Ark of the Covenant

Archaeologist said:

I say that for two reasons: 1) gold is one of the softest metals (I believe it is the softest, but I am not sure at the moment).
2) We have examples of wood overlay with gold from approximately those times.
These are two facts. I will explain my line of thinking but first I will explain the archaeological example I mean first:

The ark was created during the exodus, around the time of Rameses II (debatable, but just keep reading here), approximately 1280 BC +/- X number of years. A couple pharaohs before Rameses the Great (II) was a pharaoh everyone should know: Tutankhamun. His undisturbed chamber housed furniture made of wood overlay with gold. The techniques used on this furniture can be assumed to be the same that would have been used on the ark.
The chair from Tut, wood overlay with gold, can no longer support a person (e.g. a person around the age and size of a boy king). In fact, according to Carter's notes he had to make some repairs on it because parts of overlay was coming off because of poor wood conditions! An important point to be taken from this example is that goly overlay is not a structural element of the Arks design, or any design with gold overlay. It is for aesthetic purposes. Another point is we know what happens to wood in these conditions.

Now I have my example of wood objects (others in the tomb also) with overlay gold. I know how they last when left alone in good condition until discovered. When applied to the Ark, I can safely assume more or less the same if the Ark is sitting around waiting to be discovered.

Considering the Ark has a solid gold lid and two solid gold angels on top of that applying constant pressure to deteriorating wood I come to the conclusion that it would at the very best be dilapidated at this point in time.
Now if it was the other way around: Solid gold chest with a wooden lid & angels overlay with gold...

Click to expand...

ROTLA said:

I have read some things linking the Staff of Moses (also Staff of Aaron, Staff of God) to the Ark. Basically it seems like the staff may have been transported with the Ark. Is this generally accepted as true? If so, does that mean the staff on display in the Birmingham Museum is definitely not THE staff, as it would still be with the Ark? Whether with the Ark or not, where do you believe the staff might rest? Just curious (and thought it might be an interesting topic).

Click to expand...

Archaeologist said:

Now if it was the other way around: Solid gold chest with a wooden lid & angels overlay with gold...

Click to expand...

AnnieJones said:

I know where it is!

It's in a huge warehouse in Nevada.Just kidding. LOL

Click to expand...

AnnieJones said:

On a more serious note,in the Bible,1 Kings 10:13 - And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire,whatsoever she asked,beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty.So she turned and went to her own country,she and her servants.
That verse means,he gave her things and he gave her other than things.He also gave her what she desired.She had a son.
And there is a very reliable old Ethiopian book called Kebra Nagast(translation Glory of Kings).The English title is called The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek.Basically,The Bible is part one of the story and Kebra Nagast is part two of the story.
Menyelek is also known as Menelik I.Kebra Nagast says that Menelik I was born and raised in Ethiopia(or Sheba).Then as a young man he visited his father,King Solomon,in Jerusalem.Menelik I was educated while in Jerusalem and King Solomon loved his son so much that he made for him an exact reproduction of the Ark of the Covenant.Menelik I was a wise man and he threw a farewell party for the priests of the temple and got them all drunk.Then Menelik I switched the fake one for the real Ark.He returned home,at about the age of 19,with the real Ark of the Covenant where it now rests in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Axum(or Aksum)in Ethiopia.

Interesting Facts:

1.Sheba(or Saba)is modern day Ethiopia.
2.The Ark of the Covenant is called the Tabot(or Tobot)by the Ethiopians.
3.The Queen of Sheba(or Ethiopia)is called Queen Makeda by the Ethiopians.

There is a very interesting book called Where is the Ark of the Covenant by Arthur E. Bloomfield.It came out in 1976.It was also one of my sources of information.

Click to expand...

The_Raiders said:

Hey clay (sry didn't mean to ryme), that sounds very interesting, I heard that there was a Christian archeologist who had found some biblicle relics, and he was investiagating a site (I can't recall where) but it was suposedly the site where Jesus' crucifiction took place, but underneathe the site, the archeologist and his partner found two chambers, the entered the first one, and the entrance to the second one was too small for the archeologist (sry I don't know his name) so he sent his partner in and all of a sudden after his partner entered he came running back out screaming, the left the chambers and the partner just kept running, when they cought up to him he was like way to terrified to say anything. The archeologist dies afew years later, I don't think anyone else knows where this site was, could whatrver the parner saw have been the "death angels", I don't know if this story is true or not, my aunt heard it on a history station on the radio, or maybe on the history channel, but it's interesting still.

