Archaeology and the Book of Mormon

Last updated

The Book of Mormon makes a variety of claims about the ancient Americas which have been discredited by archeological investigations. [1] Aside from containing a combination of technological, agricultural, and archeological anachronisms that were ubiquitous during the early 19th century and entirely absent in the ancient Americas, there is a complete lack of mainstream evidence for the major historical claims in the book. [2] [3] [4] [5] For example, The Book of Mormon claims that shortly after God's miraculous confusion of tongues as punishment for the Tower of Babel, a group called the Jaredites undertook a miraculous transoceanic voyage to the Americas. The book further claims to describe the events in America after the fall of Jerusalem around 600 BCE, describing the righteous light-skinned Nephites who ultimately die at the hand of the Lamanites, a people cursed with dark skin by God for their wickedness. None of these stories are taken to be even plausible by non-believers. [6]

Contents

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and other denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement teach that the Book of Mormon describes ancient historical events in the Americas. This view remains dominant in the Latter Day Saint movement, and Mormons have claimed various archaeological findings as giving credence to the Book of Mormon record. [7]

Book of Mormon origin

In the early 19th century United States, settlers encountered the remnant of ancient mounds, or earthenworks. Locals speculated about who had constructed the mounds, how they had arrived in the Americas, and what relationship they had to contemporary indigenous populations.

Joseph Smith, a young folk magic pracitioner, reported a vision of treasures buried by ancient Mound Builders near his family home in New York. In subsequent years, Smith claimed he had obtained the treasure, including a set of golden plates containing historical records and artifacts allowing the plates to be miraculuosly translated. Smith published an English-language volume titled "The Book of Mormon" which purported to be a historic record of the ancient Americas.

The Book of Mormon proposed to answer the questions of the day, explaining the transit of peoples to the Americas as a miraculous ocean voyage and narrating the destruction of mound builders at the hands of dark skinned Americans. Archaeology has since concluded the mound wete constructive by a diverse set of ancient Native Americans, not a distinct culture or people.

Founding a church and becoming its "Prophet, Seer, and Revelatory", Smith later began issuing statements he claimed were authored directly by God, without relying on claims of plates or artifacts

Modern archaeology

Humans have inhabited the Americas since at least 13,000 years ago. [8] However, evidence of pre-Clovis cultures has accumulated and pushed back the possible date of the first peopling of the Americas. [9] [10] [11] [12] Academics generally believe that humans reached North America south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at some point between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago. [13] [9] [14] [15] [16] [17] Archaeological sites in the Americas are all compatible with an age of about 15,000 years. This includes the Buttermilk Creek Complex in Texas, [18] the Meadowcroft Rockshelter site in Pennsylvania and the Monte Verde site in southern Chile. [19] Archaeological evidence of pre-Clovis people points to the South Carolina Topper Site being 16,000 years old.

The Mound Builder Myth

The Book of Mormon is considered by many historians to fall into the Mound Builder genre. The genre began when American colonists reached the former lands of the Hopewell tradition in the early 19th century. Speculation about the origin, identity, and fate of the mounds creators led to myths about Mound Builders.

Publications that speculated or repeated the Mound Builder myth are collectively known as the "Mound Builder" genre, which was ubiquitous during the nineteenth century. [20] These origin myths often attributed the ruins to Vikings, the Welsh prince Madoc, Atlantis, giants, or ancient Israelites. The interest in ancient Israelites is notable because it revived the much older Jewish Indian theory, a theory also reflected in the Book of Mormon. Similar speculation occurred earlier in Spanish-speaking regions of the Western Hemisphere, but these had little influence on the Mound Builder myth due to a lack of available translations.

The earliest investigations of Hopewell ruins were demolitions by farmers and treasure hunters funded by speculators. Notably, Joseph Smith, was employed as a treasure-hunter in the 1820s, digging in the Hopewell ruins located in upstate New York.

The Mound Builder myth was also important because it contributed to the development of modern professional archeology. Some early attempts to systematically survey the formations were made as early as 1820, [21] with a much more sophisticated survey produced in 1848 by Davis and Squier. [22] The 1848 book was a milestone in the technical development of the modern field of archeology. [23] By 1890, scientific consensus had overwhelmingly identified the extant Native Americans as the true descendants of the Hopewell tradition. [24]

Anachronisms and archaeological findings

Critics of the Book of Mormon hold that certain words and phrases in the book are anachronistic with archaeological findings. These relate to artifacts, animal, plant, or technology that critics believe did not exist in the Americas during the Book of Mormon time period (before 2500 BC to about 400 AD). The list below summarizes a few of the anachronistic criticisms in the Book of Mormon, as well as some of the most notable perspectives by Mormon apologists.

