Archaeology and the Book of Mormon

Archaeology and the Book of Mormon

This article discusses archaeology and its relation to the authenticity and historicity of The Book of Mormon. The characters of The Book of Mormon are thought by most Mormons to be real people who lived in a real place on "this [the American] continent". Apologists find numerous details in the current archaeological body of knowledge that appear to plausibly validate Book of Mormon assertions. Critics find numerous details in the Book of Mormon that appear to be implausible when weighed against the current archeological body of knowledge. Both apologists and critics have posed at least some questions or hypotheses that have yet to be fully answered.

Table of contents

1 View of Mormon Apologists
2 Archaeological problems for the Book of Mormon
3 State of Archeological Research
4 Quetzalcoatl Legends
5 The Kinderhook Plates
6 The Bat Creek Cave Stone
7 Genetic studies

View of Mormon Apologists

Currently most Mormon apologists do not place much emphasis on archaeological evidences (and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially places none) for at least the following reasons:

The Introduction to The Book of Mormon states that "[The Lamanites] are the principal ancestors of the American Indians." However, according to some interpretations of the text of The Book of Mormon, there may have been other people and cultures in the same lands at the same time (though the book concerns itself exclusively with the peoples of the narrative), possibly large populations and many different cultures. This would make it impossible to distinguish which archeological discoveries relate to the culture(s) in the narrative.
Anthropological issues are further complicated due to the uncertainty on the location of Book of Mormon events. The Book of Mormon narrative has been placed everywhere from South and Central America to the Finger Lakes region in New York (possibly relating the people in the story to the Mound Builders). Based on extensive textual analysis and current archaeological data, most LDS scholars agree that the Book of Mormon geography was centered in Mesoamerica, in the area of current day Guatemala and the southern Mexico States of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and surrounding area.
Most of the modern archaeological research of the mesoamerican area dates to a time after The Book of Mormon narrative ends and the people purportedly disperse and their language, religion and culture deteriorate. Due to inherit problems with "dirt archaeology", most of the apologetics focus on the areas of literary and linguistic analysis.

Archaeological problems for the Book of Mormon

Some of the archaeological problems for the Book of Mormon centre round the descriptions of activity that is supposed to have taken place in Central and South America, but for which almost no archaeological evidence has been found. For example the Book of Mormon describes the use of brass, steel, gold and silver coins, silk and linen. It describes the presence of sheep, cattle, oxen and elephants, the use of chariots and horses. Barley and wheat agriculture are descibed, as are grapes and olives. All of the aforementioned were unknown in South America according to the vast majority of current research.

State of Archeological Research

Only a small percentage of known archeological sites in the Americas have been fairly excavated. While there is a great deal of archeological data (as well as historic accounts) of ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan over which Mexico City was been built, many other ancient cities of the Americas have had little serious excavation done on them. (Brigham Young University has sponsored a number of archeological excavations in Mesoamerica.) Although much more is certainly yet to be uncovered, archaeology has provided a large amount of data on the lives, customs, technology, etc. of the ancient American peoples. A prominent Mesoamerican archaeologist, Michael Coe of Yale University, addressed the state of Mesoamerican archeology in regards to The Book of Mormon in 1973:

"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." ("Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View," in Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol 8, No 2, (Summer 1973), p. 42.)

Much of the literature of the Pre-Columbian Maya was deliberately destroyed by the Spanish when they conquered the region in the 1500s. On this point, Michael Coe noted:

"[O]ur knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and Pilgrim's Progress)." (Michael D. Coe, The Maya, London: Thames and Hudson, 4th ed., 1987, p. 161.)

Despite the current state of archeological knowledge in the Americas, each archeological discovery brings probative value regarding the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Interested parties await to see what future archaeological evidence reveals regarding the existence of such objects as horses, metallurgical objects (swords), or the names of places in ancient America referred to in the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon affirms that there were pre-Columbian peoples that were literate, spoke knowledge of Old World languages, and possessed Old World derived writing systems. (E.g. 1 Nephi 13:23 et. seq.) They smelted metal and made tools and weapons of iron, steel, and brass. (E.g. Ether 7:9, 10:23) They owned domesticated horses and cattle. They possessed chariots. (E.g. Alma 18:9-12) The people covered the entire land. These archeological implications and scores of others found in the Book of Mormon, if true, predict that certain discoveries will be made in the pre-Columbian archaeological record. But critics assert that no such discovery has yet been made, and that some of what is currently known contradicts Book of Mormon claims.

Quetzalcoatl Legends

The ancient Mesoamerican legend of Quetzalcoatl, according to some versions as "the bearded white god", is interpreted by some Latter-day Saint apologists as an altered depiction of the actual visit of Jesus Christ to the Americas referred to in the Book of Mormon. Most students of ancient Mesoamerica do not accept this claim, for at least two of the following reasons: Quetzalcoatl the Feathered Serpent deity is depicted in Mesoamerican art several centuries before Jesus. The King Quetzalcoatl who promised to return to Mexico dated almost 1,000 years after the life of Jesus. [1]. Apologists rebut that the visitation of Jesus was incorporated into some of the various, exisiting legends of Quetzalcoatl.

The Kinderhook Plates

The Bat Creek Cave Stone

Genetic studies

Another controversial issue is whether there is DNA evidence that modern American Indians are descendants of the Hebrews as implied by the Book of Mormon.

As with other potential sources of evidence, data on comparisons of genetic markers in the DNA of different races is in its infancy. Recent evidence on whether some native americans are genetically linked to old world races currently indicates that most genetic traits and genes of modern Jews are not found in Native Americans, although some mitochondrial DNA analysis shows that others are found in both Israel and Native Americans

The most controversial of these studies was published in the late 2002 by anthropologist Thomas W. Murphy. This subject is currently under extensive discussion. Also see Lamanites.

External Links: (Pro) http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/DNA.shtml

(Neutral)http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_migr1.htm

(Con)http://www.ericbarger.com/mormon.dna.htm