Archaeological "Discoveries"...That Were All Lies.

In archaeology, every dig is the result of years of study, conflicting theories, academic debate, and often public anticipation. This is especially true when the media gets wind of a potential excavation that could rewrite history, amplifying expectations and fueling excitement. Take, for example, the frequent discoveries in Egypt, each new find often prompts bold predictions from both news outlets and the archaeological community about what might be uncovered.

Because these stories are so heavily hyped, the general public is often left disappointed when excavations yield little to nothing. Even worse, genuine archaeological discoveries can sometimes be overlooked simply because they don’t match what experts or the public expected to find. So, from supposed Viking sites to the notorious Oak Island of History Channel fame, here are five of the most disappointing archaeological digs ever.

Newport Tower

In the heart of the historic residential downtown area of Newport, Rhode Island, sits Touro Park, home to the mysterious Newport Tower. Standing at 28 feet (8½ meters) tall, this round stone tower features arched entryways surrounding its base, supported by eight columns between them, along with several oddly placed open windows and a floor-level fireplace, accompanied by several nooks. By the 19th century, the tower had become something of a curiosity, as most locals had always remembered it being there, though they weren’t quite sure who had built it or for what purpose.

Academics tended to believe it was a 17th-century windmill built by Benedict Arnold, not to be confused with Benedict Arnold V, the legendary traitor of the Revolutionary War. His ancestor, Benedict Arnold I, served as the first colonial governor of Rhode Island until his death in office in 1678, and it was on his former property that the tower sits. In his will, Arnold mentioned his “stone-built windmill,” which has often been interpreted as the Newport Tower.

However, he never claimed that he built the tower, only that it was stone-built, and while many assumed that he had built it, without hard evidence, no one was entirely sure.

One theory posited that it was actually built as a beacon tower by the Portuguese noble Miguel Corte-Real, who went missing in 1502 while exploring. Others thought that it could have been a Knights Templar construction. But then, in the 19th century, a new theory began gaining traction: that the Vikings mentioned in the Icelandic sagas, who had settled the New World centuries before Columbus’s arrival, had actually made their way as far south as New England, potentially creating settlements and outposts. During this time, several nearby discoveries, like Dighton Rock in Massachusetts, allegedly supported this theory, while researchers like Eben Horsford spent their lives searching New England for Viking settlements. As such, it didn’t take long for the Newport Tower to become intertwined with these ideas, and many speculated that Vikings had built it while exploring the region. This narrative was further fueled by notable figures of the era, such as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the aforementioned Viking-obsessed Eben Horsford. One of the more influential people to get involved was anthropologist Philip Ainsworth Means, who, in 1942, wrote an article in The New York Times claiming that the tower was an ancient Norse church. His main argument was that the architectural style more closely resembled 11th- to 14th-century Scandinavian churches than typical colonial windmills. He also noted that a windmill would not have a fireplace on the ground level, as that is where the grain is stored and that, along with the dry dust present, would be a massive fire hazard. Though this notion has since been proven misguided by the discovery of multiple colonial-era windmills featuring floor-level fireplaces.

Eventually, academic curiosity won out, and the local government allowed the Society of American Archaeology to investigate the tower. The project was headed by Harvard University student William S. Godfrey under the direction of Professor Hugh Henken, with the results published in Godfrey’s 1951 PhD dissertation.

At the site, the team dug a one-meter-wide trench from the tower’s exterior through to the interior and discovered several artifacts in the process, including tobacco pipes, iron nails, and pottery fragments, all of which dated to the 17th century. Through the excavations, along with extensive research of historical documentation, Godfrey asserted that Benedict Arnold had undoubtedly purchased the land undeveloped and built both his home and the stone tower sometime before 1677.

Of course, this disappointed nearly everyone interested in the project, especially those who believed in a pre-Colonial Norse settlement, and many outright refused to accept his findings. Others argued that, while his work proved the site had been used during the Colonial era, it did not necessarily mean it had been built at that time. Because of the continued contention surrounding the site, which persisted for the next 40 years, a team of researchers from the University of Helsinki and Denmark’s Aarhus University eventually stepped in.