Horses

The Book of Mormon mentions horses in five incidences, and are portrayed as being in the forest upon first arrival of the Nephites, "raise(d)", "fed", "prepared" (in conjunction with chariots), used for food, and being "useful unto man". [25] Horses in the Americas are considered to have become extinct between 10,000 and 7,600 years ago, [26] [27] [28] and did not reappear there until the Spaniards brought them from Europe. Horses were re-introduced to the Americas (Caribbean) by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and to the American continent by Cortés in 1519. [29]

Elephants

Elephants are mentioned once in the earliest Book of Mormon record c. 2500 BC in the Book of Ether. Critics argue that the archaeological record suggests that all elephant-like creatures became extinct in the New World around 10,000 BC. The source of this extinction is speculated to be the result of human predation, a significant climate change, or a combination of both factors. [30] [31] Recent eDNA research of sediments indicates mammoths survived until at least 6600 BC in North America. [32] A small population of mammoths survived on St. Paul Island, Alaska, up until 3700 BC. [33] A study of Alaskan permafrost suggests Woolly mammoths survived on mainland North America until around 5000 years ago. [34]

Cattle and cows

Llamas and alpacas are the only large mammals known to have been domesticated in the Americas. Llama, peru, machu picchu.jpg
Llamas and alpacas are the only large mammals known to have been domesticated in the Americas.

There are five separate incidences of "cows" or "cattle" in the New World in the Book of Mormon, including verbiage that they were "raise(d)" and were "for the use of man" or "useful for the food of man", [35] and indicates that "cattle" and "cows" were not considered the same animal. [36] While the Book of Mormon may follow the common biblical precedent of referring to all domesticated animals as "cattle", there is no evidence that Old World cattle (members of the genus Bos ) inhabited the New World prior to European contact in the 16th century AD. [37] Further, there is currently no archaeological evidence of American bison having been domesticated. [38] It is widely accepted that the only large mammals to be domesticated in the Americas were the llama and the alpaca and that no species of goats, deer, or sheep were fully domesticated before the arrival of the Europeans to the continent.

Sheep

"Sheep" are mentioned in the Book of Mormon metaphorically at various places in the Nephite record [39] but are conspicuously absent in the list of animals observed in the New World upon the arrival of the Nephites. [40] In one instance sheep are described as being possessed by the Jaredites in the Americas at c. 2300 BC. [41] Another verse mentions "lamb-skin" worn by enemy armies of robbers about their loins (c. 21 AD). [42] However, domesticated sheep are known to have been first introduced to the Americas during the second voyage of Columbus in 1493. [43]

Goats

Brocket deer: Some Mormon apologists believe that "goat" in the Book of Mormon refers to brocket deer in order to explain the apparent anachronism. Mazama americana.jpg
Brocket deer: Some Mormon apologists believe that "goat" in the Book of Mormon refers to brocket deer in order to explain the apparent anachronism.

"Goats" are mentioned three times in the Book of Mormon [44] placing them among the Nephites and the Jaredites (i.e., between 2500 BC and 400 AD). In two of the verses, "goats" are distinguished from "wild goats", indicating that there were at least two varieties, one of them possibly domesticated.

Domesticated goats are known to have been introduced on the American continent by Europeans in the 15th century, [43] 1000 years after the conclusion of the Book of Mormon, and nearly 2000 years after goats are last mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The aggressive mountain goat is indigenous to North America. There is no evidence that it was ever domesticated. Mormon Apologist Matthew Roper has countered these claims, pointing out that 16th-century Spanish friars used the word "goat" to refer to native Mesoamerican brocket deer. [45] There is no evidence that brocket deer were ever domesticated.

Swine

A collared peccary Collared peccary02 - melbourne zoo.jpg
A collared peccary

"Swine" are referred to twice in the Book of Mormon, [46] [47] and states that the swine were "useful for the food of man" among the Jaredites. [47] There have not been any remains, references, artwork, tools, or any other evidence suggesting that swine were ever present in the pre-Columbian New World. [48]

Apologists note that peccaries (also known as javelinas), which bear a resemblance to pigs and are in the same subfamily Suinae as swine, have been present in South America since prehistoric times. [49] Mormon authors advocating the original mound-builder setting for the Book of Mormon have similarly suggested North American peccaries (also called "wild pigs") [50] as the "swine" of the Jaredites. [51] The earliest scientific description of peccaries in the New World in Brazil in 1547 referred to them as "wild pigs". [52]

Though it has not been documented that peccaries were bred in captivity, it has been documented that peccaries were tamed, penned, and raised for food and ritual purposes in the Yucatán, Panama, the southern Caribbean, and Columbia at the time of the Conquest. [53] Archaeological remains of peccaries have been found in Mesoamerica from the Preclassic (or Formative) period up until immediately before Spanish contact. [54] Specifically, peccary remains have been found at Early Formative Olmec civilization sites, [55] which civilization Mormon apologists correlate to the Book of Mormon Jaredites.

Barley and wheat

Wheat was domesticated in the Old World and was introduced on the American continent by Europeans. Wheat close-up.JPG
Wheat was domesticated in the Old World and was introduced on the American continent by Europeans.

"Barley" is mentioned three times and "wheat" once in the Book of Mormon narrative with the ground being "tilled" to plant barley and wheat at one geographical location, in the 1st and 2nd century BC according to Book of Mormon chronology. [56] The introduction of domesticated modern barley and wheat to the New World was made by Europeans after 1492. [57] The Book of Mormon claims that non-specific "seeds" were brought from the land of Jerusalem and planted on arrival in the New World and produced a successful yield. [58] To date, the existing evidence suggests that the introduction of Old World flora and fauna to the American continent happened during the Columbian exchange. [59]

Silk

The Book of Mormon mentions the use of "silk" in the New World four times. [60] "Silk" ordinarily refers to material that is created from the cocoon of one of several Asian moths, predominantly Bombyx mori ; this type of silk was unknown in pre-Columbian America.

