Scripture says the Ark was built by the Israelites according to God’s instructions and dealt disaster to their enemies as they conquered the Holy Land. It would later be captured by the Philistines, but after afflicting them with a series of misfortunes, it was returned to the Israelites at Kirjathjearim, where it remained for some years. Archaeologists are now almost certain that the modern town of Kiryat Ye’arim is the same place.
Professor Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who is leading a dig at the site, said there were several factors identifying it as the place of biblical legend.
He said: “It fits the detailed description in Joshua of the border between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. There is no other site to fit this description.
“In Byzantine times, the historian Eusebius said that Kirjathjearim was nine or ten miles west of Jerusalem, which this site is.
“Also the name of the hill in Arabic – Deir el-Azar – preserves the name of the Byzantine monastery: the Monastery of Elazar.
“According to the Book of Samuel, Elazar was the priest in charge of the Ark.”
Along with his colleagues, Thomas Romer and Christophe Nicoll of the College de France, Professor Finkelstein has been digging at Kiryat Ye’arim since August 2017 as part of the Shmunis Family Excavation.
And though he has found no evidence of the Ark itself, he believes he can shed some light on its true nature.
Kirjathjearim straddled the border of two ancient kingdoms – Israel to the north and Judah to the south – with excavations suggesting the site was used by the former to control the latter.
Against this backdrop, Professor Finkelstein believes the Ark story was invented to give Kirjathjearim religious legitimacy as an administrative centre.
It also emphasises a fabled past when the two kingdoms were united under a single ruler, further legitimising ancient Israel’s rule over its southern neighbour.
He said: “We are not searching for the Ark.
“We are trying to understand the Ark Narrative: who composed it, when and why.
“The biblical narrative probably comes from the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and was seemingly composed in the first half of the 8th century BC.
“It probably served the ideological goals of the kingdom at the time, perhaps also its territorial aspirations, namely control over Judah.”
Lending weight to this theory is a huge platform discovered at the site.
Professor Finkelstein said: “Kirjathjearim was a typical hill country town, on a peak, with relatively steep slopes.
“But on the summit there was an elevated platform, which was probably the location of a temple.”
He believes Judah was too weak to have constructed the platform itself and thinks the likeliest builder was the occupying Northern Kingdom.
If he’s right, it would prove the kingdom’s influence over the site.
Biblical tradition says that the Ark was eventually brought from Kirjathjearim to Jerusalem, but disappeared when the city was destroyed by Babylonians in the sixth century BC.
Its whereabouts have been the subject of speculation since, with some saying it may have been melted down for gold, hidden on Mount Nebo, Jordan, or even taken to Africa.