In 1993, they took a sample of the tower’s mortar and subjected it to radiocarbon dating, which revealed, with 95% confidence, that it originated between 1635 and 1698. These findings only further disappointed supporters of pre-Colonial Viking or Templar theories, and some, even within the academic community, still refused to accept that the Newport Tower was simply a 17th-century windmill.

In the 1990s, William Penhallow, a professor at the University of Rhode Island who had spent years studying the tower, claimed he had discovered several astronomical alignments within the structure. According to him, certain windows aligned precisely with events such as the winter solstice and lunar cycles. As a result, he speculated that it may have been built as a large timekeeping device.

A theory that others later supported and expanded upon. Jim Egan, director of the Newport Tower Museum, believes it was actually constructed under the direction of Queen Elizabeth’s advisor John Dee in the 16th century. Dee was known for his intense study of similar optical and astronomical phenomena in England, and Egan suggests that this knowledge was transmitted to the New World.

However, there is no concrete evidence to support this claim, and although Penhallow’s findings regarding alignments were verified, they did not invalidate Godfrey’s earlier archaeological work, extensive documentary research, or the radiocarbon dating results. Most scholars note that the alignments could simply be coincidental or reflect an awareness of such phenomena among colonial builders, especially given that the tower would have been constructed roughly a century after John Dee’s experiments. Today, alternative theories about the Newport Tower continue to circulate and are even promoted by Egan through the museum.

In reality, much of this persistence is likely driven by the lingering disappointment within popular and fringe circles that the tower is, in fact, just a Colonial windmill.

Point Rosee

As we’ve already seen today, evidence of Norse or Viking activity in the New World has been among the most sought-after finds in archaeology for the last two hundred years, with countless figures enthralled by the idea. So, in the 2010s, it only made sense for American anthropologist, archaeologist, and Egyptologist Sarah Parcak to join the hunt. In recent years, Parcak has made a name for herself as a “space archaeologist” through her use of satellite imaging, infrared imagery, remote sensing, and other modern technologies.

Essentially, she uses satellites to identify anomalies and hidden manmade objects that may indicate potential archaeological sites. Using these methods, Parcak had already unveiled several new tombs, temples, and roads in Egypt, even mapping the ancient city of Tanis and potentially identifying the long-lost 12th Dynasty capital of Itjtawy. Efforts that won her the 2016 TED Prize.

Until then, the only confirmed Norse site in North America was L’Anse aux Meadows, discovered on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, Canada, in 1960 by the husband-and-wife team Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad. There, they uncovered several sod-walled buildings, a forge with worked bog iron, and more than 800 artifacts, irrefutably proving that Norsemen had established a North American settlement around 1000 AD. While many in archaeology believe L’Anse aux Meadows to be an isolated site, with settlers likely returning home after encountering uninhabitable conditions, others maintain that they remained, building additional settlements and expanding further.

Using the same methods she had employed in Egypt, Parcak searched Newfoundland and the surrounding regions of Canada, reasoning that if any additional settlements existed, they would likely be near the only confirmed site to date. After identifying several potential locations that might yield evidence of era-appropriate manmade structures, she narrowed the search to Point Rosee, which sits nearly 400 miles (600 km) south of L’Anse aux Meadows. The key feature that drew her attention to the site was a rectilinear, off-colored patch of land, which Parcak assessed to have dimensions very close to those of the Viking longhouse found to the north. Even before excavations were underway, outlets like Smithsonian Magazine were publishing articles with headlines such as “Archaeologists Spy New Viking Settlement From Space.” And although they noted that archaeological research still had to be conducted, Point Rosee quickly became, for many, proof of additional Viking settlement.

