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Biblical Archaeology:
Gold of the Exodus
Howard Blum (journalist) has written the book The Gold of the Exodus about the the adventures of Bob Cornuke's and Larry Williams' quest for Mt. Sinai. Bob a former cop believes that Mt. Sinai is Jabal al Lawz in Saudi Arabia. In 1988 Bob along with Larry (a Wall Street millionaire) illegally entered Saudi Arabia to search for Mt. Sinai. Bob also believes in a different route for the exodus. He thinks that Moses crossed the Red Sea from the tip of the Sinai Peninsula across the gulf of Aqaba to Saudi Arabia. He thinks that Moses buried huge amounts of gold taken from the Egyptians at Jabel al Lawz. You can see a picture of Jabal al Lawz and his purposed route of the exodus at his web site:Mt Sinai - the Evidence - the Photographs.
First of all these amazing claims are not backed up by any solid evidence. If he has found a chariot wheel then let the experts examine it to see if it is Egyptian and what time it dates to. A wheel does not prove anything. There are also many altars and high places in the Middle East. An altar must be examined for what kind it is and time of use. More than a few large rock piles and rock carving are needed to prove that Jabal al Lawz is Mt. Sinai. Rock piles and carvings can be found all over the Sinai and Saudi Arabian deserts.
Cornuke claims that Jabal al Lawz is burnt at the top by the fire of God. It is true that the rocks on top are dark, but this is because they are basalt rocks with intrusive dikes of lighter color rocks, not because fire burnt them. The darkened mountain top may have given rise to the stories of Mt. Sinai.
There are a number of places that could be Mt. Sinai. We do not know for sure which mountain was Mt. Sinai. There are also a number of possible routes that the Israelites could have taken across the Sinai Peninsula. The amazing claims of Bob Cornuke demand amazing proofs which are sorely lacking in the book the Gold of the Exodus. No serious archaeologist would make these claims without proof (see BAR July/August 1999 Vol.25:4, 54-56). See Did Amateur Archaeologists Find the Real Mt. Sinai?