Experimental archaeology has also proved that, yes, artisans and craftsmen were certainly up to the job of creating the Ark, even in campsites during 40 years of nomadic wandering.
That said, nobody’s actually even sure exactly what sort of wood the Biblical ‘gopher wood’ was – other than that the name has to be a transliteration, and certainly is no relation to the North American animal. The most likely options are that it is either cedar (qapros in Hebrew) or cypress (gopher in Greek). Both woods are native to the area where the Ark would have been built.
WHERE IS IT NOW?
The mystery of the Ark’s location isn’t actually that much of a mystery if you regard the Biblical accounts of it as accurate. It actually simply tells us outright what happened to the original Ark: Jeremiah hid it in a cave so that it would not be taken by the Babylonians.
There’s no mention in either the Bible or Babylonian records, or any other tale from the period of it being taken by the invaders; it simply disappears from that point on. It is, therefore, presumably still there, barring interference from weather, seismic activity, or lucky goatherds chasing wandering goats.
Where’s the cave? On Mount Nebo, according to Second Maccabees, the mountain which Moses had climbed in order to view the Promised Land (or ‘God’s Inheritance’, as Second Maccabees calls it). There, Jeremiah set up the Ark with a tent over it, and a few other ritual bits and pieces, in a cave, and then blocked up the entrance. According to this text, Jeremiah’s own followers, who had, well, followed him, found him but could not see the concealed cave entrance even when they were standing pretty much right next to it. Jeremiah suggested this was due to some power of God, hiding the entrance from those not meant to find it. The text intimates that it will, at some point, be found when the time is right, by God’s chosen finder.
Specifically, Jeremiah said, ‘The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Temple might be gloriously sanctified.’
So, if we believe this version (and to be fair, it’s from one of those sections that’s more historical, about who ruled which land) the Ark was removed from the temple at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and so far has not been returned. Mount Nebo itself is a rather flat-topped hill in Jordan. In the Biblical book of Deuteronomy, Moses is shown the Promised Land from the summit, and indeed the summit does give a panoramic view of the Holy Land. The Jordan Valley is visible from it, as is Jericho, and if you squint on a very clear day you can just about make out Jerusalem from there too.
Moses was supposedly buried there too, though the only tombs so far discovered are part of a basilica dating from the 4th century AD. Although there have been archaeological digs at Nebo since at least the 1930s, so far nobody has dug up the Ark.
The Lemba Ark in Zimbabwe definitely exists, but is a 14th-century construction. If the original preceded it, it was acknowledged as destroyed sometime around AD 1300. Either way, there’s no point looking there.
Otherwise, the best option is still Ethiopia. What the Ethiopian angle has going for it is that that the church themselves outright say, ‘Yep, we’ve got it, had it for centuries; we can’t show you it, but it’s in this little adobe church guarded by one monk, honest, straight-up guv, would we lie to you?’
It must be said that it’s unlikely that Ethiopian church is simply lying to get more tourists. They have a long history of Ark-worship, going back centuries, and it’s very clear that there is a strong belief at the core of their church that they do have the genuine Ark of the Covenant. They have festivals devoted to it, and to the story of it coming to Ethiopia, and pretty much every church in the country has their own replica ark. These replicas are paraded in towns and villages across Ethiopia on holy days.
More empirically, there are three different routes by which it’s claimed to have got there, and there are a long list of texts that agree on many elements of Ark lore.
There’s actually little doubt that the Church of Our Lady Mary Of Zion at Aksum does hold an ancient ark, or tabot, as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church calls it, but it’s unlikely to be the original one; rather it’s more likely to simply be the oldest ark still in existence. Remember that this branch of the religion values the Ark as a symbol of their covenant with God, hence the name. This is why all their churches have arks too, symbolizing their keeping faith with that covenant.