To further heighten the situation, when Parcak began leading excavations at the site in 2015, her findings initially seemed to confirm the growing suspicions. At Point Rosee, her team uncovered several earthen features they believed could be Viking-style turf walls, though the most compelling evidence was slag found at a potential hearth site. It was later identified as bog iron, like that discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows, a type of ore commonly found in wetlands and bogs. Because it’s damp and tends to explode when exposed to a hot furnace, bog iron is very difficult to work and typically has low natural purity. However, when the slag was tested under an electron microscope, it proved to be between 85 and 90% pure iron and showed signs of slow roasting. All indications that it was not naturally occurring, but rather in the early stages of iron production by someone skilled in working the metal when it had been abandoned. It was then radiocarbon dated to between the 9th and 13th centuries AD. Meanwhile, the hearth itself was located near an assumed turf wall laid out in an “L” shape, leading her team to believe it had been intentionally constructed to allow air to pass to the hearth. To Parcak, these findings seemed definitive at the time, and she felt confident enough to state publicly, “We have the second pre-Columbian iron processing site in North America.” A claim that, unsurprisingly, set the academic world ablaze. Outlets like PBS and The New York Times began publishing articles relaying her findings, while others such as National Geographic hailed it as a discovery that could rewrite history.

By this point, nearly everyone expected that Point Rosee would be confirmed as the second Viking settlement in the New World. With expectations higher than ever, Parcak’s team returned to the site in 2016, hoping to uncover physical artifacts that would settle the matter. Unfortunately, this was where the story took a sharp turn, and even the previously gathered evidence began to unravel.

That second summer, her team found no new evidence, no artifacts and no actual timber beneath the supposed “turf walls.” After further examination, the team concluded that the suspected turf walls and longhouse features were little more than natural earthen formations. At the same time, additional testing on the bog iron suggested it was likely natural in origin, albeit unusually pure.

In 2017, Parcak herself was forced to concede that the entire effort had been a major disappointment, stating in her project report that “None of the team, including the Norse specialists, deemed this area as having any traces of human activity.” The findings were so underwhelming that, within a few months, Point Rosee went from being the next major archaeological breakthrough, seemingly full of evidence of Viking settlement, to effectively nothing. Parcak did not pursue further excavations at the site, and before long, the public largely forgot the disappointing episode altogether.

Bosnian Pyramids

Northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo, near the town of Visoko, sit several massive pyramid-shaped hills, the largest of which is called Visocica, with a height just shy of 700 feet (210 meters). All of them are covered in vegetation and have seen their fair share of history. Atop Visocica Hill, for example, sit the remains of a medieval fortress, while the town of Visoko itself served as Bosnia’s capital during the Middle Ages.

Yet these are not what the region has become famous for in recent years. In 2005, Bosnian-American businessman and author Sam Osmanagich began running a media campaign, starting with local Bosnian news outlets. In articles, he claimed that, while visiting his home country earlier that year, he went to the largest pyramid-shaped hill and noticed similarities between the flat-faced hills and pyramids he had visited around the world.

At the site, he pulled out his compass and discovered that all four sides of the hills faced the cardinal directions of North, South, East, and West.

Early the following year, he tasked a team of geologists from the University of Tuzla with analyzing core samples from the hills, and it is here, already, that the narratives begin to diverge. The team reported that Visocica Hill was composed of the same materials as the surrounding mountains. Namely, alternating layers of clay, sandstone, and conglomerate. Despite this public assessment, Osmanagich sought and secured funding and approval for excavations, which he began in 2006, culminating in his book that same year, Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids. In the book, and in subsequent interviews, Osmanagich asserts that Visocica and four other nearby hills were actually ancient pyramids made of massive concrete blocks, for which he claimed to have found undeniable evidence. According to his theory, the tallest of these, dubbed the Pyramid of the Sun, dwarfed the Great Pyramid of Giza by over 250 feet (over 80 meters) and predated it by at least 8,000 years, with alleged radiocarbon dating placing it to between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. The other four hills he named the Pyramid of the Moon, Dragon, Love, and Earth, stating that they were all part of a massive pyramid complex interconnected through underground tunnels. Because his findings were heavily promoted at the time, many people around the world, along with the Bosnian government, became invested, viewing it as a potential discovery that could rewrite history as we know it.

