BASED ON EXODUS | THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

Religious teachings claim that the Ark contained the Ten Commandments received by Moses on Mount Sinai.

They also preach that the Ark rested on a square table and this latest find is being hailed as merging biblical teachings with archaeological evidence.

Archaeologists say it is strikingly similar to the mythical 'large stone' described in the First Book of Samuel.

It was used to hold up the Ark after it arrived at Beth Shemesh when it had returned to Israeli hands from the Philistines.

Excavations of the 12th century BC temple reveal it was subsequently plundered and 'intentionally desecrated' by the nearby Philistines who turned it into an animal pen.

The Ark of the Covenant has been sought for centuries by archaeologists, a search made famous by the fictional 1981 Steven Spielberg film Raiders of the Lost Ark.