Ronald Eldon Wyatt (June 2, 1933 – August 4, 1999) as a Seventh-day Adventist. Joe Zias, the former Curator of Archaeology and Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority reported that he was asked to look into Wyatt's claims by three American pastors who were concerned that money was being siphoned away from local community projects into his organization.Masada|
Mount Sinai
In 1984, Wyatt claimed to have located the biblical Mount Sinai, at Jabal al-Lawsz in Saudi Arabia.
Noah's Ark
From 1977 onwards, Wyatt went to Durupinar to study the site, including tracing the supposed walls of Noah's Ark. He claimed that the unusual rock found at the site was the petrified Gopher wood of the Ark. They were released after three weeks and did not return thereafter. The round balls of sulfur are a common feature of ancient lakes, and consist of the organic remains of animals and portions of surrounding sediment.
By 1996, the Gatlinburg museum had closed, and Wyatt opened the Wyatt Archeological Museum in Cornersville, Tennessee.
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."