crops in the earliest layers. It appears that thousands of people gathered here for rituals, creating a massive demand for food.
Interestingly, fox bones are the second most common find in Göbekli Tepe, after gazelle. Because foxes are small and not particularly meaty, archaeologists suspect they were killed for their pelts (needed for the cold weather environment of the Ice Age). Many of the pillars at Göbekli Tepe feature carvings of the exact animals found in the bone pits, creating a direct link between the living animal, the sacrifice, and the stone art.
To feed the workers and worshippers, Noah’s descendants who lived here for a while managed the wild wheat and gazelle herds more strictly, which triggered the full-scale farming we see at nearby sites like Çayönü.
The activity at Göbekli Tepe would have been occurring in the century after the flood when Noah’s descendants migrated out of the Armenian Highlands in a southwestward direction following the Tigris snd Euphrates Rivers. I wonder if Göbekli Tepe is the area where Noah’s great-grandson, Nimrod gained his reputation as a “mighty hunter before Yahweh?”
At some point in the journey out of the Mountains of Ararat, Noah’s growing family made a turn EASTWARD from the region of Göbekli Tepe and followed the rivers further into the Mesopotamian plain all the way to Babel (Babylon).
“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved EASTWARD, they found a plain in Shinar (Ancient Sumer) and settled there.” (Genesis 9:1-2)
In the entire 100-year journey God provided the family with abundant resources.
11. A Proper Response…
For the past 4,400 years, since the day Noah let all the animals out of the Ark, God has been abundantly providing for the physical and spiritual needs of the people He created.
What then is our response? May it be hearts full of gratitude and thanksgivng…
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23)
