All language subtitles for Truthseekers.S01E03.Ark.of.the.Covenant.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

[narrator] A team of
truthseekers is on a mission.

Scientists. Historians. Archaeologists.

All on the trail
of history's enigmas.

Searching for the truth

behind the greatest mysteries

known to humanity.

For centuries,
people have hunted

for the Bible's
most sacred relics.

But no artifact was
more powerful or mysterious

than the Ark of the Covenant,

said to hold
the very word of God,

the tablets
of the Ten Commandments.

Many have searched
for it in vain.

Did it really exist?

And if it did,

what might have happened to it?

In London, our team assemble.

Our four truthseekers combine

decades of experience
in different fields.

But they all have one goal.

To apply their knowledge,
and reveal the truth.

There are mysteries,
and then there are mysteries.

I have always loved uncovering
the secrets of the past.

We need to go back and unpick
the untruths from the truths.

Age-old problems that
we've been asking ourselves

for over 100 years, really,
can now be solved.

[narrator] They'll follow
the clues left behind.

Unravel the secrets
of the past.

Separate fact from fiction.

And together,
they'll uncover the truth

behind the greatest
mysteries ever.

[epic music playing]

[tense music playing]

[narrator] For centuries,
people have hunted

for the Bible's
most sacred relics.

The one True Cross.
The Holy Grail.

But no Biblical artifact
was more powerful

than the Ark of the Covenant,

believed to contain
God's instructions

to the world.

I think, for my generation,
we grew up with Indiana Jones,

so that story of the Ark
as a terrifying weapon,

kind of a biblical nuclear bomb,

is really interesting
and really exciting.

The Ark brings together
three main components

of the Bible.

That is Moses,

the Ten Commandments,

and the Israelites.

Those all brought together,

represented by
the Ark of the Covenant.

[solemn music playing]

[Karen] As an anthropologist,

what fascinates me most
about the Ark

is not the search for
the physical box.

It's what the Ark stands for.
Its symbolism.

That's what has driven
the frantic search for it.

[mysterious music playing]

[narrator] In the Bible,
the Ark of the Covenant

was the ornate chest in which
the ancient Israelites

carried the Ten Commandments.

Legend has it that this relic
possessed immense power.

It was an ancient weapon
of mass destruction.

To touch it meant death.

[tense violin music playing]

Many have searched
for the Ark.

But the truth
has never been uncovered.

Did it really exist?

And if it did, what might
have happened to it?

[music ends]

[light, mysterious
music playing]

The team has gathered in London
to share their findings.

[music continues]

[no audible dialog]

Cultural historian
Dr. Fern Riddell

has been examining
the written accounts

of the Ark of the Covenant.

So the first place that
we find any kind of

biblical reference
to the Ark of the Covenant

is in the Book of Exodus,

and that's the story of Moses

leading the Israelites
to Mount Sinai

and connecting them with God.

Becoming God's chosen people.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] According to
the Old Testament,

the Israelites were living
in slavery in Egypt

under the rule of a cruel and
ruthless tyrant, the Pharaoh.

But they were freed
by a prophet,

a man named Moses.

He led them out of Egypt,
across the Red Sea

to freedom
in the deserts beyond.

[Fern] So, Moses has brought
the Israelites out of slavery.

They've fled Egypt,
and they've spent

a huge amount of time
in the wilderness

trying to find somewhere
where they will be safe.

And they end up in
the foothills of Mount Sinai.

And at this mountain,
Moses ascends up,

where he spends 40 days and
40 nights communing with God.

[narrator] When Moses returned
from Mount Sinai,

he carried
the Ten Commandments.

Carved into two tablets,

these laws told the Israelites
how to worship God

and how to live
with one another.

But it wasn't just
the Ten Commandments

that God gave to Moses.
The Bible also states

that God provided him
with instructions

for a container to put them in.

The Bible describes
how this ark was to be made.

"And they shall make an ark
of acacia wood.

Two and a half cubits
shall be its length,

a cubit and a half its width,

and a cubit and a half
its height."

[dramatic music crescendos,
then fades]

[Fern] So it's made
from acacia wood,

which is connected at this time

to the idea and the mythology
of the Tree of Life.

It has poles
so it can be carried

because they're
a nomadic people.

And it's quite small.
It's made out of cubits.

Now, a cubit is basically
the distance

between your forefinger
and your elbow,

so about 45 to 50 centimeters.

And the Ark is about
a meter and...

just under
a meter and a half long,

and about 75 centimeters
high and wide.

[narrator] "And you shall
overlay it with pure gold,

inside and out.

And you shall make on it

a molding of gold all around.

