Richard Rives, President of Wyatt Archaeological Research, became aware of the discoveries of Ron Wyatt in 1990. Richard read Ron's book "Discovered Noah's Ark," and made arrangements to visit him. After seeing the actual evidence and expressing his intention to visit the sites, Richard was invited to participate in excavations at the Noah's Ark site. In 1990, Richard and Ron traveled to Eastern Turkey where the two of them accomplished what is now known as "The Noah's Ark Mini Excavation."
After finishing their work at the Noah's Ark site, they traveled on to Israel. Richard has worked closely with Ron Wyatt at various archaeological sites in Turkey, Israel, the Middle East and Egypt and has been involved with the technical analysis of the artifacts collected. In 1997, Richard moved to Tennessee and became curator of Wyatt Archaeological Museum. In 1999 Ron Wyatt passed away and Richard was then elected to the office of president. Since that time, he has been responsible for the coordination of the ongoing research and dissemination of information relating to the discoveries.