Volcanoes

 Geologists who analyze the destruction described in 3 Nephi 8 generally conclude that it was caused by a combination of seismic and volcanic activity. See for example Bart J. Kowallis, "In the Thirty and Fourth Year: A Geologist's View of the Great Destruction in 3 Nephi" in BYU Studies 37:3 (1997-98) and Jerry D. Grover, Jr. Geology of the Book of Mormon Provo: Grover Publishing (2015). This explanation of the cataclysms described in the text works well with a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon since southern Mexico and Central America have dozens of volcanoes, many of them active in Nephite times.

Some of the Many Volcanoes in Mesoamerica

These verses in the Bible seem to be referring to volcanoes:

• Exodus 19:18 "and the smoke thereof (Mt. Sinai) ascended as the smoke of a furnace..."
• Deuteronomy 4:11 "the mountain burned with fire...with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness."
• Deuteronomy 5:23 "the mountain did burn with fire."
• Psalms 97:5 "the hills melted like wax."
• Psalms 104:32 "he toucheth the hills and they smoke."
• Micah 1:4 "and the mountains shall be molten under him...as the waters that are poured down a steep place."
• Revelation 8:8 "a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea."

And these verses in the Book of Mormon likewise seem to be referring to volcanoes:

• 1 Nephi 19:11 "mountains which shall be carried up."
• 2 Nephi 26:5 "mountains shall cover them."
• Helaman 14:23 "many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great."
• 3 Nephi 8:10 "the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, and in the place of the city there became a great mountain."

The term "volcano" does not appear in the Book of Mormon, but it is highly likely that volcanoes were present in the Nephite and Lamanite area.

Paricutin Volcano in Michoacan, Mexico

Paricutin achieved global fame in 1943 when it erupted in what had been a corn field and quickly formed a cinder cone. The volcanic explosion spread ash over an area of 200 square kilometers.

Heap Mounds and Tower Pyramids

People ask "If the Book of Mormon happened in Mesoamerica, why does the text not contain the word 'pyramid' since stepped pyramids were ubiquitous anciently in the region?" Actually, the text does describe stepped pyramids. It calls them 'towers.' The term 'tower' appears 30 times in the Book of Mormon. How do we know that a tower in Nephite and Jaredite parlance was a stepped pyramid? Because 9 of the 30 instances of 'tower' in the text refer to the famous Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:3-5) which almost everyone recognizes was based on a Mesopotamian ziggurat or stepped pyramid.

Great Ziggurat of Ur, Southern Iraq

Stepped pyramids were built in many places around the world. Some of the more famous that can be visited today include:

• Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico
• Candi Sukuh, Mount Lawu, Indonesia
• Caracol, Belize
• Chogha Zanbil, Iran
• Djosser, Saqqara, Egypt
• El Castillo, Yucatan, Mexico
• Great Ziggurat of Ur, Iraq
• Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Mexico
• Tikal, Guatemala

Tikal Temple 1, Guatemala

Since the Bible and the Book of Mormon both call a Mesopotamian stepped pyramid a "tower" as in Mosiah 28:17 we can be quite certain that Nephites and Lamanites would have called the very similar Mesoamerican stepped pyramids "towers" as in Alma 48:1. In this verse, Lamanite towers were clearly dominant urban structures.

--

Does the term 'mound' appear in the Book of Mormon? No. But the word 'heap' or a variant does 7 times in contexts that precisely match what we know of mortuary tumuli or surface earthworks worldwide. See for example, Alma 2:38, Alma 16:11, Alma 28:11, Alma 50:1, Mormon 2:15, Ether 10:23 and Ether 11:6. See the blog article "Mounds" for additional information on the global distribution of the simple structures the Book of Mormon text calls "heaps."

--

We would expect to find Book of Mormon lands in a region such as Mesoamerica that has both towers and heaps.

El Pital, Veracruz, Mexico

Coastal El Pital is one of many sites in Mesoamerica that combine stepped stone pyramids with earthen burial mounds. 

Tamtoc, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Huastec Tamtoc is another.