You shall cast
four rings of gold for it,

and put them
in its four corners.

And you shall make poles
of acacia wood

and overlay them with gold."

[Fern] It was to be carried
with them from that point on.

Everywhere the Israelites went,
the Ark literally led the way.

[narrator] On top was the
"kaporet," the mercy seat.

It was solid gold,

with two winged cherubim
facing each other,

enclosing a seat.

This was God's throne.

[pensive music playing]

[Fern] So the Ark
is not just a box.

It's designed to give
its followers

direct access
to the voice of God.

To his guidance.
To his judgment.

[pensive music continues]

[rhythmic percussion
music beats]

[narrator] The Bible
tells the story of how

the freed Israelites
wandered the desert

for 40 years.

And at each camp they made,

God instructed Moses
to build a sacred tent,

a dwelling for him
among his people.

It was called the Tabernacle.

And inside,
in its most sacred place,

the Holy of Holies,
was placed the Ark.

[Fern] So when we're thinking
about the ancient world

as being this huge melting pot

of religions and tribes
and gods,

one of the things
the Ark of the Covenant does

is it gives
the Israelites a symbol,

something to unite behind
and create one religion.

[narrator] Throughout the
Israelites' long march

through the desert,
the Ark cleared their path

of dangers.

When they finally reached
the Promised Land,

it was the Ark
that parted the Jordan River

and allowed them to cross.

And in the war that followed

for control of their
Promised Land,

it was the Ark that
brought down the walls

of the city of Jericho.

[pensive music playing]

[Fern] But the Ark is
this incredibly

kind of unifying symbol
for the Israelites.

It brings them together,
it makes them a nation,

one to be feared
because this is a weapon

that they take with them
to battle.

So it destroys cities.

But it doesn't
make them unbeatable,

and there's actually
a moment where

they lose ownership
of the Ark

to the Philistines.

[narrator] After defeat
for the Israelites in battle,

the Ark of the Covenant
was seized

by their enemies,
the Philistines.

But if they had hoped to wield
its power for themselves,

they were mistaken.

Wherever the Philistines
took the Ark,

disaster befell them.

The Ark brings
only destruction.

There's pestilence, people die,

anyone who comes close to it
is immediately, incredibly sick.

And it's one
of those things where

it's very clear that this
holy relic of the Israelites

belongs only to them.

[narrator] The terrified Philistines

returned the Ark
to the Israelites,

where it was kept safe
at Kiriath-Jearim,

the "City of Trees,"

before it was supposedly

moved west to Jerusalem,

and the site of an
historic fight.

One of the most famous battles

between the Israelites
and the Philistines

is actually that
of a little boy and a giant,

and that's David
and the Philistine Goliath.

When David defeats Goliath,

he then goes on to become
king of the Israelites,

and goes on
to conquer Jerusalem

and give them a nation
and a home.

And, of course,
at the heart of that new home

was the Ark of the Covenant.

[narrator] It was King David's
son and successor, Solomon,

who, the Bible says built
the first temple in Jerusalem.

[majestic violin music playing]

So what King Solomon does is,

he decides to build
a specific temple,

a place to house the Ark.

And within it,
it has an inner sanctum.

This is the Holy of Holies,

a place where the Ark
will always be safe

and always be protected.

[narrator]
According to the Bible,

the Ark then remained
in Jerusalem

for hundreds of years,

until a new power arose
in the East

and threatened the kingdom
the Israelites had built.

So, we're actually at a moment
where the Bible meets

accurate historical record,

and this is with the appearance
of the Babylonians.

Now, they're
a very important civilization

that have come up
around the same time

as the Israelites have
conquered Jerusalem.

And they decide that
that city should be theirs.

[tense music playing]

[narrator]
In the 6th century BC,

the Babylonian Empire was
one of the most powerful

in the world.

Under their king,
Nebuchadnezzar II,

the Babylonians swept
out of modern-day Iraq

and marched towards the coast
of the Mediterranean.

In their sights
was Jerusalem.

In 597 BC,

Nebuchadnezzar besieged
and conquered the city.

The Babylonians looted
Jerusalem's treasures

and exiled
the Israelite leaders.

But at first, Nebuchadnezzar
did not destroy the city.

Instead, he installed
a puppet regime.

When that rebelled against his
rule 10 years later, however,

Nebuchadnezzar returned
to Jerusalem.

This time, he leveled
the city and the temple.

[dramatic percussion
music playing]

[tense music playing]

So, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar,

razes Jerusalem to the ground,
destroys it,

and destroys
the temple of Solomon.

And we actually have,
both in the Bible

and in Babylonian accounts,

incredibly detailed records
of what they took,

not only killing
and enslaving everyone,

but things like incense burners
and bronze shovels.

