"This is the explosive story of Professor Tudor Parfitt's twenty-year quest to find the lost Ark of the Covenant and his controversial discovery of what became of this sacred artefact." "According to the Bible, the Ark contained the ten commandments given to Moses, and possessed an awesome, divine power. Regarded as the holiest object in the world by the Jewish and Islamic faiths, the Ark suddenly disappeared from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem over 2,500 years ago and was lost to the world - apparently forever." "Acclaimed scholar and adventurer Tudor Parfitt embarked on an epic journey across the Middle East, the Pacific and Africa to find the lost Ark. The trail took him from ancient codes and documents in Oxford and Jerusalem to the legends of a strange tribe near the Limpopo river, and to ground-breaking discoveries in modern genetic science." "But some people didn't want the Ark to be found. In his travels, Parfitt was ambushed, trailed, shot at and narrowly escaped being kidnapped. His search finally led him to an ancient artefact identical to the biblical description of the ark." "In The Lost Ark of the Covenant, Tudor Parfitt succeeds in blending rigorous historical scholarship with all the twists and turns of a gripping detective novel. His incredible discovery will cause controversy amongst historians and academics, and could have a far-reaching effect on the Jewish and Islamic world."--Jacket.