Stairs or Ramp

Exodus 20:25 says Israelite altars made of stone should use natural, uncut stones so as not to defile the natural building material with iron tools. Deuteronomy 27:5-6 and Joshua 8:31 reinforce this idea of using unworked stones in altar construction to avoid polluting them with iron.

Exodus 20:26 goes on to say that steps should not be used to access a high altar to avoid a priest inadvertently exposing his private parts to those below. During the exodus from Egypt, priests wore flowing robes with no undergarments so immodest public displays were possible.

Zealous but poorly informed students of the Book of Mormon sometimes use these verses to claim that the Nephites (Jarom 1:5) and Lamanites (Helaman 13:1), both following the law of Moses, would never have built buildings with hewn stones and steps. Voila! their argument goes, Mesoamerica could not be the place where the Book of Mormon happened because it is full of worked stone architecture and elaborate staircases.

--

The truth is that soon after the instructions in Exodus 20 were given, God revealed Exodus 28:42 which instituted a new dress code for priests that included modest linen undergarments. This eliminated the problem with steps as Torah commentaries have noted for millenia. By the time Solomon's Temple was constructed, both hewn stones and stairs were used in the architecture. 1 Kings 6:7 specifies the use of stones shaped at the quarry or a remote workshop, while 1 Kings 6:8 specifies stairs. An image of Solomon's Temple on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem depicts both worked stones and steps.

Solomon's Temple per the Israel Museum

An image informed by good biblical and historical/archaeological scholarship shows the high altar from Solomon's Temple with both worked stones and stairs. 1 Kings 5:17-18 could hardly be more clear. Solomon's temple was built with hewn stones and timber.

Image of Solomon's Temple Altar per 1 Kings

Nehemiah 9:4 talks about the stairs of the Levites. Ezekiel 40:42 describes a temple with a hewn stone altar. Ezekiel 40:49 mentions steps. Ezekiel 41:7 in many versions (such as the NIV) mentions a winding stairway. Ezekiel 43:17 explicitly mentions stairs.

The Scripture Central YouTube channel, Messages of Christ, has a beautiful 3D model of Solomon's Temple that shows the best current thinking about its architecture. Solomon's Temple had at least 3 sets of stone stairs.

Self-credentialed "experts" on the law of Moses who denigrate Mesoamerican architecture are simply naive.

For another take on this subject from bright young Hebrew scholar, Spencer Kraus, see his blog article "A Note on Temples, Stairs, and Mesoamerica."

For information on similarities between Mesoamerican and ancient Hebrew temple architecture, see the Scripture Central Evidence Summary #257 entitled Mesoamerican Temples.

Free Nations

The Book of Mormon prophesies that as part of the gathering of Israel in the latter days the Gentiles who have scattered the remnant of the seed of Jacob will be established in the Americas as a free people (3 Nephi 21:2-4). In Ether we read the words of a covenant the Lord makes with nations who will inhabit the Americas: "whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage and from captivity and from all other nations under heaven if they will but serve the God of the land, which is Jesus Christ." (Ether 2:12). These passages say we should find free people and free nations in the Americas, and we do.

The generally accepted source for data on global freedom is Freedom House. Their annual rankings of countries by the degree of freedom their citizens enjoy is a respected source because it takes into account:

• political rights
• civil liberties
• voting
• individual expression
• equality before the law

Freedom House analyzes the effect of both state and non-state actors in a country and ranks nations with a freedom index number ranging from 1 (South Sudan, Syria, Tibet) where citizens enjoy almost no freedom to 100 (Finland, Norway, Sweden) where citizens are extraordinarily free. It turns out the Americas, Western Europe, East Asia, and former British colonies are the regions on earth with the most freedom.

Freedom House Map Green = Free, Purple = Not Free

Here are the Freedom House rankings of free countries in the New World:

1. Canada (98)
2. Uruguay (96)
3. Barbados (94)
4. Chile (94)
5. Dominica (93)
6. St. Lucia (92)
7. Costa Rica (91)
8. St. Vincent and the Grenadines (91)
9. The Bahamas (91)
10. Grenada (89)
11. St. Kitts and Nevis (89)
12. Belize (87)
13. Argentina (85)
14. Panama (83)
15. US (83)
16. Trinidad and Tobago (82)
17. Jamaica (80)
18. Suriname (79)
19. Guyana (73)
20. Brazil (72)
21. Colombia (70)
22. Ecuador (70)

US patriots sometimes portray "the land of the free and the home of the brave" as the only free nation in the Americas. That oversimplifies reality. 