You know, really detailed stuff.

The one thing we don't have

is any reference to
the Ark of the Covenant itself.

[narrator] The Israelites
eventually returned to Jerusalem

and rebuilt the temple there.

But the Ark did not
return with them.

The one thing
we don't have any record of

is the Ark of the Covenant.

It just vanishes.

We don't find it
in the Bible again.

We don't find it
in the Babylonian accounts.

So, was it hidden,
or was it destroyed?

We just don't know.

[narrator] That's the end
of the story

of the Ark of the Covenant

as told by the Bible.

But how much can we rely
on the ancient text

as an historical source?

How much of the story
could actually be true?

[Fern] So, the Bible
is a religious text.

It's a story of myth and legend
and ideas and identity.

It's not one that
we should be using

as accurate,
factual information.

We also have no way
of proving its authorship.

You know, for a long time,
older Bible scholars

thought that Moses was

the sole authority
of the Old Testament.

But, of course,
he dies in one of the books,

so that would make it
a little bit difficult.

We think now that it was
probably multi-authored,

lots of different people
adding to it

as time and history went on.

[narrator] Today, most scholars
believe that the story

of the Ten Commandments
and the Ark of the Covenant

was compiled
in the 7th century BC,

or possibly even later.

It was likely based on
earlier spoken traditions,

Stories told and retold
from generation to generation.

[Fern] We have to be
incredibly careful

when we use a source
like the Bible

because it is
this massive amalgamation

that took place over
such a long time.

So, we need to use accounts
by the Babylonians

or the Akkadians,

people who can have
their own record,

that we can
cross-reference them,

and perhaps then the clues

to what happens to the Ark
will be revealed.

[narrator] The Bible is
a religious chronicle,

not a history book,

and the historical references

are few if any.

But our fascination
has remained,

and people have continued
to risk everything

in the quest to be
the first to find the Ark.

Their fortunes,
their reputations,

even their lives.

Was it destroyed? Stolen?

How could something so important

just disappear?

[dramatic music crescendos,
then fades]

[contemplative music playing]

[no audible dialog]

[narrator] A Biblical relic
said to have vanished

more than two and a half
thousand years ago.

A relic that parted
great rivers,

felled city walls,

and struck down anyone unworthy
of touching it.

[dramatic music playing]

Once held by
the tribes of Israel,

it was captured
by the Babylonians.

Mark Altaweel
is digging deeper.

Perhaps they took it off
back to Babylon,

and so somewhere
in the sands of Iraq,

the Ark of the Covenant lies.

Another story is that
the Israelites, prior to

the sack of Babylon,
perhaps may have hidden it.

Maybe they went to
a nearby location,

they found an area,
and they just hid the Ark.

So, there's a lot
of possibilities.

[narrator] Dr. Mark Altaweel
is an archaeologist

and an expert in
data analysis.

He's been investigating
the possible resting places

of the Ark of the Covenant.

When the Bible was written,
Christianity began to spread.

From that time onwards, relics
and stories about the Bible

take, effectively,
hold of people.

They become really interested
in the Holy Land.

And Constantine the Great,
the first Roman emperor

to believe in Christianity,

his mother basically
commissioned a campaign

to find the true cross.

So from that time onwards,
really until today,

people have been fascinated
with the Holy Land

and have been searching the area
for relics in the Bible.

[narrator]
According to the Bible,

the Ark should still have been

at the temple in Jerusalem

when the city fell to
the Babylonians

in 587 BC.

But if it was destroyed
or looted,

there is no record of it.

Where have people
suggested it was?

Well, one
widely-believed theory

is that it wasn't there at all
when the Babylonians attacked.

That it had been removed
from the city before then.

[yelling]

[narrator] It is claimed
that the Ark was taken

from the temple in Jerusalem

during the time of King Solomon

and snuck out of the city,

out of the Holy Land,

to modern-day Ethiopia.

One of the stories
is the "Kebra Nagast,"

which is a story that
the Queen of Sheba

came to Jerusalem
during the time of Solomon.

And after some period
of time there,

she had a child with him.

And one day, Sheba wanted
to go back to her lands.

They basically took
the Ark with them.

And the lands associated with
Sheba are Ethiopia today.

So potentially,
the Ark was taken to Ethiopia

and until this day,

the Ark has been there, effectively.

And there's a story
that a church in Ethiopia

actually contains
or has the Ark.

[pipe music playing]

[narrator]
So the Chronicle claims,

the Ark was taken
back to Ethiopia.

It is said to have
remained there ever since

in a small chapel guarded by
a holy order of monks

who admit no outsiders.

