In the bible it says they built the AOC in the desert.

That's maybe not 100% true.

They took it with them when they left Egypt.

So now we have to separate out Ark symbolism.

Like we see with king Tut's tomb, and many other places around the world we can link with this Ark box idea.

But we also have the stories about the AOC, and how it is basically a communication device to talk with god.

There are likely several Arks. Not all of them are the same.

There should be only one AOC, and it's contents are known.