The thing about Ethiopia and arks is that it is a country of copies of the Ark, with an Orthodox Church based around copies of the Ark. This is quite literal: every church in Ethiopia has an inner ‘Holy of Holies’ room containing a draped ark. Some of them are bigger than others, and all of them tend to be paraded on special feast days.
They can’t all be clones of the same ark, given the size differences between different local churches, but they don’t have to be. What we call an ark was just a word for a box containing written stones representing the Law of God. It’s now thought entirely likely by historians that pretty much every family in Israel at the time would have an ark of sorts for their ritual and worship – ranging in size from the full 3ft-long chest to pottery ones the size of a large coffee jar, in which stones with the words of the law could be kept.
Even with the original Ark long gone, the prime temple of the kingdom would also have had to have had an ark, and this would presumably have been the flashiest and most accurate to the original, regardless of the period. If any ark was smuggled south to Ethiopia, it would have been this; the Second Temple’s ark.
It wouldn’t be the real, original Ark of the Covenant in literal physical terms, but in the hierarchy of the religion, and in accuracy of replication, and in both spiritual and physical value, it would have filled that role. Today, of course, it would be almost as valuable a treasure to find, both in terms of historical value, and being a golden work of art.
What’s actually in that church? Almost certainly the oldest currently surviving ark. Perhaps the wrong question is being asked. Perhaps the right question is: ‘is the oldest replica of the Ark of the Covenant a valid historical treasure in its own right?’
THE OPPOSITION IN YOUR WAY
There’s no guarantee that there was actually a single original Ark of the Covenant, so you may have to settle simply for the oldest one extant.
If you’re poking around Mount Nebo, you won’t have to worry about large mammalian predators, but will want to look out for rattlesnakes – which love to hide in caves – the Palestine viper, a yellowish 4ft snake with a zigzag camouflage pattern; the Israeli mole viper, a black 3-footer, and the common viper. Also be careful of the deathstalker and southern mankiller scorpions, as well as the black widow and Mediterranean recluse spiders. They will all be well camouflaged and blend in with their surroundings.
Take the usual precautions for a desert environment: stout boots and thin trousers are advised. Hats, plenty of water.
Health-wise, rabies-shots are advised.
Ethiopia is a different matter. Before we get on to the actual hazards, you need to understand one thing about the Church of Our Lady Mary Of Zion at Aksum.
You’re probably wondering how come nobody has ever just walked in, overpowered the solitary elderly guard, and walked out with the Ark, replica or otherwise. The answer is very simple and has nothing to do with the supernatural powers ascribed to the Ark. The big problem is that the chapel was built around the Ark, and it is basically a very strong bomb-and-quake-proof bunker. From the door, the entrance turns immediately left, then makes a tight right angle to the right at the first corner, then another right angle, and basically approaches the Ark’s room from the opposite side. The corridor is too narrow, and the corners too tight, to allow the Ark out.
You’d have to use so much explosive to make a big enough hole that you’d probably flatten half a city block around the church, and definitely destroy the con
tents – which would kind of defeat the purpose of the exercise.
You’d then have to deal with the Ethiopian military. The Ethiopian National Defence Force is relatively small, not greatly funded and largely comprises Cold War-era Soviet tanks and fighters. Despite this, it’s one of the best trained forces in Africa and works within a good economy, making not just its own small arms, but those for many African countries. They’ve handed the notorious terrorist group Al-Shabaab their asses several times, but have also been responsible for atrocities in Somalia. Either way, you don’t want to mess with them.
Aksum is in the north of Ethiopia, and generally pretty safe – certainly safer than the southern parts, which the Foreign Office advises UK travellers to stay clear of. Although there is armed banditry in the Ogaden Desert of the south-east, and Da’esh is starting to operate in the country, petty crime is highest in the capital itself, Addis Ababa.
There used to be a problem with local children mobbing Western visitors, whom they called Faranji (from the old Venetian word for foreigner – this is also the source of the name Ferengi in Star Trek), but this is rare now.