Despite that rule,

during the Second World War,

a young British army officer

named Edward Ullendorff

actually got secret access

to the so-called Ark.

[Mark] Ullendorff was a scholar

of Ethiopian
and Semitic studies,

and during World War II,
he was actually

a young army officer
who was stationed in Ethiopia,

and he happened to be
stationed at a church.

And that church was the church

associated with
the Ark of the Covenant.

So he claimed to have actually
seen the Ark of the Covenant.

The church had not allowed
anyone to see it,

but he claimed to have seen it.

And he, in fact, stated
that the Ark

was of construction
from the medieval period.

[narrator] But the Ethiopians
were not the only ones

suspected of sneaking the Ark

out of the temple
in Jerusalem.

[Mark] There's a story
found in a disputed text,

an ancient text that is not
really universally regarded

as part of the Bible at all.

It's called
the Second Book of Maccabees.

[narrator]
The Second Book of Maccabees

dates to the 2nd century BC.

It explains how, just before
Jerusalem was wiped out

by the Babylonian Empire,

the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah
had a premonition

of the disaster
about to befall the city.

[tense music playing]

[Mark] In the book
Second Maccabees,

the Ark is once again mentioned.

The prophet Jeremiah,
he gets a premonition

that the city of Jerusalem

is going to be destroyed
by the Babylonians.

And so what happens is the Ark
is hidden in a secure place

so the Babylonians
would not find it.

[mysterious music playing]

[narrator] It claims Jeremiah
buried the treasure

where, "Moses went up and saw
the inheritance of God,"

a reference to the mountain
Moses visited before he died.

Most have interpreted this
as referring to Mount Nebo,

the peak where Moses was allowed

a glimpse of the Promised Land
before his death.

But there's another interpretation.

That the inheritance
it refers to

is the laws and way of life

given to Moses on Mount Sinai,

and that mountain,
way to the south,

was where Jeremiah hid the Ark.

There's the one story
that suggests

this cave on Mount Sinai
was sealed up

and lost for centuries,

until the time of the Crusades

when it was rediscovered by
a religious order

of warrior monks,
the Knights Templar.

[narrator] Founded
in the early 12th century,

the Knights Templar
quickly became

one of the most powerful
and wealthy

religious orders
in the world.

During this time,
the Knights Templar

was basically camping out
one day

near the ancient city of Petra
in southern Jordan.

And there, they heard upon
that the Ark was not far away,

and they went to a place
called Mount Merba,

which is a mountain nearby,
near Petra.

And they went there and they
effectively found the Ark

and other treasures
associated with the temple,

and they brought these,
eventually, back to Europe.

[Middle-Eastern-style
music playing]

[narrator] It's been alleged
that as the Crusaders

withdrew from the Holy Land,

the Templars took
their treasures

with them back to Europe,

and hid them there
in a secret location.

[dramatic violin music playing]

[Mark] The whole story
sounds a bit hard to believe.

First, finding the Ark.

How do they just
happen to find the Ark

after centuries
of having been hidden?

Second, even if they found
the Ark, then

the assumption is eventually
someone would hear about it.

You can't just send the Ark
and all these treasures

back to Europe
and nobody would know about it.

And even if they found the Ark,
let's say they did,

they should have simply used it
in a battlefield.

The Knights Templar was
engaged in combat

with Muslim armies
during this time,

and given the stories
about the Ark

being a powerful tool
against God's enemies,

then one would assume
that the Knights Templar

would try to use
the Ark in battle.

[narrator] Since then,
many have hunted

for the riches
of the Knights Templar.

They've searched churches
in England and in France,

analyzing mysterious carvings
or finding secret messages

supposedly hidden
in stained glass windows.

The sort of power
that texts, maps,

and other kinds of objects
we really consider sacred.

The idea that perhaps God
speaks to us in mystery.

But if we are capable
of interpreting

different patterns,
different symbols,

we can potentially learn
some of these secrets

and discover important things.

[narrator]
But the Knights Templar

are not the only ones
who allegedly

went looking for
the Ark of the Covenant.

The hunt goes on to this day.

[light percussion music playing]

Shortly after
the Second World War,

a remarkable discovery was made

in a complex of caves
in the West Bank.

Ancient texts dating back
as far as the 3rd century BC,

written in Hebrew, Aramaic,
and Greek.

The Dead Sea Scrolls
shed light

on the language,
beliefs, and practices

of Judaism and early Christianity.

But one scroll,
the last discovered in 1952,

was unlike any other.

It wasn't written on papyrus
or parchment.

The text was hammered into
a thin sheet of copper.