Worldviews

 We like to think of ourselves as logical, rational beings. Most of us are not. A typical human puts an intellectual veneer atop a set of core beliefs that flow from his or her emotional identity. This identity, the essence of who we really are, causes automatic thoughts to move from our subconscious brain to our conscious mind, overpowering any rationality that may be competing for our attention at that moment. Our minds are not a level playing field. Underlying beliefs coming from our heart are so powerful they will cause us to marginalize and argue even with the word of God. There is a strong element of personal pride involved. The Book of Mormon uses the phrase "pride of their hearts" to describe this foundational, deep-seated source of personal conviction that even prophets have difficulty penetrating.

• "Puffed up in the pride of their hearts." 2 Nephi 28:15.
• "They were lifted up in the pride of their hearts." Mosiah 11:19.
• "Can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts?" Alma 5:53.
• "Ye do walk in the pride of your hearts." Mormon 8:36.

There are many other instances of this phrase "pride of their hearts" in the text. Pride is a near-ubiquitous human condition. Psychologists often call it a "worldview" because it informs and controls how a person perceives their surroundings. "People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them." Philosopher Epictetus (ca. AD 50 - ca. AD 135) in the Enchiridion.

Bust of Epictetus, Stoic Philosopher

Examples of pejorative worldviews that dominate and define a person:

• "I, I am the Lord's; and the others shall say: I, I am the Lord's; and thus shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord." 2 Nephi 28:3. "I represent God."
• "And they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance." 2 Nephi 28:4. "I am smart."
• "There is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men." 2 Nephi 28:5. "Humans rule."
• "If they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work." 2 Nephi 28:6. "Science explains everything."
• "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us." 2 Nephi 28:7. "Have fun."
• "Lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this..." 2 Nephi 28:8. "Get ahead."
• They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart..." 2 Nephi 28:13. "I have class."
• "In many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men." 2 Nephi 28:14. "I am educated."
• "O the wise, and the learned, and the rich...and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms..." 2 Nephi 28:15. "I am sophisticated."
• "Them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth!" 2 Nephi 28:16. "Rules don't apply to me."
• "Others will he pacify, and lull them into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth..." 2 Nephi 28:21. "I am secure."
• "Him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Nephi 28:24. "Relax."
• "We have received, and we need no more!" 2 Nephi 28:27. "Enough is enough."
• "Those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God!" 2 Nephi 28:28. "God restricts me.."
• "He had many wives and concubines." Mosiah 11:2. "Lust."
• "They were supported in their laziness, and in their idolatry, and in their whoredoms, by the taxes..." Mosiah 11:6. "Easy money."
• "Built many elegant and spacious buildings; and he ornamented them with fine work of wood, and of all manner of precious things..." Mosiah 11:8. "Fancy houses."
• "He placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in riotous living..." Mosiah 11:14. "Hedonism."
• "Made wine in abundance; and therefore he became a wine-bibber..." Mosiah 11:15. "Addictions."
• "You that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?" Alma 5:30. "You are inferior."
• "Persist in supposing that ye are better one than another..." Alma 5:54. "I am superior."
• "Persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?" Alma 5:55. "Greed."
• "Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins." Mormon 8:32 "Money buys everything."
• "Adorn yourselves with that which hath no life." Mormon 8:39 "Toys over people."
• "Secret abominations to get gain..." Mormon 8:40 "Dog eat dog."

Can worldviews ever change? Yes, but it is very hard. It requires a "mighty change in your hearts" Alma 5:14 that few people ever attempt. 