Pickpocketing is the biggest human problem you’re likely to find, along with people insisting on being (fake) guides and bagsnatchers.
Endemic diseases include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and onchocerciasis and dracunculiasis.
Crocodiles, leopards and lynxes are all potential threats as are hyenas. Lions are no longer an issue in the northern part of the country. Snakes are relatively uncommon, but you’d be wise to watch out for cobras – both the Egyptian cobra and the red spitting cobra, which has a red hood and spits venom, hence the name.
TREASURES OF THE COPPER SCROLL
WHAT IS IT?
Well, not the Copper Scroll itself, of course – that’s a treasure, but not lost, as it’s safely ensconced in the Archaeological National Museum of Jordan, in Amman. When it was found, the site of Qumran was in Jordanian territory, which is why it’s in Amman rather than Jerusalem.
The treasures of the scroll are caches of gold and silver coinage, plus assorted gems and priestly ritual vessels and vestments, clues to the locations of which are given in the Copper Scroll. There are 63 caches of treasure, while a 64th item listed on the scroll is an expanded copy of the document, with additional clues and details to help find the 63 actual treasures.
Although the scroll describes the nature of the cached loot spread across the various locations, few scholars, archaeologists, or treasure hunters seem to agree on the actual source of the treasures inventoried. Some believe that it is the contents of Solomon’s Temple – or the First Temple, as it’s sometimes called – rescued from its destruction at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BC. Others think it is the treasure contents of the Second Temple – sometimes called Herod’s Temple, because he refurbished it around 25 BC – built on the same site and robbed by the Romans in AD 70. Alternatively, perhaps it belonged to the Essenes, who lived at the site where the scroll was found, or maybe it was the savings and valuables of the rich nobles of 1st-century Jerusalem.
In any case, they are treasures listed as being hidden somewhere between Jerusalem and Jericho, in the desert around the northern end of the Dead Sea, in the 1st century AD.
HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH TO YOU?
Anywhere between about $9 million (based upon an estimate of $1 million in 1960) and billions, in any currency you care to name. In fact, some of the 1950s translators of the scroll assumed, given the amounts mentioned, that the scroll must simply be reporting folklore or old tales of vast riches.
For example, the first entry in the scroll reads: ‘In the fortress of the valley of Achor, under the steps with the entrance at the east go forty cubits: A strongbox of silver and its vessels, 17 talents by weight.’ A talent in the 1st century was meant to be as much as a man could carry, and is generally considered by archaeologists to be around 70lb. So, that’s 1,190lb of silver, which would be worth about £200,500 ($340,000) today.
In fact, the amount of gold – 40 tons in total – listed in the inventory is a full quarter of all the gold known to have existed in the world at the time. The amount of silver listed – 65 tons in total – is an equal amount to all the silver known to have existed in the 1st century. That’s over £9.6 billion ($16 billion) worth of gold, and over £25 million ($41 million) of silver.
THE STORY
In 1947, a Bedouin goatherd had lost one of his goats, which, being good at climbing, had traipsed off along some scree-covered rocky cliffs in the desert around Qumran, at the north end of the Dead Sea. Tracking his goat, he found himself exploring a network of caves, and inside these caves, the goatherd found ancient bits of wood and pottery, and, more importantly, scrolls. Lots of scrolls.
Most of the scrolls were what we would think of as ancient scrolls today – made of papyrus, and preserved by how amazingly hot and dry it is in the area – there’s simply no humidity to promote the growth of bacteria that cause rot.
Word of the discovery soon got out, and the original group of scrolls themselves sold at auction for a quarter of a million dollars. Archaeologists and bedouin were soon racing each other to find more scrolls – and the Bedouins had the advantage of local knowledge. In total, 47,000 fragments of over 900 scrolls in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, etc., and including such treasures as early drafts of parts of the Bible, as well as other ancient documents, were found. Everything seemed to have been cached by an ascetic Jewish sect called the Essenes, who had lived in the area in the 1st century.