Mormon scholar John L. Sorenson documents several materials which were used in Mesoamerica to make fine cloth equivalent to silk, some of which the Spanish actually called "silk" upon their arrival, including the fiber (kapok) from the seed pods of the ceiba tree, the cocoons of wild moths, the fibers of silkgrass (Achmea magdalenae), the leaves of the wild pineapple plant, and the fine hair of the underbelly of rabbits. [61] He alleges that the inhabitants of Mexico used the fiber spun by a wild silkworm to create a fabric. [62]

The Aztecs used a silk material taken from nests made by two indigenous insects, the moth Eucheira socialis and the butterfly Gloveriapsidii. [63] [64] The nests were cut and pieced together to make a fabric, rather than extracting and spinning the fiber as in modern silk. Spinning of silk from what are thought to be the same insects has been reported in more recent times, though its use in pre-Columbian times has been debated. [65]

Old World artifacts and products

Chariots or wheeled vehicles

Chariots depicted in a Sumerian relief c. 2500 BC. Evidence of wheeled vehicles has not been found in the Americas. Standard of Ur chariots.jpg
Chariots depicted in a Sumerian relief c. 2500 BC. Evidence of wheeled vehicles has not been found in the Americas.

The Book of Mormon contains two accounts of "chariots" being used in the New World. [66]

There is no archaeological evidence of wheeled vehicles in any part of the pre-Columbian Americas. Clark Wissler, the Curator of Ethnography at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, noted: "we see that the prevailing mode of land transport in the New World was by human carrier. The wheel was unknown in pre-Columbian times." [67]

Iron and steel

Aztec warriors brandishing maquahuitl, which are made of stone. From the 16th-century Florentine Codex, Vol. IX. Florentine Codex IX Aztec Warriors.jpg
Aztec warriors brandishing maquahuitl, which are made of stone. From the 16th-century Florentine Codex, Vol. IX.

"Steel" and "iron" are mentioned several times in the Book of Mormon. [68] A bow constructed from steel is described as being used in the Old World, however the necessary spring steel was not invented until the 18th century. [69]

The Book of Mormon also makes numerous references to swords made in the New World, and their use in battle. [70] When the remnants of the Jaredites' final battle were discovered, the Book of Mormon narrative states that some swords were collected and "the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust." [71] No evidence of Pre-Columbian iron smelting has ever been found anywhere in the Western Hemisphere and all examples of iron artifacts are fabricated from meteoric iron.[ citation needed ]

Between 2004 and 2007, a Purdue University archaeologist, Kevin J. Vaughn, discovered a 2000-year-old hematite mine near Nazca, Peru. Although hematite is today mined as an iron ore, Vaughn believes that the hematite was then being mined for use as red pigment. There are also numerous excavations that included iron minerals. [72] He noted:

Even though ancient Andean people smelted some metals, such as copper, they never smelted iron like they did in the Old World …. Metals were used for a variety of tools in the Old World, such as weapons, while in the Americas, metals were used as prestige goods for the wealthy elite. [73]

Cimeters

"Cimeters" are mentioned in eight instances in the Book of Mormon stretching from approximately 500 BC to 51 BC. [74] Critics argue this existed hundreds of years before the term "scimitar" was coined. The word "cimiter" is considered an anachronism since the word was never used by the Hebrews (from which the Book of Mormon peoples came) or any other civilization prior to 450 AD. [75] The word 'cimeterre' is found in the 1661 English dictionary Glossographia and is defined as "a crooked sword" and was part of the English language at the time that the Book of Mormon was translated. [76] In the 7th century, scimitars generally first appeared among the Turko- Mongol nomads of Central Asia however a notable exception was the sickle sword of ancient Egypt known as the khopesh [77] which was used from 3000 BC and is found on the Rosetta Stone dated to 196 BC. Eannatum, the king of Lagash, is shown on a Sumerian stele from 2500 BC equipped with a sickle sword. [78]

Apologists Michael R. Ash and William Hamblin postulate that the word was chosen by Joseph Smith as the closest workable English word for a short curved weapon used by the Nephites. [79] Mormon scholar Matthew Roper has noted there are a variety of weapons with curved blades found in Mesoamerica. [80]

System of exchange based on measures of grain using precious metals as a standard

The Book of Mormon details a system of measures used by the societies described therein. [81] No form of fiat currency, such as measures of gold for grain as described in the Book of Mormon, is known to have existed in any pre-Columbian culture. The vast majority of ancient Native American economies were gift economies, which do not use any form of currency and instead rely on reciprocal exchanges governed by social goodwill. Limited use of commodity currencies existed in large empires, such as in Mesoamerica where cacao beans were sometimes used. [82]

Knowledge of Hebrew and Egyptian languages

The "Caractors document", which shows characters purportedly transcribed from the golden plates (the source of the Book of Mormon). These characters are claimed to be from an unknown language called reformed Egyptian. Caractors document, by John Whitmer - Church History Museum - 25 March 2024.jpg
The "Caractors document", which shows characters purportedly transcribed from the golden plates (the source of the Book of Mormon). These characters are claimed to be from an unknown language called reformed Egyptian.

