Graham Hancock's 'The Sign and the Seal'

A best-selling 1992 book in which journalist Graham Hancock argued that the Ark of the Covenant travelled from Jerusalem via Elephantine in Egypt and Lake Tana to Aksum, where it still lies.

1992 CE · 14.13, 38.72 · status: disputed

The account

Hancock had worked in Ethiopia in the 1980s and built his case on the Kebra Nagast, the Jewish temple at Elephantine and the Ethiopian tabot tradition. The book sparked documentaries and pilgrim interest in Aksum's Chapel of the Tablet.

The sceptical view

Reviewers classed it as pseudo-archaeology: it links real places and traditions with speculation, and the object in Aksum has never been seen by any independent scholar.

Connections in the atlas

• The Ark of the Covenant at Aksum

Sources

1. Wikipedia: The Sign and the Seal