Mark Wright of the
BYU Religion faculty is one of the brightest Book of Mormon scholars in the contemporary Church. He holds a PhD from
UC Riverside where he studied under the eminent
Karl Taube. I am indebted to Mark for this color/directionality insight. I am solely responsible for the associated geographic correlation.
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| Mark Wright at La Danta, El Mirador, Peten, January, 2016 |
When the Amlicites invaded the greater land of Zarahemla via the land of Gideon, they attacked from the east. We know this because Gideon was explicitly east of Sidon
Alma 6:7. They also wore red marks on their foreheads
Alma 3:4. Alma attached considerable symbolic significance to this mark as a fulfillment of ancient prophecy
Alma 3:13-16. This is the only place in the text where body art color is mentioned. In the Maya worldview, the color red was associated with sunrise and the cardinal direction east. The Amlicites came from the east (Mayan "elk' in") wearing the color red (Mayan "chak") associated with the east.
See the article "
Water Fight on the River - Round Ten" for a photo of a modern Maya floral altar from Chiapas showing the color red in the east quadrant.
This color association is one more indication that Ammonihah (home of the Amlicites) was east of Sidon as the
January, 2016 Book of Mormon Lands Map proposes. See the article "
Red Herrings" for a list of relevant articles examining Ammonihah's setting in the greater land of Zarahemla.
This map shows likely locations for the Alma/Amlici battle narrative per the
January, 2016 correlation.
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| Blue Line Shows Plausible Amlicite Attack Route from the East |
The Amlicites came from the east wearing red and engaged the Nephites on Hill Amnihu in the land of Gideon east of the land of Minon.
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| Detail of Proposed Hill Amnihu Area |
If a Book of Mormon geographic correlation is accurate, future corroborative discoveries will surface.
