From an article by Wayne Francis in The Daily Mail - Dec 2004 IT IS a biblical tale which has inspired epic treasure hunts and Hollywood blockbusters. The legend of the Lost Ark of the Covenant - built at the behest of Moses. But now a self-styled archaeological detective believes he has traced it to a tiny village in England. - Author Graham Phillips says: "I'm tremendously excited about the discoveries. The research is ongoing but I believe our work will have a major impact on both Biblical study and English history" According to the Bible, the Ten Commandments were inscribed on two stone tablets that were given to Moses by God on top of Mount Sinai. They were placed in a fabulous golden chest - the Ark of the Covenant - kept in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem until it disappeared after the Babylonian invasion of the city in 597BC. Birmingharn-born Mr Phillips. 51, laughs off suggestions he is a real-life Indiana Jones, the film role played by Harrison Ford, in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He says: `Biblical scholars, archaeologists and adventurers have spent years searching for the last resting place of the Ark but until now its secret hiding place has remained one of history's most enduring mysteries." The Ark was discovered in a cave near the ruins of the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan by the Crusaders, The Knights Templar, in the 12th Century. Mr Phillips claims to have found evidence suggesting it was brought back to England when the Crusaders were defeated by the Saracens. He said: "The Knights Templar came from Temple Herdewyke in the English county of Warwickshire. Just before their descendants were wiped out by the Black Death in the 14th Century they left a series of strange paintings on the walls of a church in nearby Burton Dassett which seem tohave held clues to where they hid what thoy claimed to be the Ark" With two friends, _rock star Graham Russell who played in the band Air Supply, and his Hollywood actress wife Jodi, Mr Phillips has tracked down what he believes was the location revealed in these paintings to an old holy well by a road in the village of Napton-on-the-Hill in Warwickshire. "We have not yet managed to find the Ark but we did discover an inscribed stone slab which may have been one of the tablets contained. It was found by Jodi buried in the banks of a nearby stream," he said. "We think it got there when the area around the well was dug up to make way for a new road in the 1940s." About an inch thick, and a foot and a half long, the sandstone slab is inscribed with what appears to be 13 separate symbols. It is being examined by experts in America and so far the symbols have defied translation. But the discovery that it is made from a form of sandstone that comes from the mountain Mr Phillips identifies as Mount Sinai has excited academics. "If I am right then this tablet could have been one of those that Moses brought down from the mountain," said Mr Phillips. Speculation that the legendary gold chest could now be buried on English soil is the talk of academics and archaeologists around the world. Mr Phillips, conceding sceptics would dismiss his claims, said: "Archaeologists are wary of what I've got to say but historians are more open to my interpretations. "Academic opinion is split down the middle but I am very excited about our discoveries."