The Book of Mormon describes more than one literate people inhabiting ancient America. The Nephite people are described as possessing a language and writing with roots in Hebrew and Egyptian, and writing part of the original text of the Book of Mormon in this unknown language, called reformed Egyptian. A transcript of some of the characters of this language has been preserved in what had previously been erroneously identified as the "Anthon Transcript" but is now known as the "Caractors document".

Fifteen examples of distinct scripts have been identified in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many from a single inscription. [83] While Maya contains cartouches and is a form of hieroglyphic script like Egyptian, no further resemblance to Hebrew or Egyptian hieroglyphs has been identified. Additionally, many professional linguists and Egyptologists do not consider the Characters document to contain legitimate ancient writing. Edward H. Ashment called the characters of the transcript "hieroglyphics of the Micmac Indians of northeastern North America". [84]

The Smithsonian Institution has noted, "Reports of findings of ancient Egyptian Hebrew, and other Old World writings in the New World in pre-Columbian contexts have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines, and sensational books. None of these claims has stood up to examination by reputable scholars. No inscriptions using Old World forms of writing have been shown to have occurred in any part of the Americas before 1492 except for a few Norse rune stones which have been found in Greenland." [85]

Linguistic studies on the evolution of the spoken languages of the Americas agree with the widely held model that Homo sapiens arrived in America between 14,000 and 12,000 years ago. [86]

Systems of measuring time (calendars)

Most North American tribes relied upon a calendar of 13 months, relating to the annual number of lunar cycles. Seasonal rounds and ceremonies were performed each moon. Months were counted in the days between phase cycles of the moon. Calendar systems in use in North America during this historical period relied on this simple system. [87]

One of the more distinctive features shared among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations is the use of an extensive system of inter-related calendars. The epigraphic and archaeological record for this practice dates back at least 2,500 years, by which time it appears to have been well-established. [88] The most widespread and significant of these calendars was the 260-day calendar, formed by combining 20 named days with 13 numerals in successive sequence (13 × 20 = 260). [89] Another system of perhaps equal antiquity is the 365-day calendar, approximating the solar year, formed from 18 "months" × 20 named days + 5 additional days. These systems and others are found in societies of that era such as the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixe-Zoque, Mixtec, and Maya (whose system of Maya calendars are widely regarded as the most intricate and complex among them) reflected the vigesimal (base 20) numeral system and other numbers, such as 7, 9, 13, and 19. [90]

Latter-day Saints and Book of Mormon archaeology

Early activities

In the early 1840s, John Lloyd Stephens' two-volume work Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan was seen by some church members as an essential guide to the ruins of Book of Mormon cities. In the fall of 1842, an article appearing in the church's Times and Seasons alleged that the ruins of Quiriguá, discovered by Stephens, may be the very ruins of Zarahemla or some other Book of Mormon city. [91] Other articles followed, including one published shortly after the death of Joseph Smith. Every Latter Day Saint was encouraged to read Stephens' book and to regard the stone ruins described in it as relating to the Book of Mormon. [92] It is now believed that these Central American ruins date more recent than Book of Mormon times. [93]

In recent years, there have been differing views among Book of Mormon scholars, particularly between the scholars and the "hobbyists". [94]

New World Archaeological Foundation

From the mid-1950s onwards, New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF), based out of Brigham Young University, has sponsored archaeological excavations in Mesoamerica, with a focus on the Mesoamerican time period known as the Preclassic (earlier than c. AD 200). [95] The results of these and other investigations, while producing valuable archaeological data, have not led to any widespread acceptance by non-Mormon archaeologists of the Book of Mormon account. In 1973, citing the lack of specific New World geographic locations to search, Michael D. Coe, a prominent Mesoamerican archaeologist and professor emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University, wrote,

As far as I know there is not one professionally trained archaeologist, who is not a Mormon, who sees any scientific justification for believing the historicity of the Book of Mormon, and I would like to state that there are quite a few Mormon archaeologists who join this group. [96]

In 1955, Thomas Stuart Ferguson, an attorney and the founder of the NWAF, received five years of funding from the LDS Church and the NWAF then began to dig throughout Mesoamerica for evidence of the veracity of the Book of Mormon claims. In a 1961 newsletter, Ferguson predicted that although nothing had been found, the Book of Mormon cities would be found within 10 years. The NWAF became part of BYU in 1961 and Ferguson was removed from the director position.