Those in the archaeological community, however, were far more skeptical. In the summer of 2006, Boston University geologist Robert Schoch decided to investigate the pyramids for himself. After 10 days, he left disappointed, concluding that they were little more than mundane geological formations known as “flatirons” in the United States. Others in the academic community were less restrained and did not hold back their opinions. That same year, the European Association of Archaeologists released a statement condemning both Osmanagich and the Bosnian government for supporting him. They called the endeavor a “cruel hoax” and urged the government to stop backing a fallacy that detracted from the real history of Visoko. When Osmanagich attempted to have the pyramids designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the association’s president, Anthony Harding, personally intervened, along with 25 other scholars representing six countries, to prevent it. Mark Rose, then online editor for Archaeology Magazine, noted similarities to claims Osmanagich had made in his earlier book The World of the Maya, in which he posed similar pseudo-archaeological ideas, including that the Maya were descended from Atlanteans. Likely in response to the heavy criticism, the Bosniak-Croat Federation’s minister of culture labeled his work “unreliable” and blocked the renewal of excavations in 2007. However, Prime Minister Nedžad Branković quickly overruled him, stating that the government would not interfere in a project that had drawn global interest. A promise the government would keep.

To this day, Osmanagich continues to lead excavations at the Bosnian Pyramids and the associated archaeological park, defending his theory. In 2025, he even submitted a multidisciplinary evaluation of his findings to the Journal of Biomedical Research & Environmental Sciences. In it, he claimed to have discovered proof of human construction in the form of Fibonacci spirals and other geometric shapes, along with evidence that the pyramids emit electromagnetic fields and ultrasounds, allegedly used for healing and communication. Unsurprisingly, most in the archaeological community continue to reject his claims, seemingly growing more frustrated with each new announcement. Today, the Bosnian Pyramids are widely regarded as “pseudo-archaeology,” promoted in part by the government for tourism purposes, which they have undeniably supported. According to one case study, the Bosnian Pyramids attracted over 2.1 million visitors to the region between 2005 and 2024, boosting the local economy. However, if anything, the pyramids have proved disappointing to nearly everyone involved. While some tourists who make the journey believe in their validity, many leave underwhelmed, having expected a true ancient pyramid complex. Those invested in the project, meanwhile, remain frustrated by the archaeological community’s refusal to accept its claims, while the broader academic community is disappointed that an entire government has embraced what they view as a large-scale hoax.

Oak Island

Today, most people have heard of this entry, largely thanks to The Curse of Oak Island, which began airing its 13th season in 2026. A season the History Channel’s website promised would feature the “ultimate plan to solve the 230-year-old treasure mystery.” The island itself is a 140-acre piece of land located off the southern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, in Mahone Bay, and gets its name from the abundance of oak trees it is home to. The key attraction on the island, and the one that has drawn treasure hunters for over two centuries, is a 13-foot (4-meter) wide, 100-foot (30.5-meter) deep hole, affectionately referred to as the “Money Pit.” The history of the pit goes back to 1795 when, according to legend, a 16-year-old Nova Scotia boy named Daniel McGuinness discovered a depression in the ground that he and his friends began digging. They reportedly found a circle of stones lining the pit’s interior and two wooden platforms, each ten feet apart, essentially forming a manmade shaft. Since this was shortly after the Golden Age of Piracy had ended, when Nova Scotia frequently saw figures like Bartholomew Roberts and Ned Low conducting summer raids on villages and ships, piracy had become a local cultural staple. As such, pirate myths and legends became commonplace, eventually finding their way to Oak Island. Rumors began circulating that the mysterious hole could be the final resting place of the notorious Captain Kidd’s treasure, buried to protect it from greedy thieves. Initially, McGuinness’s story seems to have been steeped in oral tradition, as the first printed account did not appear until an 1862 edition of the Liverpool Transcripts. This has left room for speculation and alternative theories, including that he may have been older than legend suggests or that he never existed at all. Regardless, McGuinness’s story spread like wildfire after 1862, with news outlets across the globe reprinting it, often with the lingering question of pirate treasure in tow.

In fact, these reports didn’t even circulate until well after companies had begun attempting excavations into the Money Pit, with the first effort coming in the early 1800s by the Onslow Company. According to later accounts, the group dug down, finding more wooden platforms every 10 feet and making it to just past a depth of 90 feet, where they reportedly uncovered a rectangular stone with strange markings on it. These were later transcribed in the 1860s as reading, “Forty Feet Below Two Million Pounds Are Buried.”

However, the stone was reportedly lost shortly after translation. After discovering the stone, the shaft allegedly flooded on the Onslow Company, forcing them to abandon their venture. In 1849, a local group called the Truro Company reportedly gave it their best effort.