Click to expand...

Attila the Professor said:

Isn't the Ark, Biblically at least, supposed to have been made out of acacia wood?

Click to expand...

hffan2000 said:

i once read a book by graham hancock called the sign and the seal. it discusses his theory of where the ark of the covenant was actually taken. his theory is that was taken to axum in ethiopia. i believe the theory because it seems to me if it was taken there by solomon's son by the queen of sheba it would be logical for him to take it where he was living.
what theories do you think explain where it is ?

Click to expand...

Is the legendary Lost Ark buried in Japan?

The fabled lost Ark of the Covenant -- described in the Bible as the sacred container of the Ten Commandments -- lies buried near the top of Mt. Tsurugi on the Japanese island of Shikoku, according to local legend.

...

In Japan, the rumored site of the legendary lost Ark is at Mt. Tsurugi in Tokushima prefecture. At 1,955 meters (6,413 ft), the mountain -- known locally as "Ken-zan" -- is the highest on Shikoku and the second highest in western Japan. Mt. Tsurugi is listed as one of Japan's 100 famous mountains and is considered the most sacred peak on Shikoku. It is also regarded as one of the centers of Shugendo, an ancient ascetic religion that incorporates elements of Shintoism and Buddhism.

Speculation surrounding the lost Ark at Mt. Tsurugi can be traced back to the work of Masanori Takane (1883-1959), a literary scholar with a deep interest in kotodama (lit. "word spirit") -- a Japanese belief that words and names hold mystical powers. Through his kotodama research, which involved the study of ancient history, philosophy, theology and cosmology, Takane came across a number of uncanny parallels between the Bible and the Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters"), an 8th-century collection of myths concerning the origin of the Japanese islands and Shinto kami (spirits).

In addition to suggesting possible links between the Bible and the origins of Shinto, Takane's research points to the Japanese island of Shikoku as the crucial bridge between the two. The Book of Revelation (7:1), for example, describes John's vision of "four angels standing at the four corners of the earth." Takane interpreted this as a reference to Shikoku (whose name literally means "four countries"), which is described in the Kojiki as having "four faces." After an exhaustive study of Shikoku's geography, climate, local names and folklore, Takane concluded that the lost Ark of the Covenant was buried near the peak of Mt. Tsurugi.

...

In 1936, Takane assembled a team of archeologists and began an excavation at Mt. Tsurugi. Over the next three years, they dug up an area measuring about 150 meters (500 ft) long and found stone artifacts, paving stones, a brick arch, and evidence of tunnels. The discoveries helped lend credibility to Takane's theory that ancient people modified the peak of Mt. Tsurugi in order to hide the treasure.

Takane and others conducted excavations on Mt. Tsurugi for the next 20 years. In 1952, a former naval admiral named Eisuke Yamamoto attracted national attention when his excavation team found what appeared to be badly decomposed mummies and evidence of marble corridors. Soon after the discovery, however, both Takane and Yamamoto mysteriously stopped searching for the lost Ark at Mt. Tsurugi.

Another treasure hunter named Yoshun Miyanaka began an excavation in 1956, but the effort was short-lived. In 1964, the Japanese government established the Tsurugi-san Quasi-National Park, a 210-square-kilometer (81 sq mi) nature preserve encompassing Mt. Tsurugi and the surrounding area. Excavations on the mountain were banned for environmental reasons.

The lost Ark of the Covenant was never found at Mt. Tsurugi, but the legend lives on.

[Note: This is the latest in a series of weekly posts on mysteries and urban legends from Japan.]

Click to expand...

True Raiders is The Lost City of Z meets The Da Vinci Code, from critically acclaimed author Brad Ricca. This book tells the untold true story of Monty Parker, a British rogue nobleman who, after being dared to do so by Ava Astor, the so-called “most beautiful woman in the world,” headed a secret 1909 expedition to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant. Like a real-life version of Raiders of the Lost Ark, this incredible story of adventure and mystery has almost been completely forgotten today. In 1908, Monty is approached by a strange Finnish scholar named Valter Juvelius who claims to have discovered a secret code in the Bible that reveals the location of the Ark. Monty assembles a ragtag group of blueblood adventurers, a renowned psychic, and a Franciscan father, to engage in a secret excavation just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Using recently uncovered records from the original expedition and several newly translated sources, True Raiders is the first retelling of this group’s adventures– in the space between fact and faith, science and romance.

Click to expand...