[Mark] Now, the writing
in the Copper Scroll

is a mix of Hebrew and Greek,
but it's also hard

to really understand
what it's talking about.

It's not necessarily
very complete writing.

It's mentioning
something like 64 places

that have various treasures
buried in them.

And the quantity is
actually quite huge

in terms of number of items
and weight of the treasure.

[narrator] "In the ruin
in the Valley of Achor."

"In the monument, on
the third course of stones."

"Beneath the staircase."

"At a distance of
40 brick tiles

there is a silver chest."

"There are 100 golden ingots.

Nine hundred talents."

We don't know the source
of this alleged treasure,

but from the amounts of gold
and silver described,

many have concluded
it must have come

from the temple in Jerusalem.

The instructions
are quite exact.

So many cubits this way.

On this level. At this depth.

There's one problem though.

We're missing a crucial
piece of the puzzle.

We often simply don't know
the starting point

the scroll refers to.

But that hasn't stopped
people looking.

And it hasn't stopped
people thinking

that among those treasures
might be hidden

the Ark of the Covenant.

[narrator] In 2006,

the American investigator
Jim Barfield

made an extraordinary claim.

Barfield was a former
arson inspector from Oklahoma.

He had not studied archaeology
and knew next to nothing

about the region's
landscapes and geography.

But Barfield claimed
to have done in half an hour

what had eluded scholars
for five decades.

Deciphered the locations

of the Copper Scroll's treasure.

Now, Jim Barfield
has come along,

and he's actually claimed that

he knows the starting point

that's indicated in
the Copper Scroll.

He cannot only locate that
starting point

using his investigatory skills,

but he also can find
the specific sites and areas

indicated in
the Copper Scrolls,

so he can, sort of, walk
those distances mentioned

and he can find
those specific sites.

But many of the locations
he claimed to have identified

have been extensively
excavated and examined.

Nothing has ever been found.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Barfield believed
that his theory

was divinely inspired.

But his claims have been
rejected by archaeologists.

No proof was found
to link the Copper Scroll

to the Ark of the Covenant.

[Mark] Barfield is
basing his ideas,

not necessarily on science,
but perhaps more on his faith.

But the problem is, even if he
finds the right locations,

the chances are, the Ark
is probably going to be--

have been taken over
the last 2,000 plus years.

So, of course, even just knowing
that you've discovered

the instructions
in the Copper Scroll

doesn't mean, necessarily, that
you're going to find the Ark.

And it shows you the power
that the Ark has.

It's still drawing us in,
and even to this day,

we have people
like Jim Barfield

looking for the Ark.

[narrator] There is no trace of
the Ark among the Babylonians

who conquered Jerusalem.

No proof of it has been found

with the Queen of Sheba
in Ethiopia

or anywhere else.

Only two possibilities
remain for our team.

Will they confirm if it
ever existed at all?

Or perhaps,
that it never left Jerusalem

and is hiding in plain sight?

[pensive music playing]

The investigation into
the Ark of the Covenant

has tracked leads
from the Holy Land

to Africa and across Europe.

The team of truthseekers

have examined the clues
in the Bible,

compared them
to the historical record,

and in the very ground itself.

They investigated whether
it could have been destroyed

in the fall of Jerusalem,

or whether it was spirited
out of the city

before that disaster.

But there is another possibility
that still remains.

People have spent a lot of time

scratching around
in the deserts

and looking for clues
in manuscripts and scripture,

but, in the end of the day,
what about Jerusalem itself?

Maybe the Ark never left.

Maybe it's still there.

[narrator]
The Temple of Solomon

is believed to have been
built on a hill

in Jerusalem's old city.

The Hebrew Bible calls it
the Temple Mount.

At its center is
the Foundation Stone.

In Judaism,
this is where the world began,

where Abraham tried
to sacrifice his son,

and where the Holy of Holies

in their original temple
was located.

It is a sacred place
in Islam too.

It's where
the Prophet Muhammed

was lifted up to heaven
by the angel Gabriel.

After the Muslims conquered
Jerusalem in the year 638,

they built a mosque on the site

with a shrine covering
the Foundation Stone.

[Middle-Eastern-style
music playing]

For those of you who've never
been to the Dome of the Rock,

this structure is built
over a rock.

And beneath it
is the foundation stone.

Beneath that,
the Well of Souls.

And the floor of that
cave-like structure

has a slab which, well,
if you knock it,

it makes a suspiciously
hollow sound,

and could it be that
the priests in Jerusalem,

faced with the Babylonians
about to destroy their temple,

simply dug down and put the Ark
beneath the Holy of Holies?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Many have been
curious to find out.