Worldviews play a huge role in Book of Mormon geography. If your core belief is that the Book of Mormon is inspired fiction, you will find the modelling endeavor pointless. If your core belief is that the United States of America is God's gift to mankind, you are likely to look for Book of Mormon lands in Ohio. On the naturalism to exceptionalism spectrum, if your core belief is that the Book of Mormon was influenced more by human than by divine input, you are likely to prioritize archaeological field reports over inferences from the text. Your worldview will largely determine what sources you consult and the relative importance you assign to those sources as you visualize the text. Tell-tale phrases such as "I can't believe" and "it makes no sense" indicate someone's worldview is at work. 

As it says in Proverbs 23:7 "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."  

Maximum Extent of Book of Mormon Lands

 My friend, Warren Aston, sent me some information a few days ago about modelers who posit Book of Mormon lands covering about 1.5 million square miles. The entire contiguous US is about 3.1 million square miles (about the size of Australia), so these Book of Mormon geographers envision a territory about half the size of the lower 48. A land mass that large is simply out of the question. The text specifies distance in days of travel and the modest numbers it reports (1 day Helaman 4:7, 1.5 days Alma 22:32, 3 days Alma 8:6, 8 days Mosiah 23:3, 12 days Mosiah 24:25) are inconsistent with a surface area of 1.5 million square miles. Something on the order of 150,000 - 300,000 square miles is much more likely.

Those of us who locate Book of Mormon lands in Mesoamerica are generally comfortable with surface areas in the 150K to 300K range. This is the approximate extent of Mesoamerica. 

Mesoamerica in White

The white area in the map above is 342K square miles or 887K square kilometers. The red line is the longest straight line distance between any two points in the area. It is 1,200 miles or 1,932 kilometers in length. If the Book of Mormon happened in this space, as many believe, the text is describing a surface area with a maximum extent of about 300K square miles since the land far to the north was beyond Nephite terra cognita (3 Nephi 7:12, 13). Any blank spots on the Nephite map such as large tracts of wilderness could reduce the size of this area, so 150K square miles is still in the ballpark.

Proof Imperative

 At the end of the blog article "Biblical Passages Referencing the Book of Mormon" I include a list of passages from modern revelation that show the Lord will fulfill His prophecies and we are expected to take part in that fulfillment in the spirit of a fulfilled prophecy "proof mandate."

Many scriptural passages invoke an injunction to prove the word of God true.

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

"Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2.

"I will send their words (the words of Isaiah & Jacob) forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true...God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words." 2 Nephi 11:3.

"My soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ, for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given..." 2 Nephi 11:4.

"My soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish." 2 Nephi 11:6.

"I (Jesus Christ) do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure." 2 Nephi 29:9.

"Ye also beheld that my brother (Alma) has proved unto you, in many instances, that the word is in Christ unto salvation." Alma 34:6

"My brother has called upon the words of Zenos...and also upon the words of Zenock; and also he has appealed unto Moses, to prove that these things are true." Alma 34:7.

"The Book of Mormon...which was given by inspiration, and is confirmed to others by the ministering of angels...- proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true..." D&C 20:8-11.

"Call on the holy prophets to prove his words, as they shall be given him (Joseph Smith)." D&C 35:23.

"Let my servant Oliver Cowdery assist him (W. W. Phelps, printer)...to copy, and to correct, and select, that all things may be right before me, as it shall be proved by the Spirit through him." D&C 57:13.

--

And many authors of sacred writ testify that their words are true.

"I know that the record which I make to be true." 1 Nephi 1:3.

"O my son, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true...the plates of Nephi are true; and we can know of a surety..." Mosiah 1:6.

"I know that these things are true because the Lord God has made them known unto me..." Helaman 7:29.

"So many evidences which ye have received...as a witness that they are true." Helaman 8:24.

"We know our record to be true..." 3 Nephi 8:1.

"They know that their record is true for they all of them did see and hear..." 3 Nephi 17:25.

"I (Mormon) will show unto you hereafter that this record is true." 3 Nephi 18:37.

"And God shall show unto you, that that which I (Moroni) have written is true." Moroni 10:29.

