Ron Wyatt
American creationist (1933–1999)
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Ronald Eldon Wyatt (June 2, 1933 – August 4, 1999) was an American nurse anesthetist and pseudo-archaeologist, who claimed to have made almost 100 biblical archaeology discoveries. He claimed to have found the landing place of Noah's Ark at the Durupınar site.[1]
June 2, 1933
Ron Wyatt | |
|---|---|
Ron Wyatt in 1999 | |
| Born | Ronald Eldon Wyatt June 2, 1933 Hamilton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 1999 (aged 66) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Occupation | Nurse anesthetist |
| Known for | Claims of discovery of Noah's Ark and other Biblical artifacts |
Wyatt's claims were described by some fellow creationists as "fraudulent,"[2][3][4] and by a representative of the Israel Antiquities Authority as "fall[ing] into the category of trash which one finds in tabloids such as the National Enquirer."[5] They are not considered credible by professional archaeologists and biblical scholars.
Life and career
Wyatt was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist. He retained a belief in Biblical literalism as an adult.[6]
Wyatt was working as a nurse anesthetist in a hospital in Madison, Tennessee, when, in 1960, he saw a picture in Life of the Durupınar site, a boat-like shape on a mountain near Mount Ararat. The resulting widespread speculation in evangelical Christian circles that this might be Noah's Ark started Wyatt on his career as an amateur archaeologist.[6][7] From 1977 onward, he made more than a hundred trips to the Middle East, developing his interests in the Old and New Testaments.[6] By the time of his death in 1999, Wyatt claimed to have discovered several sites and artifacts related to the Bible and biblical archaeology, including the Red Sea crossing, Mount Sinai, the site of the crucifixion of Jesus, and the Ark of the Covenant.[6]
Death
Wyatt died of bone cancer, on August 4, 1999, aged 66, at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.[8] His remains are buried in Polk Memorial Park Cemetery, in Columbia, Tennessee.[6]
Media attention
Ark researcher David Fasold told Deseret News in 1992, "[Wyatt] has a lot of charisma but he also has a great imagination. I backed away from Wyatt years ago." Fasold distanced himself from Wyatt's theories, saying "Ron Wyatt is there [at the Durupınar site] seeing stairs inside it and saying there are trainloads of petrified wood. But there is considerable evidence that this whole Noah's Ark story could be based on a natural formation."[7]
Jack Romano wrote in the Fortean Times that Wyatt "invariably managed to ensure that things fitted tidily with Biblical accounts, to the extent that one wonders whether this evidence was fabricated; or was the self-delusion of someone who badly wanted things to neatly slot together and fit his own religious convictions." Romano also said "Ron’s evidence is usually anecdotal" and full of "misspellings, vaguely relevant biblical quotes, whimsical interpretations of scientific facts, and muzzy photos of various digs."[6]
John D. Morris of the Institute for Creation Research criticized Wyatt and Fasold for their molecular frequency generator being akin to "divination—a practice thoroughly condemned by Scripture".[3] Geologist Andrew Snelling of Answers in Genesis criticized Wyatt for using tools "advertised in treasure-hunting magazines, not scientific journals".[4]