Explorer: Ark of the Covenant May Have Been Found

The head of an exploration institute that searches the world for biblical relics says the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandment tablets may be resting in a church in Ethiopia. 

Bob Cornuke, president of the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration (BASE) Institute, wrote in a blog post that a recent investigation led him to Ethiopia, where tradition says the Ark of the Covenant — and the Ten Commandments that it housed — were taken following events described in the Old Testament.  

The Ark allegedly is housed at St. Mary’s of Zion Church in Axum, Ethiopia, where a “Guardian of the Ark” spends his entire life protecting it. No one else is allowed to see it. 

“This man, reportedly, lives his entire life inside a fenced-off area surrounding St. Mary’s of Zion,” Cornuke wrote in the blog. “He will not leave this fenced-off compound until he dies — when he will be replaced by the next Guardian of the Ark. In the chapel of the church, 30 robes from 30 previous guardians are on display — and every one of those 30 professed that the object they protected was the true Ark of the Covenant.”

Cornuke isn’t the first person to investigate the church’s claims. Smithsonian Magazine conducted its own investigation more than a decade ago. But Cornuke’s newest blog has been quoted in newspapers and websites worldwide. 

The Ark was the subject of the…