A group of archeologists from Texas believe they have found the remains of Noah’s Ark in a mountain range north of Tehran. From CompuServe News:

“I can’t imagine what it could be if it is not the Ark,” Arch Bonnema of the Christian-based Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration (Base) Institute, told ABC News. The black wood thought to be the remains of Noah’s Ark sticks out in stark contrast to the rest of the mountain.

The team found the object nestled on the side of a hill, but at first they didn’t think it was the Ark. Still, they wondered—and hoped. “We found something that has my heart skipping a beat,” archaeologist and team leader Robert Cornuke told ABC. “It wasn’t impressive at first. Certainly didn’t think it to be Noah’s Ark. But when we got close, we were amazed. It looked similar to wood.” On the downside, it wasn’t all that distinctive since it looked very much like the deck of a modern boat.

Click here to see photos of the site at ArkFever.com.

More on what exactly the researchers found:

What they found is about 400 feet long and consists of rocks that look remarkably like blackened wood beams while other rock in the area is distinctively brown, according to a news release issued by the Base Institute. One visible piece is “cut” at a 90-degree angle. Even more intriguing, some of the wood-like rocks were tested just this week and actually proved to be petrified wood. Go to the Bible and you’ll read that Noah sealed his ark with pitch, which is a black substance. Upon being cut open, one of these “rocks” also divulged a marine fossil that could have only originated undersea.

From the ArkFever website:

The unusual object is perched on a slope 13,120 feet above sea level. After studying the discovery site, Bonnema observed, “These beams not only look like petrified wood, they are so impressive that they look like real wood—this is an amazing discovery that may be the oldest shipwreck in recorded history.”

Reg Lyle, oil and gas geologist said “the object appears to be a basalt dike, however, it is absolutely uncanny that the object looks like hand hewn timbers, even the grain and color look just like petrified wood….I really need to keep an open mind about this.”

The team returned to the U.S. from rugged mountains in Iran with astonishing video footage of a monstrous black formation which looks like rock but bears the amazing image of hundreds of massive, wooden, hand-hewn beams. Could it be the lost ark on which two of every animal once sailed with their human rescuer?

David Ketter is keeping a running “Noah’s Ark Roundup” for those interested in following the story.