​Other sites explored from Uruk to Aratta:

  • Uruk, the most populated post-Flood city (this would likely be where the TOB workers came from)
  • Tower of Babel at Girsu (around 36 miles or 2-day walk from Uruk)
  • ​Seven mountains to Aratta route
  • Possible location of Awan
  • Barrier of Inanna (a fort guarding access to and from the 5,6,7 mountains)
  • Cedar Forest & Mountain of Humbaba
  • Lugalbanda's Cave
  • Mashu "twin peaks" Mountain
  • Godin Tepe archaeological site as Aratta
  • Alvand Mountain, best candidate for landing site of Noah's (Ziusudra's, Atrahasis', Utnapishtim's) Ark

​​​Seven Mountains to Aratta 2nd Edition

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Noah's Ark in Aratta, the biblical mountains of Ararat

After participating in four (1988, 1989, 1990, 1998) expeditions to Mt. Ararat in Turkey searching for remains of Noah's Ark (based mostly on sensational eye-witness accounts), I refocused my research on the Iranian Zagros Mountains using ancient texts. After reviewing Sumerian accounts of Aratta; the archaeological nexus among Uruk, Susa and Godin; and extra-biblical texts, eventually I found Alvand Mountain to be the best candidate for the Ark's landfall.


Alvand Mountain matches the location for the biblical mountains of Ararat according to Genesis 11:12 ESV: And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

This would imply the first peoples after the Flood coming from the Zagros Mountains. Alvand also matches Sumerian clues for the location of Aratta.​

Seven Mountains to Aratta (2nd Edition)