by Dave Franklin

Created on: January 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

The Ark of the Covenant, a symbol of ancient mystery and the very beginnings of the Hebrew nation, a religious icon, an enigma and a puzzle, as enticing as the search for Atlantis or the Holy Grail. But what is it? What is its significance? More importantly where is it? Whether your knowledge of the Ark is from the Bible or just from Indiana Jones movies its a name that resonates with a special significance, awe and reverence, but isn't a quest for such an item just a fools adventure, isn't it like trying to chain down a ghost of a memory? Well enough of the rhetoric and on to some more solid ground. Many books have covered this hallowed ground before and from every angle possible, religious, metaphysical, archaeological, scientific; is there any new approach to such an emotive and fluid subject matter? Well Laurence Gardner's book shows that new inroads are still to be found and whilst combining a lot of general information that can be found elsewhere he manages to break enough new ground to warrant the time and effort invested in this 400 page tome.

Gardner's credentials are solid for anyone writing such a book, historian, lecturer and broadcaster, closely connected with a number of renowned genealogical organisations and himself the official Jacobite Historiographer Royal and top selling author of a string of books of ancient lineages and royal family trees. He is schooled in fine art conservation, is a Knight Templar and his musical compositions have been performed in the London's Royal Opera House. Basically this is a man with connections that can get access to levels of knowledge that may be restricted from many other authors. That said though what we has produced here in "Lost Secrets of the Ark" is not some elitist work that requires a certain amount of prior knowledge or that needs to be taken on faith. Like his previous works we have an eminently readable, logical and well-presented combination of history, religion and science. Evidence is found to back up his theories and although like any new ideas springing from such subject matters they are just a new interpretation, there are some great ideas found within this work and with the introduction of modern scientific theories into the mix a startling and refreshingly contemporary theory is presented within.

Without giving too much away the book runs through a number of at first unconnected themes. Beginning with an understanding of the historical importance of the Sinai peninsular, the importance in

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