Light from CDMX

From Monday, June 19 to Wednesday, June 21, 2023, Scripture Central convened a Book of Mormon geography workshop in Mexico City. Participants included:

• Luis Castillo, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Luis is the author of several interesting articles about possible Book of Mormon connections with ancient Maya culture.
• Agricol Lozano, Mexico City. Agricol is a serious lifelong student of the Nephite text. 
• Kirk Magleby, American Fork, UT. I author this blog.
• Alexandro Martinez, Puebla, Mexico. Alejandro maintains the website Geografia del Libro de Mormon.
• Anna Lillia Mendez, Mexico City. Anna Lillia has been a careful student of the Book of Mormon and ancient Mesoamerican culture for decades.
• Alan Miner, Springville, UT. Alan authored Step by Step through the Book of Mormon which is a comprehensive history of thought on Book of Mormon geography.
• Estefanía Morlett, Mexico City. Estefanía took notes and kept us organized.
• Daniel Muñoz, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Daniel is a native Yucatec Mayan speaker with a degree in anthropology.
• Felipe Olguin, Hidalgo, Mexico. Felipe is a long-time student of the Book of Mormon. 
• Braulio Sánchez, Mexico City. Braulio was our videographer and audio recorder.
• Javier Tovar, Hidalgo, Mexico. Javier is an archaeologist accredited with INAH. For the last several years, he has been ground-truthing possible Book of Mormon sites.
• Gabriela Valdez, Estado de Mexico. Gaby is a professional genealogist and historian. 
• Pepe Valle, originally from Veracruz, Mexico, now living in Spanish Fork, UT. Pepe is the most watched "Come Follow Me" video presenter in Spanish and is one of the Spanish voices of the Tabernacle Choir.

We went over methodology, assumptions about the text, interpretive apparatus, the exegesis of key passages, proposed real-world locations, and the degree of fit to the text for various proposals. Any participant was free to suggest alternative locations and some of those locations were accepted by the group and incorporated into the working compendium model.

We had two main goals for the workshop: A) Empower a group of capable Mexican Saints with the tools and knowledge necessary to move Book of Mormon geography forward, and B) achieve consensus, if possible, on the most likely location of key Book of Mormon places. We successfully achieved both goals. The "Lamanite Consensus Model" of Book of Mormon geography is now reality. 

Interesting insights that came out of our discussions included:

1. Today in Yucatec Mayan, a class of "dignatarios Mayas" that deal with laws and the administration of justice are called "alma kan." The title carries military, commercial, and religious connotations. Luis and Daniel are convinced this honorific title, attested in epigraphic inscriptions from the early classic era, is a legacy from Alma, first Nephite Chief Judge per Mosiah 29:42.

2. The large bodies of water mentioned in Alma 50:29 and Helaman 3:4 were likely in the Trans-Volcanic Belt in Central Mexico. High peaks in this region result in abundant rainfall.

Trans-Volcanic Belt in Central Mexico - Land of Lakes

3. "Desierto" in the Spanish Book of Mormon as the translation for "wilderness" would be better rendered "silvestre."

4. "Manantiales" in the Spanish Book of Mormon as the translation for "head of river" would be better rendered "cabeza de rio."

5. The city of Mulek which we have previously correlated with the site of Cerros, Belize, we now correlate with the site of Santa Rita aka Hok' ol K'in in Corozal, Belize. Cerros is too easy to isolate by positioning troops at the base of the peninsula. Cerros has a 2,000 year old dock.

6. Temperatures often reach 40 degrees centigrade (104 degrees fahrenheit) in the Chetumal area, giving context to the phrase "heat of the day" in Alma 51:33.

7. The city of Bountiful which we have previously correlated with the site of Bugambilias, Quintana Roo, we now correlate with the site of Oxtankah a few kilometers northward along the coast. Beginning about 500 BC, Oxtankah was the dominant site in the Chetumal area north of the Rio Hondo.

Proposed Book of Mormon Cities Around Bay of Chetumal

8. The Lamanai - Jershon correlation held up under scrutiny. Luis and Daniel are convinced Lamanai meaning "submerged crocodile" could be a legacy from "Laman" whom the text likens unto a river in 1 Nephi 2:8, 16:12.

9. Many parts of the coasts of Belize and Quintana Roo are lined with mangrove trees which makes them practically inaccessible from the ocean. Mangroves also grow along rivers.

