Ron Wyatt

[rmcray]

A story is circulating the internet regarding the discovery of chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea. The claims are made by Ron Wyatt, who appears to be something of a pop-archaeologist or explorer, noted most, I think, for his search for Noah's Ark. Have Wyatt's claims been discussed in an issue of BAR or some other legitmate forum? (I tried a search on the BAR web site and couldn't find anything.)

thanks,
Rob

[archaeologist]

first, are you related to dr. john mcray?

second, it should read, 'the late ron wyatt' as he died some years ago.

thrid, i don't know about BAR but his discovery has been discussed by others and the common thought has been that the egyptian government refuses permission to dig, search, and bring to the surface those wheels. i have not kept track of the 'discovery' so i am not sure where it stands at this time.

as a side note, there was an article on the internet by one of Wyatt's associates {i can't findit anymore but i will do another search] in which he discusses wyatt's claims. 

it seems the late researcher had some sort of disease which caused him to believe these outlandish stories he told, like seeing the ark, the wheels and so on.  it wasn't that he was a wingnut but that his perception was altered by this nuerological issue.

i will try to find it again but since yahoo reorganized its pages it has been difficult.

[rmcray]

Thanks for the reply and the info.

I am John McRay's son. (I'm contacting him about this as well.)

Thanks again,
Rob

[archaeologist]

FOUND IT.

here is the article that presents a different view of ron wyatt and his claims:

http://www.ldolphin.org/wyatt1.html

I am reporting here my own personal experience with Mr.Wyatt, in the hope this will shed some light on his style and his trustworthiness as an observer. While my acquaintance with him led me to reject his archaeological findings, I persist in dealing gently with him as a well-intentioned person and as a Christian

Our team was disappointed, puzzled, disillusioned. We had enjoyed ten days of close fellowship, with daily shared prayer times, and an excited anticipation of momentous events just before us. Now all those hopes came crashing down. And sadly, Wyatt was not man enough to come clean, to apologize for bringing us on a wild goose chase, or to attempt any kind of explanation. We kept expecting some sort of statement, but he just remained silent, withdrawn. And we were too stunned, and perhaps too sorry for him in his confusion, to demand that he explain.

*******************

To this day I cannot give a rational account for the extreme misguidedness that Wyatt revealed. What was happening in his head? His participation in our group worship times had left all of us in no doubt about his sincerity and his devotion to Scripture. He was a competent Bible scholar. He was a brother. Yet he had misled us terribly, and had offered no words of regret or apology or explanation. I have reviewed the whole story many times since then, and am convinced that the church administrator was right: Wyatt might be mistaken, but he himself believed that what he had originally shared was true.

From medical school I remember hearing of a rare state of mind, with a long Latin name, that led its victims to concoct marvelously detailed accounts of events that were pure fabrications, yet which the story-teller himself had come to believe were absolutely true. I am inclined to believe that Wyatt was a florid example of this disorder. He was not a deliberate liar, a fraud. And some of his observations had merit. But I am convinced that some of his "discoveries" were matters which underwent transcription in his mind, and he came to believe as true certain ideas and observations that in fact were his own inventions

******************

In full verbal flight he could be eloquent. I expect his Bible study class was a good one. Yet he was sadly flawed. From close personal acquaintance, I cling to the belief that he was sincere, at the same time as he was woefully mistaken. It was through some quirk of mental dysfunction that he came himself to believe as true certain facts and stories that were his own inventions.

[rmcray]

Thanks. This was very helpful.

Rob

[archaeologist]

no worries, your father did a favor for me once and i am returning it through you.  i appreciate what he did,

[stilgar]

See the video posted on YouTube of a discussion by biblical archaeologist Prof Randy Younker of Andrews University, who has seen these "chariot wheels" while diving in the Red Sea...The link is:
YouTube - Exodus and Pharaoh's Lost Army -- Nat Geo discussion

(if the link doesn't work, just type in "Exodus and Pharaoh's Lost Army -- Nat Geo discussion" into the Search Box)

[Admin1]

Thanks for the link stilgar.  I remember hearing about this about 5 years ago but have not read or heard from any scholars or scholarly institutions about it.

I also checked the BAR archives...nothing there.

After browsing the first 200 of 33000 google hits I found nothing (from scholarly sources) ...and narrowed the search to pages within the past year - and still nothing.

I like Rob would love to see more from archaeologists.  I did check out Wyatt's own website ... He is clearly more a preacher than a researcher.

But back to the wheel itself.  Is there be any way to know whether it just fell off (or went down with) a boat or not?

[archaeologist]

But back to the wheel itself.  Is there be any way to know whether it just fell off (or went down with) a boat or not?

no.  if it was a single wheel then it would be very hard to link it to the exodus, it could be a lost wheel, a broken one trashed or what ever.

here are some links:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33168

sorry one link as the rest i checked had the same story.