The Copper Scroll itself was found in cave no. 3 in 1952 – and in fact was the only Dead Sea scroll found by archaeologists, in this case on an expedition sponsored by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. The Bedouin had found all the others, and discovered a good trade in selling them to the archaeologists. This also worked for the archaeologists, who didn’t have to risk life and limb in oven-like cliff-side caves.
The scroll is a sheet of copper, thin enough to have been rolled up. Unrolling it was trickier, because nobody wanted it to split. In 1955, Jordan sent the scroll to England to be carefully cut open. It turned out to be about a foot wide, 8ft long and written in a longdead patois of Hebrew.
As metal was valuable in ancient times, the fact that this scroll was made of copper was an immediate sign that it was special; there must have been a reason for wanting to be really sure it lasted in perpetuity. And the lettering on the outside had the words for ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ on it.
When this was translated, it turned out to consist of a list of 64 locations at which treasure could be found hidden – most of it gold and silver – divided into 12 columns. Different translations have slight variations, although the basics and amounts are the same. Differences include whether a feature of a location is in a particular direction, faces that direction, or should be approached from that direction. For example, Milik’s translation of the first cache mentions steps heading eastwards, while Allegro’s version has it as steps that simply are to the east – these are not necessarily the same set of steps!
For no readily apparent reason, some of the entries in the scroll are followed by two or three Greek letters. No-one has ever figured out why.
The ‘official’ version of the text reads (with the Greek letters also transliterated):
Column 01
In the ruin of Horebbah which is in the valley of Achor, under the steps heading eastward about forty feet: lies a chest of silver that weighs seventeen talents. KEN. In the tomb of the third section of stones there is one hundred gold bars. Nine hundred talents are concealed by sediment towards the upper opening, at the bottom of the big cistern in the courtyard of the peristyle. Priests garments and flasks that were given as vows are buried in the hill of Kohlit. This is all of the votive offerings of the seventh treasure. The second tenth is impure. The opening is at the edge of the canal on its northern side six cubits toward the immersed pool. CAG. Enter into the hole of the waterproofed Reservoir of Manos, des
cend to the left, forty talents of silver lie three cubits from the bottom.
Column 02
Forty-two talents lie under the stairs in the salt pit. HN. Sixty-five bars of gold lie on the third terrace in the cave of the old Washers House. QE. Seventy talents of silver are enclosed in wooden vessel that are in the cistern of a burial chamber in Matia’s courtyard. Fifteen cubits from the front of the eastern gates, lies a cistern. The ten talents lie in the canal of the cistern. D.I Six silver bars are located at the sharp edge of the rock which is under the eastern wall in the cistern. The cistern’s entrance is under the large paving stone threshold. Dig down four cubits in the northern corner of the pool that is east of Kohlit. There will be twenty-two talents of silver coins.
Column 03
Dig down nine cubits into the southern corner of the courtyard. There will be silver and gold vessels given as offerings, bowls, cups, sprinkling basins, libation tubes and pitchers. All together they will total six hundred nine pieces. Dig down sixteen cubits under the eastern corner to find forty talents of silver. TR. Votive vessels and priestly garments are at the northern end of the dry well located in Milham. The entrance is underneath the western corner. Thirteen talents of silver coins are located three cubits beneath a trap door in the tomb in the north-east end of Milham.
Column 04
Fourteen talents of silver can be found in the pillar on the northern side of the big cistern in Kohlit. SK. When you go forty-one cubits into the canal that comes from [there’s a blank space here] you will find fifty-five talents of silver. Dig down three cubits in the middle of the two boulders in the Valley of Achor, and you will find two pots full of silver coins. At the mouth of the underground cavity in Aslah sit two hundred talents of silver. Seventy talents of silver are located in the eastern tunnel which is to the north of Kohlit. Dig for only one cubit into the memorial mound of stones in the valley of Sekaka to find twelve talents of silver.
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