Secret hidden in the sands will at last be probed

Aratta, former Iran, 5 April 2050: Archeologists returned for the first time today to the site of the ancient city unearthed in a nuclear blast during the Oil War.

The city has been extensively surveyed by satellite and high altitude sideband radar, but until now the hotzone has been considered too dangerous for even temporary human habitation.

The ruins appeared in the moon like crater caused by a nuclear blast and windstorm near the former South Eastern Iranian city of Jiroft. Buildings obvious from the aerial survey include several apparent dwellings and a huge temple on a low hill, with a large plaza located at the juncture of two rivers.

Most importantly, infrared imaging appears to indicate an enormous boat shaped object within the temple building. The quest to conclusively locate Aratta has intensified since the 2020 discovery in Azerbaijan of bronze engravings of the Sumarian Enmerkar legends, which appear to indicate that 'the mount between rivers at the town of Aratta' was the resting site of the fabled Ark of Noah - not modern day Mt Ararat as some believed.

"If it is indeed shown to be Aratta, the city of Sumerian legend, it may date back as far as 2,500 BC and hold the key to the myth of the flood," said U Shanghai spokesperson, Mr Jack Chang.

Experts at Calcutta University have called the expedition 'foolhardy, and doomed.'

"Aratta has been conclusively proven to exist at the site of Phraapsa, near the river Araxes," according to Calcutta U Professor of New Archeology, Sriranjan Chaudry. "And there was no Mount, no Noah's Ark."

"Our colleagues are putting at risk their reputations, and their lives, for what could show itself to be nothing more than a Parthian trading town," he said.

Due to prevailing electromagnetic anomalies in the region, there will be no communication possible with members of the University of Shanghai expedition until their return and deradiation on Friday.