Eleven years after Ferguson was no longer affiliated with the NWAF, in 1972 Christian scholar Hal Hougey wrote Ferguson questioning the progress given the stated timetable in which the cities would be found. [97] Replying to Hougey, as well as other secular and non-secular requests, Ferguson wrote in a letter dated 5 June 1972: "Ten years have passed …. I had sincerely hoped that Book-of-Mormon cities would be positively identified within 10 years—and time has proved me wrong in my anticipation." [97]

In 1976, fifteen years removed from any archaeological involvement with the NWAF, referring to his own paper, Ferguson wrote a letter in which he stated:

The real implication of the paper is that you can't set the Book-of-Mormon geography down anywhere—because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archaeology. I should say—what is in the ground will never conform to what is in the book. [98]

Though the NWAF failed to establish a common belief of a specific Book of Mormon geographic location, the archaeological investigations of NWAF-sponsored projects were a success for ancient American archaeology in general which has been recognized and appreciated by non-Mormon archaeologists. [96] Currently BYU maintains 86 documents on the work of the NWAF at the BYU NWAF website; [99] these documents are used outside both BYU and the LDS Church by researchers.

Efforts to correlate artifacts

Izapa Stela 5

In the early 1950s, M. Wells Jakeman of the BYU Department of Archaeology suggested that a complicated scene carved on Stela 5 in Izapa was a depiction of a Book of Mormon event called "Lehi's dream", which features a vision of the tree of life. [100] This interpretation is disputed by other Mormon and non-Mormon scholars. [101] Julia Guernsey Kappelman, author of a definitive work on Izapan culture, finds that Jakeman's research "belies an obvious religious agenda that ignored Izapa Stela 5's heritage". [102]

Other artifacts

Sorenson claims that one artifact, La Venta Stela 3, depicts a person with Semitic features ("striking beard and beaked nose"). [103] Mormon researchers such as Robin Heyworth have claimed that Copan Stela B depicts elephants; [104] [105] others such as Alfred M Tozzer and Glover M Allen claim it depicts macaws. [106] [107]

Modern approach and conclusions

An example of the mainstream archaeological opinion of Mormon archaeology is summarized by historian and journalist Hampton Sides:

Yale's Michael Coe likes to talk about what he calls "the fallacy of misplaced concreteness," the tendency among Mormon theorists like Sorenson to keep the discussion trained on all sorts of extraneous subtopics … while avoiding what is most obvious: that Joseph Smith probably meant "horse" when he wrote down the word "horse". [108]

Organizational statements regarding the Book of Mormon

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Gospel Topics essays section of the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has two essays titled "Book of Mormon and DNA Studies" [109] and "Book of Mormon Translation". [110] In them, the church affirms the literal historicity of the Book of Mormon. In the essay on DNA studies, the church argues for "a more careful approach to the data," and states that "much work remains to be done to fully understand the origins of the native populations of the Americas." Meanwhile, in the essay on the Book of Mormon's translation, the church affirms that "the Book of Mormon came into the world through a series of miraculous events."

