The Ark of the Covenant with golden staves carried by the priests, and seven priests with rams' horns, at the siege of Jericho, in an eighteenth-century artist's depiction. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Archeologists have discovered an ancient church in the ruins of the ancient biblical city of Shiloh.

The church, which dates to the fourth century C.E., is believed to have been built over the site where the Ark of the Covenant was once housed by the ancient Israelites, Israel Hayom reported.

The church was discovered by accident when archeological workers, who were digging a drainage ditch for rainwater, came across remarkably well-preserved mosaics.

Shiloh is an ancient biblical city located in the hills of Samaria that was the religious and cultural capital of Israel before Jerusalem. It is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible and also became an important center of worship during the early Christian period.

Today the area, known as Tel Shiloh, has become an important site for archeologists.