According to Genesis, what was Noah’s Ark primarily built from?

According to Genesis, Noah’s Ark was primarily built from gopher wood.

Genesis 6:14 instructs Noah to make the ark from “gopher wood,” a term whose exact meaning is uncertain. Most English translations retain the phrase, while some render it as “cypress wood” or use another descriptive wording. The Hebrew expression appears only in this passage, so biblical scholars cannot identify the tree with certainty.

Gopher wood is therefore a canonical answer to the wording of Genesis, but it should not be treated as a securely identified modern species. This uncertainty is different from the story’s mention of pitch, which was used to waterproof the ark. Later artwork and retellings often depict a recognizable wooden vessel, although Genesis gives no archaeological identification of the material.