A New Zealand company has joined an international search for Noah's Ark.
Global Intelligence Solutions - a forensic imagery company - has been asked to analyse pictures of a ridge line in Turkey that some believe could be the biblical ark.
Experts have been aware of the ridgeline on Mt Ararat, in eastern Turkey, for a number of years but due to its remote location and Turkish Government restrictions, it has been difficult to examine the area on the ground.
Aerial images taken in the 1950s proved inconclusive but American Professor Porcher Taylor hopes the Auckland company will have better luck with the latest satellite images he has commissioned.
Director Rod McCourt told the Herald the ridge line was covered in ice and snow so it would be difficult to examine. "The ice-covered ridge line is a symmetrical shape, very even. There are not many straight lines in nature.
"We are looking for something that is man-made, eliminate it being a natural object. It could be a boat lying on its side."
The Bible tells how Noah was commanded by God to build the ark, which is believed to be three storeys high and 160m long, and herd a male and female of every species on Earth into it before a great flood which lasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Mt Ararat is considered by many Christians to be the ark's resting place. "I'm personally not a religious person but that is not the issue. The story that has been told throughout the ages is that [the ark] lies on Mt Ararat," Mr McCourt said.
Prof Taylor, programme director of paralegal studies at the University of Richmond in Virginia, has been researching the ark for a number of years and was part of a National Geographic documentary - Search for Noah's Ark.
"I'm deeply indebted to [Mr McCourt] for adeptly applying their world-class imagery analysis skills to help determine whether the Ararat anomaly, an ice-bound geospatial mystery, might be the remains of a man-made structure."
Mr McCourt, a British national, is a former Air Force intelligence officer and has more than 14 years' experience as a qualified intelligence analyst.