In 1871, two English explorers,

Sir Richard Burton
and Lady Isabel Burton,

visited Jerusalem
and gained access

to the Well of Souls.

Lady Burton later wrote
in her diary,

"My husband did his best
to procure the opening

of the hollow-sounding
slab in the center,

but the time
has not yet come."

Such is the religious
importance of Temple Mount

that access has always
been fiercely guarded,

and official excavations banned.

But that has not stopped
people from trying.

The Ark of the Covenant story
seems to attract, like a magnet,

all these oddballs
who turn up in Jerusalem

looking for the Ark
of the Covenant.

The reasons why
some of these people

went on the hunt for the Ark
were religious.

Some of them, it was kind of pseudoscientific.

Others were just adventurers, explorers.

There's a real hotchpotch
of people who turn up.

[narrator] In 1908,
the Honorable Montagu Parker

was 29 years old.

The young Englishman
had studied at Eton College,

the most prestigious
private school in the country,

where those with money
and power sent their sons

to learn how to wield
money and power.

[choral music playing]

After completing
his schooling,

Parker joined the army.

He became a lieutenant
in the Grenadier Guards

and saw action in the
vicious Second Boer War.

But by 1908,

his military career
was stagnating.

Still a young man,

he was looking
for a new start in life.

A new adventure.

Montague Parker is,
in many ways,

a typical young Victorian,
Edwardian Aristocrat.

And like many people
in his position,

he's looking for a role.

He's somebody
who doesn't need to work,

so he needs a reason to be.

And along comes
the Ark of the Covenant,

via, of all things,
a Finnish librarian.

[narrator] 43-year-old
Valter Henrik Juvelius

had a theory that
the Ark of the Covenant

had never been in
the Temple of Solomon at all.

Instead, it had been kept
in a secret chamber

carved out of the rock
beneath the temple.

So, when the Babylonians
sacked Jerusalem

and tore down the temple,

the Ark remained
safely hidden below.

So we have this bookish,
Finnish academic,

Valter Henrik Juvelius,

who has a pretty far-out theory

that the Book of Ezekiel
contains clues

to the whereabouts to the
Ark of the Covenant.

Now, the Book of Ezekiel,

it is the weirdest book
in the Old Testament,

but Juvelius thinks that
it's effectively a road map

to finding
the Ark of the Covenant.

[narrator] But Juvelius
was just a schoolmaster.

He didn't have the money
or connections

to launch an expedition
to the Holy Land.

So, he went looking
for somebody who did.

In autumn, 1908,
he found Montagu Parker,

and their quest was underway.

[Tony] Now that Parker
has his mission,

he does what every chap
would do in his position.

He trawls the gentleman's
clubs of Pall Mall,

at the center
of the British Empire,

trying to get everybody
riled up, interested,

and, more importantly,
parting with their cash

or any resources
that they can offer.

[narrator] Recruiting more
wealthy men to the cause,

Parker raised around £7,000
for his expedition.

That's the equivalent
of more than

half a million pounds today.

Then, in July 1909,

they all set off
for the Holy Land.

[Tony] So he manages
to pick up a yacht,

somehow gets his hands
on a ragbag of people,

a Swiss clairvoyant,

a tugboat captain
from the Congo,

a cricket player
who's interested

in coming along
for the journey.

And armed with this,

what was a rather unusual
bunch of people

and the resources he needs,

he starts to make his way
to Jerusalem.

[narrator] At the beginning
of the 20th century,

Jerusalem was under the control
of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottomans had ruled the city
for almost 500 years,

but by the early 1900s,

the empire
was in a parlous state.

[Tony] 300 years before
the Ottoman Empire

centered on today's
modern Turkey,

it had absolutely
terrified Europe.

It had reached
the gates of Vienna.

It was a seemingly unstoppable
Muslim empire,

and it ruled over
the holy places of Islam.

But by the time we get
to the end of the 19th century,

the Ottoman Empire is a shadow
of its former self.

It is sometimes described as
the sick man of Europe.

It's decaying,
it's falling apart,

it's corrupt,
it's in its death agonies.

Now, Montague Parker
is undoubtedly aware of this,

as are his colleagues,

and they see an opportunity
to use the weakness

of Ottoman control
over Jerusalem,

which is part
of the Ottoman Empire,

to further their expedition.

You know, they just think,
"There will be

an Ottoman official
that we can bribe."

Everybody needs money,

so it's not going
to be difficult

to get underneath
the Temple Mount.

[narrator] Relying
on Juvelius' work

and on half-remembered scripture
from their school days,

Parker's team began
digging into

an ancient system
of water tunnels and shafts

that ran beneath Temple Mount.