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Coe 1973 , pp. 41–42: "Let me now state uncategorically that as far as I know there is not one professionally trained archaeologist, who is not a Mormon, who sees any scientific justification for believing [the historicity of The Book of Mormon], and I would like to state that there are quite a few Mormon archaeologists who join this group"
  2. ↑ Abanes 2003 , pp. 74–77
  3. ↑ Wolverton 2004 , pp. 84–85
  4. ↑ Persuitte 2000 , p. 102
  5. ↑ "Does Archaeology Support The Book Of Mormon?". Mormons in Transition web site. Institute for Religious Research . Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Implausible Beliefs". 2017-07-05. doi:10.4324/9780203788967.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ Priddis 1975; see RLDS D&C 110:20 Archived 2018-09-29 at the Wayback Machine , were advanced by RLDS members: Hills 1917; Hills 1918; Hills 1924, and Gunsolley 1922
  8. ↑ Surovell, T. A.; Allaun, S. A.; Gingerich, J. A. M.; Graf, K. E.; Holmes, C. D. (2022). "Late Date of human arrival to North America". PLOS ONE. 17 (4): e0264092. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264092 . PMC   9020715 . PMID   35442993.
  9. 1 2 Yasinski, Emma (2022-05-02). "New Evidence Complicates the Story of the Peopling of the Americas". The Scientist Magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  10. ↑ Ardelean, Ciprian F.; Becerra-Valdivia, Lorena; Pedersen, Mikkel Winther; Schwenninger, Jean-Luc; Oviatt, Charles G.; Macías-Quintero, Juan I.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin; Sikora, Martin; Ocampo-Díaz, Yam Zul E.; Rubio-Cisneros, Igor I.; Watling, Jennifer G.; De Medeiros, Vanda B.; De Oliveira, Paulo E.; Barba-Pingarón, Luis; Ortiz-Butrón, Agustín; Blancas-Vázquez, Jorge; Rivera-González, Irán; Solís-Rosales, Corina; Rodríguez-Ceja, María; Gandy, Devlin A.; Navarro-Gutierrez, Zamara; de la Rosa-Díaz, Jesús J.; Huerta-Arellano, Vladimir; Marroquín-Fernández, Marco B.; Martínez-Riojas, L. Martin; López-Jiménez, Alejandro; Higham, Thomas; Willerslev, Eske (2020). "Evidence of human occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum". Nature. 584 (7819): 87–92. Bibcode:2020Natur.584...87A. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2509-0. PMID   32699412. S2CID   220697089.
  11. ↑ Becerra-Valdivia, Lorena; Higham, Thomas (2020). "The timing and effect of the earliest human arrivals in North America". Nature. 584 (7819): 93–97. Bibcode:2020Natur.584...93B. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2491-6. PMID   32699413. S2CID   220715918.
  12. ↑ Gruhn, Ruth (22 July 2020). "Evidence grows that peopling of the Americas began more than 20,000 years ago". Nature. 584 (7819): 47–48. Bibcode:2020Natur.584...47G. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02137-3. PMID   32699366. S2CID   220717778.
  13. ↑ Null (2022-06-27). "Peopling of the Americas". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  14. ↑ Spencer Wells (2006). Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project. National Geographic Books. pp. 222–. ISBN   978-0-7922-6215-2. OCLC   1031966951.
  15. ↑ John H. Relethford (17 January 2017). 50 Great Myths of Human Evolution: Understanding Misconceptions about Our Origins. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 192–. ISBN   978-0-470-67391-1. OCLC   1238190784.
  16. ↑ H. James Birx, ed. (10 June 2010). 21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook. SAGE Publications. ISBN   978-1-4522-6630-5. OCLC   1102541304.
  17. ↑ John E Kicza; Rebecca Horn (3 November 2016). Resilient Cultures: America's Native Peoples Confront European Colonialization 1500-1800 (2 ed.). Routledge. ISBN   978-1-315-50987-7.
  18. ↑ Kaplan, Sarah (October 24, 2018). "Continent's oldest spear points provide new clues about the first Americans". Washington Post.
  19. ↑ Dillehay, Thomas (2000). The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory. New York: Basic Books. ISBN   978-0-465-07669-7.
  20. ↑
    • Robert Silverberg, Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1968). pp. 94
    • Curtis Dahl, "Mound-Builders, Mormons, and William Cullen Bryant", The New England Quarterly , vol. 34, no. 2, June 1961, pp. 178–90 ("Undoubtedly the most famous and certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature is the Book of Mormon (1830)). Whether one wishes to accept it as divinely inspired or the work of Joseph Smith, it fits exactly into the tradition. Despite its pseudo-Biblical style and its general inchoateness, it is certainly the most imaginative and best sustained of the stories about the Mound-Builders" (at p. 187)
    • Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (rev. ed., New York: Knopf, 1971) p. 36.
  21. ↑ Lynott, Mark (December 2006). "Excavation of the East Embankment Wall, Hopewell Mound Group: A Preliminary Report" (PDF). The Newsletter of Hopewell Archeology in the Ohio River Valley. 7 (1). Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  22. ↑ Squier; Davis, Edwin Hamilton (1848). Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.
  23. ↑ "A Brief History of the Hopewell Culture". Hopewell Culture. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  24. ↑ Thomas, Cyrus (1890). Report on the Mount Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  25. ↑ 1 Nephi 18:25, Enos 1:21, Alma 18:9,10,12, Alma 20:6, 3 Nephi 3:22, 3 Nephi 4:4, and Ether 9:19.
  26. ↑ Vila, C.; et al. (2001). "Widespread Origins of Domestic Horse Lineages" (PDF). Science . 291 (5503): 474–477. Bibcode:2001Sci...291..474V. doi:10.1126/science.291.5503.474. PMID   11161199. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  27. ↑ Luís, Cristina; et al. (2006). "Iberian Origins of New World Horse Breeds". Quaternary Science Reviews. 97 (2): 107–113. doi: 10.1093/jhered/esj020 . PMID   16489143.
