Toward Consensus on Nephi and Zarahemla

Book of Mormon geographical correlations are being proposed throughout the Americas. Serious Book of Mormon geographical correlations are being proposed from the Andes on the south (George Potter, Bret Eborn) to Baja  California on the north (Lynn & David Rosenvall). Several serious Book of Mormon geographical correlations are being proposed in Mesoamerica. Looking at the Mesoamerican theories, I find it impressive how tightly clustered the various proposals for the city of Nephi and the city of Zarahemla are within the vast landscape of Mesoamerica (about 830,000 square kilometers or about the size of Texas and Louisiana combined).

Proposed Nephis and Zarahemlas

Six correlations are represented on the map above.

1. Aric Turner in the RLDS (Community of Christ and Restoration Branch) tradition put Nephi at San Juan, Baja Verapaz and Zarahemla at Yaxchilan, Chiapas.
2. Gareth W. Lowe put Nephi at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala and Zarahemla at Santa Cruz, Chiapas.
3. John L. Sorenson followed by Joseph & Blake Allen put Nephi at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala and Zarahemla at Santa Rosa, Chiapas.
4. Robert Roylance & Richard Terry put Nephi at Tzalcam, Baja Verapaz and Zarahemla at Ceibal, Peten.
5. F. Richard Hauck followed by Joe V. Andersen, Stanford S. Smith, and Lenard C. Brunsdale put Nephi at Tzalcam, Baja Verapaz and Zarahemla at Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, Alta Verapaz.
6. V. Garth Norman followed by Kirk Magleby & Javier Tovar put Nephi at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala and Zarahemla at Nueva Esperanza, Chiapas.

The distance from the northernmost Nephi candidate (San Juan) to the southernmost candidate (Kaminaljuyu) is 84 air kilometers (about Salt Lake City to Brigham City). The furthest distance between any of the six Zarahemla candidates (Santa Cruz to Ceibal) is 288 air kilometers (about  Salt Lake City, UT to Twin Falls, ID). The shaded area around the proposed Nephis is 2,300 square kilometers (a little over half the size of Rhode Island). The shaded area around the proposed Zarahemlas is 40,000 square kilometers (just under half the size of South Carolina).

A priority is to identify the river Sidon (Grijalva, Usumacinta, or Pasion tributary of the Usumacinta) which would shrink the potential Zarahemla landscape significantly. I (Kirk Magleby) became convinced the Usumacinta is the Sidon after working on the problem during the second half of 2011. See the article The Usumacinta/Sidon Correlation. Discoveries since that time have significantly strengthened the Usumacinta/Sidon correlation. See for example "Obsidian Trade Patterns," "75 BC," and "Ground-Truthed LiDar."

Eventually, truth will prevail. In the meantime, it is satisfying to know movement toward consensus is possible because many of the Mesoamerican correlations are relatively close to each other for the key sites Nephi and Zarahemla.