Where is it now?
Some have claimed to have possession or discovered the
In 1989, the late Ron Wyatt claimed to have broken into a
chamber while digging underground beneath Mount Moriah, also
known as The Temple Mount. He claimed to have seen the ark
and taken photographs. All photos came out blurry (leading
to scepticism of the claim). According to Wyatt the
excavations were closed off (because of private property
concerns) and, to the extent of knowledge, no one has seen
the ark since. Ron Wyatt was widely seen in the Biblical
archaeology community as an attention seeker, often
announcing he had found Biblically important objects with
little or no hard evidence to back up his claims.
Vendyl Jones claimed to have found the entrance to the
chamber in the cave of the Column - Qumran. Here, he stated,
is where the Ark was hidden prior to the destruction of the
First Temple. Arutz Sheva quoted Jones stating he would
reveal the ark on Tisha B'Av (August 14, 2005), the
anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second
Temples. However, this did not occur. On Jones' website he states
that he was misquoted and actually said it would be
appropriate if he discovered the ark on Tisha B'Av. Jones is
waiting for funding to explore the cave.
Modern excavations near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
have found tunnels, but digging beneath the Temple Mount is
somewhat restricted. One of the most important Islamic
shrines, the Dome of the Rock, sits in the location where
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem once stood. Ron Wyatt claimed
he felt it unwise to fully excavate the Ark for a variety of
reasons, including bloody ownership disputes and divine
Some sources suggest that during the reign of King
Manasseh (2 Chron 33) the Ark was smuggled from the temple
by way of the Well of souls and taken to Egypt, eventually
ending up in Ethiopia. There are some carvings on the
Cathedral of Chartres that may refer to this.
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Axum, Ethiopia claims to
still possess the Ark of the Covenant. Local tradition
maintains that it was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I
following a visit to his father King Solomon. Although it
was once paraded before the town once each year, it is now
kept under constant guard in a 'treasury' near the Church of
Our Lady Mary of Zion, and only the head priest of the
church is allowed to view it. Most Western historians are
skeptical of this claim.
Dr Bernard Leeman, in his 2005 book 'Queen of Sheba and
Biblical Scholarship' (Queensland Academic Press) accepts
the Ethiopian traditions. He argues that the Ge'ez narrative
of the Sheba-Menelik Cycle of the Kebra Nagast supports the
case that ancient Judah was in west Arabia not Palestine and
that Menelik's escape with the Ark follows landmarks and
place names in Asir,Yemen, and Eritrea. Secondly Leeman
draws attention to the Ark culture of Arabia (detailed in
Munro-Hay and Grierson's works), the 'Hebrewisms' in the
Ancient West Arabian language, the word for Ark in Ge'ez
(which is taken from pre-Babylonian captivity Hebrew),
inscriptions in Sabaean near Mekele that speak of Hebrew
resident there ca. 800 BCE ruled by three queens of Sheba,
and the continued presence in the region of a Hebraic
remnant group, the Ibro (or Yibir) of northern Somalia.
Valley of Kings
Andis Kaulins claims that the hiding place of the ark,
said specifically by ancient sources (such as the Mishnayot),
- 'a desolate valley under a hill - on its east
side, forty stones deep'.
Today, it is believed by some that this refers to the
Tomb of Tutankhamen (east side of the Valley of Kings, ca.
forty stones deep). Some believe that what was found there
are the described treasures, including the Mishkan and the
Ark of the Covenant.