If you enter the world of archaeology or even the search for Noah’s Ark, you will run into this name. Not because he was a famous archaeologist who was greater than W.F. Albright, but because he took the credit for finding Noah’s Ark and at least 100 other biblical artifacts.
Plus, the archaeological research society he founded and his museum continues to put his name out there as the greatest archaeologist ever. it is hard to find any honest article on the man that critiques his work honestly as there are so many supporters posting their positive work that they crowd out the rest.
The man has been dead for over 20 years, yet he still makes an impact on archaeology and other biblical discoveries. Mainly for the reasons already mentioned. His followers will not see the truth nor the reality about the man or his discoveries.
His work was typically rejected by mainstream archaeology and Christians alike, the bulk of his support coming from the more extreme fringes of evangelical Christianity. Wyatt’s work is best characterized as being highly interpretive and suffering from a deficit of evidence. A schism developed after his death in which the ownership of his records fell into dispute. This led to some of his records being difficult to locate. (source)
This is true and we have been on the side of rejecting his work and ‘discoveries’ for over 20 years as well. Although, we are not sure about the schism among his followers and supporters. He never kept good records that we are aware of and there were many complaints about the lack of evidence for his claims.
His chosen profession would not be held against him so much if Mr. Wyatt had practiced better archaeology and had real evidence for his claims. As it stands, his amateur status is more of a distraction as so many other amateurs have made brilliant archaeological discoveries for over 2 centuries.
The difference between them and Ron Wyatt is that the professionals and experts could study the finds made by the latter group. They could not get access to the ones Mr. Wyatt made except for the site he claims to be Noah’s Ark and the Egyptian chariot wheels in the Red Sea.
Those amateur discoveries also led to more discoveries but none happened for Mr. Wyatt’s.
A great criticism leveled at Mr. Wyatt has been that his evidence has generally been in the form of either photographs or inconclusive specimens, which may or may not have come from the source he claims. His findings have not been given independent confirmation by other researchers with specialized training in the fields of archaeology and related sciences, which Mr. Wyatt (a nurse anesthetist by profession) did not have (he died in 1999). This lack of specific education by itself would not invalidate his findings if they could be supported by others, but they cannot. (source)
That quote comes from a blurb about the book Holy Relics or Revelation by Russell R. & Colin D. Standish. We owned a copy in Korea and read it. We find it is a very credible rebuttal to the claims made by Mr. Wyatt.
The link after the quote takes you to the web page at ABR’s website where it is on sale right now. The key to this book is that it was written by two men of the same denomination as Mr. Wyatt- 7th Day Adventists.
It is not just a dismissal by some stranger from another part of the archaeological field. It is a very good rebuttal by people who believe as Mr. Wyatt believed.
Ron Wyatt was a textbook example of a Pseudoarchaeologist–Pseudohistorian, having presented fraudulent or amateurishly misinterpreted “evidence” on a number of occasions, notably the remains of Noah’s Ark, the Ark of the Covenant and various nonsense regarding Moses and the Red Sea in Exodus. (source)
This is how he is generally described by those who oppose his claims and viewpoint. The reason we do not jump on this bandwagon is for the simple fact we came across something written by one of Mr. Wyatt’s associates a long time ago.
It is just unfortunate that we did not save it or if we did, we cannot find where we put it. It was a simple article trying hard to exl=plain why Mr. Wyatt claimed he saw and found so many biblical artifacts.
According to that author, Mr. Wyatt suffered from a disease that had him thinking he saw what he claimed to see even though it was not there. In other words, when he was searching for the ark of the convenant, he thought he saw it even though it may have been a hallucination, mirage, or some fabrication of the mind.
He actually believed his claims and he actually believed he saw those artifacts. That one article has kept us from joining everyone else in the condemnation of the man. We do not agree with Mr. Wyatt or with his claims, we just give him the benefit of the doubt due to this information.
We are not judging the man here, we just think he was wrong and did not know what was taking place. Also, we did not like a lot of his illegal activities during some of his adventures.
Those undermine a person’s credibility and turning people against him. When you come across his videos and articles or articles, etc., written and filmed by his family or followers take them with a grain of salt.
They are not backed by real evidence that we saw. We have read his articles, seen his videos and some of those produced by his supporters. So we know. This person is a good reason why you should be well versed in the truth and in archaeology.
That knowledge will protect you from people like Mr. Wyatt and their wild claims. His claims were wild and that is not insulting him, just pointing out the facts about his work.
Mr. Wyatt may have wanted to help people but in his work, we did not see him practicing a lot of biblical instructions which is probably why he went off the rails. It happens.
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