They drilled boreholes down into the Money Pit, allegedly finding wood, bits of metal including a gold chain, plant fibers such as coconut, and more, before the pit flooded once again. To continue excavating, the team concluded they needed to locate the source of the flooding and stop it, so they turned their attention to nearby Smith’s Cove, where they believed it originated. Before long, however, the Truro Company reportedly ran out of funding and was forced to leave.

Still, their reports fueled speculation that the Money Pit had been designed with intentional booby traps, meant to flood the shaft as soon as anyone came close to retrieving Captain Kidd’s treasure. A narrative whose legend grew with each retelling in the media. However, it is again worth noting that these ventures predated formal reporting on Oak Island, and many have since suspected that much of what was “discovered” during this period was either embellished or entirely fabricated.

Regardless, it was reporting on these events, from the 1860s onward, that fueled treasure hunts, archaeological digs, and eventually entertainment for the next 160 years, as that was essentially how the story progressed. A new group would arrive, inspired by promises of pirate treasure, uncover a bit of wood or metal, which would then be reported on by the media, and the team would ultimately be forced to give up, either due to lack of funding or sheer disappointment. They would occasionally find artifacts of questionable authenticity or unclear meaning, after which others, newly inspired, would take up the call and launch another dig.

At times, accidents even proved fatal, reportedly six in total, which helped give rise to the titular “curse” myth, though this too has been questioned. Perhaps one of the most notable figures to become enthralled with Oak Island’s Money Pit, at least before the present day, was future president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who joined excavations with the Old Gold Salvage Group in 1909 before they, too, left disappointed.

In 2006, brothers Rick Lagina and Marty Lagina sought to fulfill a childhood dream and purchased 50% of the island’s land, eventually gaining the support of the History Channel, which debuted their show in 2014. Likely to keep the show entertaining for a broader audience, many episodes tend to focus on non-archaeological aspects, such as the titular curse or various borderline fringe theories. Over the years, these have included claims that the island hosted the Knights Templar, housed the Ark of the Covenant, concealed William Shakespeare’s lost works, or held Marie Antoinette’s missing jewels; that the Aztec traveled thousands of miles to hide gold there from the Spanish; or even that the Money Pit itself is merely a distraction from the real treasure location. And on and on.

Despite the constant promotion of sometimes far-fetched theories, the brothers clearly believe in their mission, dedicating years and millions of dollars to the project. It is worth noting, however, that they have also earned far more from the show’s immense profitability than they have spent on the search. Thanks to this funding, they have been able to conduct more extensive work, uncover more legitimate artifacts, and make greater strides than any who came before them on the island.

Beginning in the show’s fourth season, the team brought on Laird Niven, an expert in regional history who often serves as the “straight man,” urging caution with each discovery and casting doubt on more fantastical claims. This skepticism is widely shared by the broader archaeological community, as the show’s, and the project’s, popularity and polarization have occasionally proven problematic. While the team does make legitimate discoveries, the show’s tendency to connect them to fringe theories rather than offer grounded archaeological interpretation often leaves a poor impression within academia.

Throughout the seasons, across Oak Island, the Lagina brothers have uncovered a stone road in a swamp, metal coins and artifacts, pottery from the Mi’kmaq people, and countless colonial-era items. Each time, the show frames these finds as potential proof of pirate treasure or the Knights Templar, exciting both the crew and its audience, only for Niven to consistently temper such claims with more realistic interpretations, earning him the nickname “Negative Niven.” Based on the available evidence, Oak Island most likely served as a colonial, or even pre-colonial, site for trade, ship repair, and other services.

A view supported by many archaeologists and historians. The so-called booby traps that flood the pit are often attributed by experts to natural underground fractures and caves that collapse when disturbed, creating sinkholes and flooding. In truth, many believe Oak Island does possess genuine historical significance, and the Lagina brothers have contributed substantially to that understanding.

However, the persistence of long-standing legends, combined with the show’s tendency to emphasize treasure and myth over historical accuracy, often leaves historians disappointed. As often are viewers who expect the discovery of a vast pirate hoard or hidden Templar cache, rather than consistent archaeological evidence pointing to a colonial hub.

