The Ark was known to have been in the First Temple hundreds of years after it was supposed to have been brought to Ethiopia. Ethiopians claim that the one in the Temple was a fake! Does that seem plausible? Or is it more likely that ancient Ethiopians may have had a copy?
An ancient copy would be almost as cool, but no one has produced one of those either.
Thanks jjotto for the interesting stuff about the Ark of the Covenant. My wild guess is (and has been) that the item in the Ethiopian shrine is just a pharaonic-era coffin from Egypt that had been set up as a tourist attraction at Elephantine.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2816298/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/arkofthecovenant/index