09:31 AM CDT on Thursday, June 29, 2006

By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA-TV

BASE Institute

Video taken on the journey into Iran captured images of a piece of the 400 foot long discovery.

Could a group of North Texans be raiders of the Lost Ark?

The explorers, funded by the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute, said they may be holding the key to Noah's Ark after an expedition to Iran in early June. They claim to have found evidence of a petrified wooden ship on a mountain north of Tehran.

Among the explorers in the discovery was former detective and author Bob Cornuke.

"As en ex-cop, you try to find evidence at a crime scene," Cornuke said. "I try to find evidence in history."

At 13,000 feet up, Cornuke said he believes he found just that in a 400 foot long object they found that they believe appeared similar to the Bible's description of the Ark.

The wood, they said, seemed to have been worked by human hands.

"Some of those rocks look like they've been cut at right angles, and even beams and other slook like pieces of log," Cornuke said.

The mountain offered up other clues as well in the form of fossils in stone that indicates the mountain was once covered by sea.

"... This is definitely looking like sea life, definitely clams," Cornuke said. "What's it doing at that altitude so high in the mountain?"

"We just found what could be the carcass of the ark," he said.

While there was enough proof to stoke the hope of believers, there was also enough to fuel criticism from those who think Cornuke as a fraud.

In the past, Cornuke claims to have found Mount Sinai where Moses was given the Ten Commandments, and the island where the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked. His critics sayid Cornuke shapes the facts to prove the Bible is true.

While proof of the Ark may never be fully found, Cornuke says he has at least discovered its meaning.

"What is the Ark?" he asked. "I think it symbolizes God's saving grace."

E-mail cheinbaugh@wfaa.com