Noah’s Ark

In the Bible, sometime after creating man, God noticed that his creation had become corrupted, violent, and evil. Displeased, he decided to flood the Earth, sparing only the righteous Noah and his family, who built an ark and were tasked with saving two of every animal, except the dinosaurs and unicorns. Then, according to Genesis 8:4, as the rains finally settled, “on the seventh day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”

A location some have taken to be the dormant volcano with the same name along Turkey’s eastern border, while others have interpreted the pluralized “mountains” as indicative of Urartu, an Iron Age kingdom that encompassed eastern Turkey, western Iran, and Armenia. As such, it was a kingdom surrounded by several mountain ranges, including the Lesser Caucasus, the Taurus Mountains, and the Pontic Range. Because of this openness to interpretation, several locations have been proposed as the final resting place of Noah’s Ark, only to be immediately rebuked or disproven, much to the chagrin of biblical archaeologists and theologians everywhere.

Claims of the ark’s discovery first began in the 19th century. Curiously, most early hunts weren’t based on small discoveries requiring follow-ups or research-based theories, but on blatant firsthand claims of openly seeing an ark, or pieces of it, perched on a mountainside. In 1876, British attorney and politician James Bryce climbed Mount Ararat, where he claimed he’d found an ancient piece of intentionally cut wood located far above the limit of naturally occurring trees, which he insisted was undoubtedly a fragment of the ark. Around six years later, an avalanche on the mountain reportedly destroyed several villages. Inspired, journalist George McCullagh Reed published an April Fool’s Day prank in the opinion column of the New Zealand Herald in 1883 under the pen name “Pollex.” In the article, he claimed the avalanche had uncovered Noah’s Ark for the world to see, and, almost immediately, news outlets across the globe began reprinting the story for months afterward. While some recognized the prank, others took it seriously, and that November Reed was forced to print a retraction, apologizing for the hoax. Despite his apology, however, the story had already gained traction and, together, Bryce and “Pollex” had unknowingly lit a fire that would continue burning into the present day.

In the years that followed, countless claims emerged pinpointing Mount Ararat as the resting place of Noah’s Ark, leading to numerous expeditions. One story alleged that a 1917 expedition by Russian soldiers discovered the ark on the mountain just days before the Bolsheviks took over, while another, from 1948, claimed that Kurdish farmers had uncovered a massive ship’s prow about two-thirds of the way up the slope. Yet another asserted that an oil engineer personally spotted the ark in 1954 from a helicopter while circling the mountain. And so the Mount Ararat rumors persisted, continuing well into the present day.

Of those to take up the call at the mountain, few were as prolific as American astronaut James Irwin, the eighth man to ever set foot on the Moon. While on his lunar mission, Irwin reportedly experienced a religious epiphany and, the following year, left NASA to found the High Flight Foundation, an evangelical organization based in Colorado Springs. Through his evangelical connections, Irwin eventually became intrigued by the stories emerging from the Turkish mountain and sought to excavate the potential site himself.

In 1982, largely because of his celebrity status, the government allowed him to lead an expedition to find the ark. An attempt that swiftly ended in disaster when Irwin wandered off from the group and fell from the mountain trail, leaving him badly injured. After being rescued and treated in a hospital, however, Irwin was more determined than ever and, over the next five years, personally attempted five more expeditions up the mountain before being told to stop for medical reasons after his 1987 trip.

Yet the following year, he still sent the High Flight Foundation to excavate the site in his stead, albeit under different leadership. However, none of these attempts yielded any results, and any of the claimed sightings at Mount Ararat were ultimately dismissed when properly examined by independent researchers and institutions.

In more recent years, hunters for Noah’s Ark have instead turned their attention to a site 18 miles (29 km) to the south, near the Iranian border. There, in 1959, a Turkish army captain and cartographer named İlhan Durupınar was reviewing mapping photographs when he noticed a 515-foot (157-meter) long geological formation in the mountains shaped like a boat. Before long, the wider world caught wind of his discovery, naming the site after him, with many speculating that the earth had gradually covered the ark in the time since the flood.

