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>> yes. >> when was the last time someone was kidnapped? >> yesterday night. >> yesterday night. >> okay. are you nervous, kids? okay. so why are we stopping? >> suddenly our driver pulled over in the middle of nowhere to have a chat with a local bedouin. it seems out here in the desert everyone knows one another and gossip travels fast. >> what does he say? >> he told me the road now until now its okay and dont worry and if anything happens contact us and well negotiate everything. dont worry. ...

A mountaintop in the center of the walled old city. it is a storied place, layered with spiritual meaning and now dominated by the golden dome and a muslim mosque. but just a short walk away outside the city walls a picture is emerging of the ancient and humble beginnings of jerusalem, which the bible says was founded by solomons father, david. >> the city of david was a rather small settlement, hardly can be termed as a city. most probably unfortified. but it was here somewhere. >> reporter: we...

To crush them. >> prophet david does win against the goliath. its not only about him but the underprivileged, the underdog. the weak is rendered victorious ultimately. >> reporter: according to the bible, davids triumph continued. he recaptured the ark of the covenant from the philistines. it had held the ten commandments. and he brought together the warring tribes of the 12 sons of jacob to form a nation. even today the flag of modern israel, founded 3,000 years after his reign, bears the symbo...

Pharaoh and names the cities that they were put to work in, and one of them is ramses. so its a real place. those kinds of clues make one think, well, maybe there really is something to placing this exodus in that time period. >> coming up -- did the red sea really part? and what was the root of the exodus? wait until you see what we discovered on our journey. when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. wait until you see what we wait until you see what we

You cannot dig anywhere in egypt and not find something. thats the truth. >> reporter: but bryan told us there was one place we might find a small clue as to what happened to the biblical israelites. so we left luxor and headed north to cairo. just across the street from tahrir square, the birthplace of egypts recent revolution, theres the egyptian museum, where you can find a treasure trove of ancient artifacts, among them one that may prove that once upon a time the ancient israelites were her...

Changing, and peoples ideas keep changing as a result of archaeology and historical study. >> so there are always surprises. >> there are always surprises. >> reporter: and thats exactly what bryan and her team have been finding. amidst the ruins of a temple that was used during the biblical time of moses. >> how significant is this dig? >> this is where the workers worked and also where they lived. because we have a temple over here but you also have to have things like bread making, beer makin...

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But akhenaten seems to think it was great. >> reporter: akhenaten was the pharaoh who built this city and his revolutionary ideas about just one god shook ancient egypt to its core. >> how are you? im christiane. >> im rahwiya. >> thats a nice name. what does it mean? >> its a classic arabic name. it means storyteller. >> youre aptly named for us. >> an egyptologist from cairo who spent years studying the ruins of amana. she says when akhenaten gave up the comfort of his palaces along the fertil...

But what really happened to the ark of the covenant? and can it be found? back to the beginning with christiane amanpour continues. even today the truth behind so many biblical stories that took place here in jerusalem is still captivatingly elusive. thats in part because so many answers may be buried underneath what today is a living, breathing city. its notoriously difficult to dig under the old city of jerusalem. >> its very difficult because its very sensitive. we are talking about holy pl...

>> the nation. this was the end of the first temple period. >> do we think that these tears, this mineral spring, has been running since then? >> well, i think its running since many, many years. for sure its more than 2,000 years old. >> and its really interesting because look, there are people here, there are people all over the place. its still a living, breathing place. >> reporter: which allows the people who visit to connect with their spiritual heritage. >> its important for us to touch t...