A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers believe they may have found Noah's Ark about 4,000 metres up a mountain in Turkey.

The team say they recovered wooden specimens from a structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4,800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.

Yeung Wing-cheung, a member of the 15-strong team from Noah's Ark Ministries International, says the structure has several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals.

"It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it," he told AFP.

The group has ruled out an established human settlement on the grounds that one had never been found above 3,500 metres in the vicinity.

Mr Yeung says local Turkish officials will ask the central government in Ankara to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status so the site can be protected while a major archaeological dig is conducted.

The biblical story says God decided to flood the earth after seeing how corrupt it had become, and told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species.

After the flood waters receded, the Bible says the ark came to rest on a mountain.

Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and its inhabitants came aground.

- AFP