  28. ↑ Haile, James; et al. (2009). "Ancient DNA reveals late survival of mammoth and horse in interior Alaska". PNAS. 106 (52): 22352–22357. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10622352H. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0912510106 . PMC   2795395 . PMID   20018740.
  29. ↑ Singer, Ben. "A brief history of the horse in America; Horse phylogeny and evolution". Canadian Geographic Magazine. Archived from the original on October 29, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  30. ↑ Diamond 1999
  31. ↑ Sharon Levy, "Mammoth Mystery, Did Climate Changes Wipe Out North America's Giant Mammals, Or Did Our Stone Age Ancestors Hunt Them To Extinction?" Onearth, Winter 2006, pp15-19
  32. ↑ Wang, Yuchang; Pedersen, M.W.; Alsos, I.G.; et a (October 20, 2021). "Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics". Nature. 600 (7887): 86–92. Bibcode:2021Natur.600...86W. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04016-x. PMC   8636272 . PMID   34671161. S2CID   239051880.
  33. ↑ Kristine J. Crossen, "5,700-Year-Old Mammoth Remains from the Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Last Outpost of North America Megafauna", Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Volume 37, Number 7, (Geological Society of America, 2005), 463
  34. ↑ Cameron Duke (2021-12-22). "Woolly mammoths survived on mainland North America until 5,000 years ago, DNA reveals". livescience.com. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  35. ↑ Enos1:21, 1 Nephi18:25, Ether9:18
  36. ↑ Ether9:18
  37. ↑ Martínez, AM; Gama, LT; Cañón, J; et al. (2012). "Genetic footprints of Iberian cattle in America 500 years after the arrival of Columbus". PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e49066. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...749066M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049066 . PMC   3498335 . PMID   23155451.
  38. ↑ Diamond 1999 , pp. 165, 167–68
  39. ↑ Mosiah 14:5-7, Mosiah 15:6, Mosiah 26:20-21, Alma 5:37-39, 59-60, Alma 25:12, Helaman 15:13, 3 Nephi 14:15, 3 Nephi 15:17, 21, 24, 3 Nephi 16:1, 3, 3 Nephi 18:31, 3 Nephi 20:16, 3 Nephi 21:12
  40. ↑ 1 Nephi 18:25
  41. ↑ Ether 9:18
  42. ↑ 3 Nephi4:7
  43. 1 2 Michael Francis, John, ed. (2006). "Columbian Exchange—Livestock". Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 303–308. ISBN   978-1-85109-421-9.
  44. ↑ 1 Ne. 18: 25, Enos 1: 21, Ether 9: 18.
  45. ↑ Matthew Roper (2006). "Deer as "Goat" and Pre-Columbian Domesticate". Insights . 26 (6). Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  46. ↑ 3 Nephi 14:6
  47. 1 2 Ether 9:17–18
  48. ↑ John J. Mayer and I Lehr Brisbin, Jr. Wild Pigs in the United States: Their History, Comparative Morphology, and Current Status (1991, University of Georgia Press).
  49. ↑ Gongora, J., and C. Moran. 2005. "Nuclear and mitochondrial evolutionary analyses of Collared, White-lipped, and Chacoan peccaries (Tayassuidae)." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; 34: 181–89.
  50. ↑ S.v. "peccary", The New Columbia Encyclopedia.
  51. ↑ Phyllis Carol Olive, Lost Lands of the Book of Mormon, 83
  52. ↑ Donkin, R.A. (1985). "The Peccary -- With Observations on the Introduction of Pigs to the New World". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 75 (5): 3. doi:10.2307/1006340. JSTOR   1006340.
  53. ↑ Donkin, R.A. (1985). "The Peccary -- With Observations on the Introduction of Pigs to the New World". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 75 (5): 30,35–39. doi:10.2307/1006340. JSTOR   1006340.
  54. ↑ Donkin, R.A. (1985). "The Peccary -- With Observations on the Introduction of Pigs to the New World". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 75 (5): 29. doi:10.2307/1006340. JSTOR   1006340.
  55. ↑ Venderwarker, Amber M. (2006). Farming, Hunting, and Fishing in the Olmec World. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. pp. 125–127, 131. ISBN   978-0-292-72624-6.
  56. ↑ See Alma 11: 7, 15; Mosiah 7: 22; Mosiah 9: 9.
  57. ↑ John A. Price, "The Book of Mormon vs Anthropological Prehistory," The Indian Historian 7 (Summer, 1974): 35-40. Quotes:
    • "The aboriginal New World did not have wheat, barley, cows, oxen..."
    • "No Native Americans made grape wine or wheat bread..."
    • "The Jaredites and Nephites are portrayed as having plow agriculture and wheat and barley" [...] "but nothing remotely resembling this kind of culture has ever been found, either archaeologically or ethnographically, in the aboriginal New World."
  58. ↑ 1 Nephi 18:6, 24
  59. ↑ "The Exchange of Plant and Animal Species Between the New World and Old World | Encyclopedia.com". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  60. ↑ Alma 1:29, Alma 4:6, Ether 9:17, Ether 10:24.
  61. ↑ Sorenson, John L. (2013). Mormon's Codex. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book. pp. 346–347.
  62. ↑ Sorenson, John L (March 1995). "A New Evaluation of the Smithsonian Institution "Statement regarding the Book of Mormon"". Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Archived from the original on 2018-09-03. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
  63. ↑ Hogue, Charles Leonard (1993). Latin American insects and entomology . Berkeley: University of California Press. pp.  328. ISBN   978-0-520-07849-9. OCLC   25164105.
  64. ↑ Brown, Thomas (1832). The Book of Butterflies, Sphinxes, and Moths: Illustrated by Ninety-six Engravings Coloured After Nature. Whittaker, Treacher. pp. 65–66.