Juvelius' calculations
suggested

the Ark of the Covenant
was hidden

in a chamber accessible
through those tunnels.

They diverted water
from a spring

and drained the passageways,

searching for a
formerly-submerged entrance

to the secret chamber.

So through 1909 and 1910,

they're frantically
digging underground,

but all they've got
to show for this

painstaking
and pretty mucky activity

is some oil lamps,
pottery shards,

a few coins,
and an ancient toilet.

Well, a modern archaeologist
would think this was gold,

but not to Parker and his team.

They wanted the Ark.

This was no good.

They simply weren't getting
their mission accomplished.

[narrator] Still determined
to find the Ark,

in 1911, Parker resolved
to search the one place

that had not been
properly explored.

The holiest place of all,

underneath the
Dome of the Rock itself.

By 1911, Parker is getting
a bit desperate.

So he decides to head straight
for the Temple Mount.

He's going for the center
of the action.

How to do that?

Well, he bribes
a local official.

The guardian, in fact,
of the Temple Mount.

Parker and his gang
get beneath the Temple Mount,

and they start digging,

and this really is
the last chance

for the intrepid aristocrat.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] His team disguised
themselves as locals

and dug only after dark.

For nine nights,
they excavated in the tunnels

below the Temple Mount.

But then they were betrayed.

Basically, too many people
wanted in on the bribes.

And the more digging
that Parker and his group did,

the more bribes
they were being asked to pay.

At some point,
Parker just drew a line.

"No more bribes.
No more money. Go away."

And, unfortunately,
the result of that was,

word got out about
the digging to the local people,

and soon, what Parker
and his team were faced with

was an angry, murderous mob.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Crowds of protesters
took to the streets,

threatening to lynch anyone
involved in the excavations.

Parker and his team
made a speedy exit,

fleeing back to England
on their yacht.

Parker's forced to flee
with his gang,

and even though he's acquired

a certain amount
of celebrity status,

that's no compensation
for not finding the Ark.

He does plan to return
to Jerusalem,

but then the First World War
breaks out,

and that changes everything.

[narrator] The strange theory
of Valter Henrik Juvelius

remains unproven.

Whatever mysteries
the Temple Mount may contain

still lie hidden.

The site is too sacred
to be explored.

But as one
truthseeker has found out,

perhaps all those
who have gone looking

for the Ark of the Covenant

have been searching in
the wrong place

and asking the wrong question.

To find where
the Ark was hidden,

we first need to find out

why the Ark story
first took hold,

and why was it abandoned
so soon after?

- [light music playing]
- [no audible dialog]

[narrator]
The truthseekers are hunting

for one of history's
greatest enigmas,

the Ark of the Covenant.

According to the Bible,

it was the holiest relic
of the ancient Israelites.

A relic of immense power
and importance.

The Ark of the Covenant
is an iconic artifact.

Explorers and archaeologists

have spent centuries
searching for it

at sites all around the world.

But they've never found it.

[narrator] The team has examined
the Biblical account for clues.

And they have seen how
previous expeditions

have come up empty-handed.

But anthropologist
Dr. Karen Bellinger

has a different approach.

For me, the key question isn't,
"Where is the Ark?"

It's why.

Why did the Israelites
tell this story?

And to understand that,

we need to actually
look more closely

at the Israelites themselves.

At their culture and what we
know about it.

[narrator] In 1896,

pioneering British
archaeologist Flinders Petrie

was conducting excavations

at the Ancient Egyptian city
of Thebes.

There, he discovered
a black granite monument.

It was more than
three meters high

and had an extraordinary
and unexpected

inscription on it.

It's in the funerary stele
of a pharaoh called Merneptah

who died in 1203 BC.

And this stele actually
refers mainly

to his defeat
of various other foes.

But there's one smoking gun
line. It refers to Israel.

[narrator] According to the
Book of Exodus in the Bible,

the Israelites came from Egypt.

They were enslaved there
by a Pharaoh

until the Prophet Moses
led them to freedom.

The search for
the Ark of the Covenant

is really based on this story.

But the granite monument
found by Flinders Petrie

doesn't say the Israelites
were in Egypt.

It says they were a nomadic
or rural people

living in Canaan.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Canaan was the
Bible's Promised Land,

where Moses was
supposed to have led his people

after they left Egypt.

But despite countless digs
and expeditions

in Egypt
over the two centuries,

no archaeological evidence
has been found

for the events described
in the Book of Exodus.

And nothing has been found
of Moses himself.

It's possible that
Moses was a figure

in some historical context
for Israel,

but there is no evidence
for that

outside of the words
of the Bible.

