The Sign and the Seal is a very admirable attempt to track down the lost Ark of the Covenant. Hancock's research is excellent and he believes in his quest so much that he puts his life in danger at times. After reading this book I can safely say that if the Ark of the Covenant still exists then it is most likely in Axum, Ethiopia, as Hancock claims. There is a steady and persuasive line of evidence pointing directly to Ethiopia that only a true cynic would not take seriously. Prior to reading this book I doubted whether biblical characters like Moses, David and Solomon even existed, but I doubt that no longer. This is no fairy tale; there was an Ark, there was a Temple, and the Ark mysteriously disappeared from that Temple. For those interested in the Knights Templar, the militant monks of the Crusades, Hancock provides some interesting speculation regarding their involvement in seeking the Ark (most likely going all the way to Ethiopia to look for it). Any fan of history and archeology will love this book. Hancock is not without a sense of humor, knowing he would be compared to Indiana Jones and joking about it; he even admits that seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark inspired him to begin his own real-life quest. But unlike the Hollywood version, the actual search for the Ark is extremely difficult and leads to a rather ambiguous conclusion, but that does not mean that the journey was not fascinating!