  65. ↑ de Avila, Alejandro (1997). Klein, Kathryn (ed.). The Unbroken Thread: Conserving the Textile Traditions of Oaxaca (PDF). Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute. p. 125. Borah (1943:102—14) proposed that indigenous weavers began to use wild silk only after sericulture, brought from Europe, began to wane. However, a document dating from 1777 describes the excavation of a Pre-columbian burial in which textiles of wild silk, cotton, and feathers were found
  66. ↑ Alma18:9-10,12, Alma20:6, 3 Nephi3:22
  67. ↑ Wissler, Clark. The American Indian, pp. 32–39, as quoted in Roberts 1992 , pp. 99
  68. ↑ See 1 Nephi16:18, 2 Nephi5:15, Jarom1:8, Ether7:9
  69. ↑ "The History of Springs | Coiling Technologies, Inc".
  70. ↑ 2 Nephi5:14
  71. ↑ Mosiah8:11
  72. ↑ Pierre Agrinier (2000). "Mound 27 and the Middle Preclassic Period at Mirador, Chiapas, Mexico". Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation. Provo, Utah: New World Archaeological Foundation . Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  73. ↑ "Archaeologist 'Strikes Gold' With Finds Of Ancient Nasca Iron Ore Mine In Peru". Sciencedaily.com. 2008-02-03. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  74. ↑ Enos 1:20, Mosiah 9:16, Mosiah 10:8, Alma 2:12, Alma 27:29, Alma 43:18, 20, 37, Alma 44:8, Alma 60:2, Helaman 1:14
  75. ↑ B. H. Roberts noted: "The word [cimiter] is of oriental and uncertain origin and appears in various forms. How it came to be introduced into the speech and writings of the Nephites, and how not used in the other Hebrew literature at an earlier date, is so far as I know, unaccountable. The earliest use of the word I have found is in Gibbon, where referring to the alleged incident of finding the sword of Mars for Attila, he there calls that sword of Mars 'cimiter'; but that was about 450 A.D." - Roberts 1992 , pp. 112
  76. ↑ Blount, Thomas (1661). Glossographia, or, A dictionary interpreting all such hard words of whatsoever language now used in our refined English tongue with etymologies, definitions and historical observations on the same: also the terms of divinity, law, physick, mathematicks and other arts and sciences explicated. London, England: Tho. Newcombe. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  77. ↑ Kamenir, Victor (24 March 2018). "Scimitar: How One Sword Dominated Warfare for Centuries". nationalinterest.org. The National Interest, Warfare History Network. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  78. ↑ Yadin, Yigael (1963). The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands: In the Light of Archaeological Study Volume 1. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 134.
  79. ↑ Ash states: "there is enough Mesoamerican artwork and artifacts that display the basic characteristics of a scimitar that the Book of Mormon is vindicated for its usage." See: http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Brochures/Anachronisms3.pdf
  80. ↑ Roper, Matthew (1999). "Swords and Cimeters in the Book of Mormon" . Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. 8 (1): 34–43, 77–78. doi:10.2307/44758887. JSTOR   44758887. S2CID   254309120 . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  81. ↑ "Alma 11". churchofjesuschrist.org. 2012-02-21. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  82. ↑ Coe 2002 , p. 132 "[W]ell into Colonial times the beans served as a form of money in regional markets."
  83. ↑ Macri, Martha J. (1996). "Maya and Other Mesoamerican Scripts," in The World's Writing Systems. England: Oxford. pp. 172–182.
  84. ↑ Edward H. Ashment (May–June 1980). "The Book of Mormon and the Anthon Transcript: An Interim Report". Sunstone (21): 30. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  85. ↑ Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, 1996, retrieved 2014-12-15 (hosted on the Institute for Religious Research website)
  86. ↑ Fagan, Brian M. & Durrani, Nadia (2016). World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction. Routledge. p. 124. ISBN   978-1-317-34244-1.
  87. ↑ 13 Moons On the Turtles Back. A Native American Year of Moons, ISBN   0-698-11584-8, Putnam and Grossnet Group, 199
  88. ↑ Marcus, Joyce (1991). "First Dates: The Maya calendar and writing system were not the only ones in Mesoamerica—or even the earliest". Natural History. April: 22–25. Archived from the original on September 9, 2005.
  89. ↑ Coe 2002 , p. 59
  90. ↑ Rice, Prudence M. (2007). Maya Calendar Origins: Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of Time (First ed.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p.  38. ISBN   978-0-292-71688-9.
  91. ↑ "Zarahemla", Times and Seasons , October 1, 1842, Volume 3, Number 23, p. 927.
  92. ↑ "Stephens' Works on Central America", Times and Seasons , October 1, 1843, Volume 4, Number 22, p. 346; See also Times and Seasons, April 1, 1845, Volume 6, Number 6, pg 855
  93. ↑ Scholars date the ruins of Quirigua to about the 8th century AD. See Quirigua
  94. ↑ Givens 2002 , p. 146
  95. ↑ New World Archaeological Foundation, online collections at BYU.
  96. 1 2 Coe 1973 , pp. 41–46
  97. 1 2 Larson 1990 , pp. 76
  98. ↑ Larson 1990 , pp. 79
  99. ↑ "Journals | BYU ScholarsArchive".
  100. ↑ Jakeman 1953
  101. ↑ Clark 1999 , pp. 22–33
  102. ↑ Guernsey 2006 , pp. 53
  103. ↑ Sorenson 1990 , p. 12
  104. ↑ Heywroth, Robin (July 30, 2014), "The Elephants of Copán," Uncovered History. Retrieved October 5, 2017
  105. ↑ Smith 1925
  106. ↑ Zidar, Charles "Ancient Maya Zoological Research," Famsi. Retrieved October 5, 2017
  107. ↑ Tozzer & Allen 2006 , p. 343
  108. ↑ Sides, Hampton, "This is Not the Place!", Double Take Magazine, Vol. 5, No 2; Also included in his work American: Dispatches from the New Frontier, 2004
  109. ↑ "Book of Mormon and DNA Studies"
  110. ↑ "Book of Mormon Translation."

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.