[Aaron]

Was just logging on to post a question about Ron Wyatt's claims concerning the chariot wheels. I understand Wyatt's reputation is dubious, but like the original poster, I was wondering if anyone at all had investigated his claims.

Is there a land bridge under the Red Sea as is claimed?

[archaeologist]

it is not hard to investigate his claims and yes i am sure there have been those who have taken a look. 

concerning the chariot wheels, it is quite possible for them to be there but are they from the exodus--that would be very difficult to prove.  for all we know someone may have lost a wheel and it was thrown or rolled into the sea.

there is nothing contextual or corroborrative that would prove them to be the actual wheels of the egyptians and it is very unlikely that the pharoah had wheels of gold.  we have nothing to indicate he did have such a chariot (unless someone has shown he did, but i haven't heard of it)

Is there a land bridge under the Red Sea as is claimed?

wouldn't matter, the water would still have to be deep enough to drown the pharoah and his men.  a land bridge is of no consequence here.

[Aaron]

I disagree. I think the factual matters of a man's claims are eminently relevant.

[rumplesnitz]

I disagree. I think the factual matters of a man's claims are eminently relevant.

Hi Aaron!

I'm been reading up on Ron Wyatt some the last few days, and it seems he was rather long on claims, and somehow always just a little shy on actual scientific proof.  The Ark of the Covenant seems to be the most notorious incident in which he clearly hot caught with his hands empty, and now his main defenders seem to resort to the tactic of claiming that those who dare question Ron Wyatt will incur the wrath of God.  That sort of behavior only serves to further diminish any air of authenticity Mr. Wyatt may have once held, in my opinion.  Most, if not all, of what I've been reading I found through the links Archie(ologist) and others have posted, above.

But I am still rather taken with the Exodus Route theory, of all Mr. Wyatt's claims, this seems to be the most plausible, to me.  But I'm just a work-a-day guy in the middle of the USA with no means of going and checking physical details myself.

The claims I've read state that there's this huge sandy area on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula from which a path across to Saudi Arabia exists, but the path is 900 feet under water currently - of course that's a lot more shallow than the flanks north and south of the 'bridge' which the claims says are "thousands" of feet deep - but plenty deep enough to drown a Pharaoh.

I've looked at the Ron Wyatt photos and the coral formations shown are very easily demonstrated to be four and six spoke chariots wheels.  Coral supposedly won't cling to gold, and the gold chariot wheel actually shown could be what it is claimed to be (a gold-plated chariot wheel) (though that seems highly unlikely to me) or a brass steam pipe control or other form of modern implement.

Some things I noted about the photos were that they were taken in water shallow enough to dive in and still have sunlight, and I didn't note any other modern trash in the photos.  Of course I'm sure whoever took the photos was selective of his frames, and whoever chose them for the website was even more selective.

A major question I have is whether or not similar coral formations can be found in other areas (a detractor says yes, but gives no examples or photos).  Another question would be if the formations or if other trash/artifacts could be found at greater depths - and if the 'land bridge' actually fully extends the span of the Gulf of Aqaba.  The question of how the miracle occurred would be secondary to me to determining whether or not the 'land bridge' is real.

Ron Wyatt once again dodged the bullet of producing actual artifacts in hand by stating he obeyed the laws of Egypt and did not disturb the 'artifacts'.

I don't really follow Archie's line of reasoning in saying none of this is important - I guess he's just afraid of being disappointed.  I'd say that if a witness described an event to me, told me how and where it happened and what evidence I could expect to find along the way, and I went and looked and found what he described - that would give the witness a lot of credibility in my mind.  It's not sac religious to expect the same of the Bible.

Of course I know the secular world is going to do all they can to dismiss this concept - the Wyatt Exodus Route - and any genuinely credible scholar is going to be excoriated by his secular peers for even vaguely associating himself with the idea, but I would love to see some form of review of the 'evidence' (geographic landmarks, indigenous folklore, etc. -  things aside from the Red Sea issues and 'artifacts') by someone knowledgeable, credible, and unbiased enough to simply verify or disprove the various claims as being within the realm of possibility, or just simply flim-flam from a crew of charlatans.

[archaeologist]

I don't really follow Archie's line of reasoning in saying none of this is important -

if you had read my post you would have seen that my comment was limited to the land bridge idea only and pointed out that with or with out one the water had to be deep enough to drown the egyptians.

thus the land bridge idea is not important.

as for the route of the exodus, you must make sure wyatt's route fits in with the Biblical passage, the israelites were trapped before they crossed so you must look at the geography of that area and see if they could have been trapped.

the other thing , you must check the passages and see if they set up stele as a marker and according to ex. 13-16 no such event took place by th israelites.

i give wyatt a lot of benefit of the doubt because i am inclined to accept his formner co-worker's account of wyatt's illness but i still do not accept anything he has said or 'discovered' as valid or credible.

wyatt is also long on stories and short on evidence.

[rarbowen]

There is a paragraph re: land bridge at www.baseinstitute.org

I am not very familiar with the base institute, but found this while looking for something else.

rarbowen