The very next year, a team led by evangelist George Vandeman was dispatched to inspect it; they returned swiftly, determining it to be a natural geological formation. Despite this, Christian archaeologists, theologians, treasure hunters, and even the government eventually took up the call. Most notably, American nurse anesthetist and pseudo-archaeologist Ron E.

Wyatt, who claimed to have made nearly 100 biblical discoveries in his lifetime, including the “living” blood of Christ, the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah, and, of course, Noah’s Ark at Durupınar. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Wyatt visited the site at least three separate times, promoting it as the true location of Noah’s Ark the entire time. Efforts that ultimately prompted the Turkish government to designate it a national park in 1986.

In the 1990s, teams were even dispatched to drill core samples at the site, attempt excavations, and conduct further research. Another major supporter, who would eventually become one of its most disappointed advocates, was American salvage expert David Fasold, who wrote The Ark of Noah in 1988, detailing his belief in Durupınar as the ark’s resting place. Yet after spending years leading research at the site, he was forced to concede in 1996, co-authoring a paper with petrologist Lorence G. Collins. Together, they stated unequivocally that the site was a geological formation composed of mud and rock that merely resembles a giant boat by pure coincidence, and nothing more. And yet, not everyone was deterred and, even today, others continue to take up the call.

In recent years, a team called Noah’s Ark Scans, led by Andrew Jones, has been working at the site and claims to have made several discoveries. They assert that, through the use of ground-penetrating radar, they have identified subsurface structures resembling corridors, rooms, ship decks, and more. Additionally, they claim to have found evidence of decomposed wood through soil testing. In 2025, this once again led to articles from major media outlets, including the New York Post, which touted Durupınar as the Noah’s Ark site with secrets still to unveil. However, many archaeologists and academics remain highly skeptical, even within the Christian community, as they have heard such claims before. At this point, most assume it will ultimately amount to little more than unverified assertions that leave theologians disappointed once again. Others have been more direct in their assessments. As Jodi Magness, an archaeologist and explorer for National Geographic, stated, “No legitimate archaeologist does this. Archaeology is not treasure hunting…It’s a science where we come up with research questions that we hope to answer by excavation.”

Key Takeaways

• Media hype often leads to public disappointment when archaeological digs yield little.
• The Newport Tower in Rhode Island was confirmed to be a 17th-century windmill.
• Point Rosee in Newfoundland was initially thought to be a Viking settlement but was later found to be a natural formation.
• The Bosnian Pyramids are widely regarded as a pseudo-archaeological hoax despite government support.
• Oak Island’s Money Pit has been the subject of extensive excavations and media attention, but no significant treasure has been found.

Sources

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• https://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island_mystery
• https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/oak-island
• https://www.history.co.uk/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island/articles/the-lagina-brothers-net-worth-biggest-finds
• https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/a36082822/the-real-story-of-the-oak-island-money-pit/
• https://www.history.co.uk/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island/articles/the-top-25-treasures-discovered-on-oak-island-so-far
• https://owen-schaefer.medium.com/the-real-curse-of-oak-island-is-the-show-s-terrible-producers-2258e6bd41b0
• https://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island/articles/curse-of-oak-island-top-theories
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/noahs-ark-archaeology-search-science
• https://answersingenesis.org/creationism/arguments-to-avoid/special-report-amazing-ark-expose/?srsltid=AfmBOorbrU6GXMDxV75j8lalXwicW8-c4xnGnfB-mm5aAs7MIhXuTbqe
• https://www.originallifemagazines.com/product/life-magazine-september-5-1960/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searches_for_Noah%27s_Ark
• https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/where-noah-landed/
• https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18831124.2.45.2
• https://nypost.com/2025/05/13/science/noahs-ark-sites-fully-preserved-secrets-discovered-by-scientists/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NKe7vtpueA
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/archaeologists-claim-radar-discovery-may-point-to-noahs-ark-heres-what-they-found/articleshow/126094539.cms?from=mdr
• https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/21/world/around-the-world-ex-astronaut-injured-while-climbing-ararat.html
• https://noahsarkscans.com/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durupınar_site
• https://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/bogus.html
• Hero image source by R. Henrik Nilsson / openverse, by.

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