[baby crying]

[dramatic music playing]

There were certainly
connections between

the Israelites and Egypt, however.

In ancient times,
Canaan was a land

where different cultures,
religions, and powers

combined and competed.

It was wedged between
great Empires.

The Egyptians to the South.

The Hittites to the North.

And the Assyrians
to the East.

Through trade, migration,
and warfare,

as one empire rose
and another faded,

there was
the inevitable movement

of people, ideas,
and beliefs.

Among them was the use
of sacred chests.

Archaeologically speaking,

we do see
a number of ceremonial vessels

across Near Eastern cultures,

and in Egypt particularly.

And they bear
a very strong resemblance

to the Ark
as described in the Bible.

A famous example
in ancient Egypt

occurred in the tomb
of Tutankhamun.

[narrator] In 1922,

archaeologists were digging
in the Valley of the Kings,

the ancient burial site
in central Egypt.

There, they made
a remarkable discovery.

The lost tomb of the
Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

It dated back to
the 14th Century BC.

But in contrast to most other
Egyptian tombs of that era,

grave robbers had not stripped
Tutankhamun's resting place

of its riches.

The archaeologists
unearthed a treasure trove

unlike any seen
in the modern era.

And among the artifacts
was what looked like an ark.

[Middle-Eastern-style
music playing]

[Karen] The ark found
in Tutankhamun's Tomb

was actually very similar

to the one described
in the Bible,

although a slightly
different shape.

But it was similar enough
that Howard Carter,

directing the excavation,

saw it and reportedly
thought for a moment

that he had found
the Ark of the Covenant.

[narrator] They had
similar dimensions.

Both chests were made of wood.

Both were lined in gold.

And both had poles
so they could be carried.

This was not
the Ark of the Covenant,

but its discovery was still
really exciting for people

because it showed that
an object

like that described
in the Bible

could have been made
at the right time period,

and it could have survived
all these years,

so maybe

the Ark of the Covenant, likewise,

was still out there somewhere.

[narrator] The ark found in
the tomb of Tutankhamun

was topped with
a statue of the god Anubis.

Throughout the ancient
Near East at this time,

similar chests were used
to house holy objects.

Sacred stones and statues.

[Karen] It's possible
that if it did exist,

the Israelite Ark
carried statues

or other sacred items
associated with their religion.

In terms of understanding

the religious practices
of the Israelites,

we know that they're
the ancestors of the Jews,

but they did not
practice Judaism

as we would think of it today.

[narrator]
Early Israelites worshipped

a number of different gods.

Chief among them was El
and his consort,

the mother goddess, Asherah.

One of the real problems
with this story of Moses

as told in the Bible

is that it suggests that

the Israelites were
already united

in their belief in one God

before they even
reached Canaan.

And that's simply not borne out
in the archaeological record.

[narrator] The Israelites
worshipped deities of Canaan

and shared them with
the other tribes of the area.

Later, the
different tribes of Canaan

began to form nation-states.

Each kingdom took on
its own national god.

For the Israelites, that was
a son of El named Yahweh.

Over the five centuries
that followed,

the Israelite worship
of their god

split from its Canaanite roots.

The old gods and the old ways
were rejected.

The Israelites began
to worship one God alone.

It is possible there was
a holy chest

involved in the tribe's beliefs.

A remnant of earlier practices

but through the story of Moses,

was made part of
the Israelites' new religion.

The biblical story
of the Ark of the Covenant

gives the Israelites
an origin story,

complete with
a physical manifestation

to match
their new belief system.

[narrator]
Whether this physical ark

survived their journeys
from desert nomads

to settled city dwellers
is debatable.

But the idea of an ark,

that manifestation
of the Israelites

as a chosen people,

had to survive.

[Fern] It's this unifying,
incredibly sacred

symbol of power

that God gave
to the Israelite nation.

[narrator] The Ark of the
Covenant may still rest

in a dark and secret chamber
buried beneath the earth.

Or, it may have been
destroyed or stolen.

Nothing's been found that could
be identified conclusively

as the Biblical
Ark of the Covenant.

It may have existed
only as a symbol,

a sign and rallying call
of a people

that emerged from the desert

and created one of the most
powerful spiritual movements

the world has ever known.

[Karen] We may never find
the Ark itself.

And I'm not convinced
that's what really matters.

After all, to the Israelites,

the actual box
wasn't as important

as what it stood for.

That was the real Ark.

[Fern] Maybe it's not about
the stories and legends,

maybe the real quest
for the Ark

is our search for that
direct contact with God.

[narrator]
One thing is certain.

As long as there is hope
it is out there,

there will always be those
seeking the truth.

[epic music playing]