New technology might finally solve one of the greatest mysteries known to man and Hollywood
Could modern technology help solve the 2,600-year-old mystery of the Lost Ark of the Covenant? Archeologist Chris McKinny believes so, and unlike Indiana Jones, he’s not making it up as he goes along.“I’m not just grabbing a shovel and going to Jerusalem to dig for treasure,” he says.McKinny, an associate professor at the Lanier Center for Archeology at Lipscomb University in Tennessee, has studied biblical texts and history for years and determined that the Ark’s final resting place could be in Jerusalem beneath the City of David, just south of the Dome of the Rock.
His theory is discussed in detail in the recently released streaming documentary “Legends of the Lost Ark,” in which McKinny serves as host.The film explores the legends surrounding the Ark’s possible locations after it disappeared following the Babylonian sacking of Jerusalem in 586 BC.According to lore, the prophet Jeremiah went to great lengths to hide the Ark from invaders.
The most popular theory holds that he buried the artifact in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.The City of David, the heart of Jerusalem, is a key archeological hub, dating back over 3,000 years.It is where King David established his capital and is considered the birthplace of Jerusalem.
The Temple Mount is north of the City of David and is overseen by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a Jordanian-appointed religious trust.Despite all the excavation done in the surrounding areas, the Temple Mount remains, according to McKinny, an archeological mystery due to the difficulty of digging in such a sensitive area where the relics of historical eras are literally stacked on top of each other. “We’ve mapped huge portions of…the City of David.
We probably know more about Jerusalem’s archaeology than any other city on Earth, except maybe Rome and Athens,” McKinny says.“But the pinnacle, the reason people care in the first place, is the Temple Mount.
And there, we only have a few hours’ worth of observations from ...