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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. that's in part because so many answers may be buried underneath what today is a living, breathing city. it's notoriously difficult to dig under the old city of jerusalem. >> it's very difficult because it's very sensitive. we are talking about holy places of the three main monotheistic religions. >> so politically charged. >> it's so politically...

And nearby we met betsy bryan, an american archaeologist who's unearthing clues about this place and its people. >> all the digging that's gone on for the last several hundred years, has that enabled us to reach a conclusion about history, about even the biblical stories? >> well, i think that there's always a new conclusion. you know, the conclusions keep changing, and people's ideas keep changing as a result of archaeology and historical study. >> so there are always surprises. >> there are always surprises. >> reporter: and that's exactly what bryan and her team have been finding. amidst th...

Shouting to me? go. and moses lifts his hand, lifts the rod. and the sea splits. >> behold his mighty hand! >> reporter: the most famous image, of course, comes courtesy of hollywood. in "the ten commandments," starring charlton heston as moses. contrary to popular belief, the bible doesn't tell us exactly where this took place. and as we tried to follow the route, we came across several possibilities. first, we traveled under the suez canal through a tunnel, and then across the gulf of aqaba on a ferry. and the holiday destination of sharm el-sheikh we dipped our toes in the red sea itself. o...

>> 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 making. but surprise is that this year we started to get a lot of human beings. they are probably the people who actually worked here, the very poor people who are seemingly finding a place to bury their family members. >> i really can't believe what i'm seeing. how old is that? >> well, it's probably around 1700 b.c. >> just jump down. if you can. >> yep. >> reporter: call it beginner's luck, but graduate student katherine davis made this r...

>> it originally belonged to memta's father, the famed ramses the great. so was he the pharaoh that moses confronted? it's not fully proven, but the idea is backed up by the biblical account of the israelite slaves. >> if there was evidence of the exodus, would it make sense that it would be around the time of ramses? >> the bible speaks of slaves being put to work by a cruel pharaoh and names the cities that they were put to work in, and one of them is ramses. so it's a real place. those kinds of clues make one think, well, maybe there really is something to placing this exodus in that time p...