10. As you head north along the Belizean coast from Corozal, you come to a lookout point (mirador) that gives you a good view of Chetumal across the mouth of Rio Hondo. Luis and Daniel believe this is the point where the Lamanite army turned back towards Corozal as described in Alma 52:28.

11. One of the murals from Santa Rita published in Arqueología Mexicana shows a decapitated sacrificial victim with a beard. This could be another example of intentional ethnic cleansing. The drawing is from Thomas Gann in 1900.

Santa Rita Mural with Bearded Sacrificial Victim

For an image of bearded sacrificial victims from Bilbao, Guatemala, see the blog article "Light from Guatemala."

12. The earliest architecture at Santa Rita and Oxtankah was plain and fairly simple. Later classic era construction was more elaborate and complex in line with Maya structures elsewhere. Hugh Nibley thought Nephite golden age architecture would likely be plain and fairly simple.

13. The Mexican saints are convinced Jesus Christ visited their lands anciently. They point to several glyphic depictions of hands with perforations from sites such as Palenque, Yaxchilán, Copan, and Tulum as evidence that the crucified Savior was known among their ancestors.

Glyphs Depicting Perforated Hands

In Erik Boot's 2003 article "The Human Hand in Classic Maya Hieroglyphic Writing" published on Mesoweb, 21 of 45 signs show a perforation (agujero).

 

14. The Mexican saints love Izapa Stela 5. They envision a boat with 6 passengers sitting on deck and a cuadrangular sail outlined by geometric lines drawn between key points in the scene.

Stela 5 as Depiction of a Boat
per Mario A. Popoca

15. There are 14 water scrolls along the bottom and right-hand edges of Stela 5. This image taken by Matthew W. Stirling in 1941 shows all 14. 10 along the bottom crest to the right. 1 at the bend is larger than the others. It also crests to the right. The top 3 along the right-hand side crest to the left.

14 Water Scrolls on Stela 5, 3 Cresting to the Left

Anna Lillia interprets the 3 water scrolls as depicting the 3 days described in 1 Nephi 18:13-14 when the voyaging Lehites were driven backwards by a storm. The large water scroll at the elbow she interprets as the 4th day when the storm increased in intensity, then eventually subsided when Nephi was finally released after being tied to the mast.

16. Stela 5 shows a tree with 8 branches. 7 of the branches bear fruit. The 8th branch on the right-hand side has no fruit, but it does have 2 grafts hanging from it. This is an image taken in the early 1960's.

7 Tree Branches with Fruit, 1 with Grafts

The 7 branches bearing fruit the Mexican saints correlate with the 7 lineages mentioned in Jacob 1:13, 4 Nephi 37-38, and Mormon 1:8-9.

17. Gaby likes the correlation first proposed by John L. Sorenson that the El Chayal obsidian outcrop north of Guatemala City is probably Oneidah (critical text orthography), the place of arms mentioned in Alma 47:5.

18. Luis and Daniel believe there may be a linguistic correlation between the Lamanite king "Aaron" mentioned in Mormon 2:9 and the Maya honorific title "Ahau."

19. The land of Joshua which we have previously placed in the general vicinity of Pijijiapan, Chiapas, has been moved slightly. After ground-truthing, Javier Tovar believes the site of Lluvia Dulce, 15 air kilometers NW of the site of Pijijiapan (which is about 2 air kilometers S of the city of Pijijiapan), is a viable candidate for Joshua. Lluvia Dulce was occupied in the late preclassic - early classic time period when Mormon describes the Nephites in the land of Joshua.

20. We have previously correlated the city of Nephihah with Cancuen. Luis expressed concern that perhaps Nephihah should be closer to Moroni. Cancuen is 133 air kilometers W of Tiger Mound (Moroni) and 57 kilometers S of Ceibal (Aaron). The site of Poptun is one possibility that sits just about midway between Tiger Mound and Ceibal. The group did not act on this suggestion, so the correlation for Nephihah remains Cancuen pending further study.

21. Agricol suggested that just as Palestine is centrally located to spread the good news of the Gospel to the four corners of the Old World, Mesoamerica is centrally located to do the same in the New World.

Norman, Sorenson, and Allen

Vernal Garth Norman (June 30, 1934 - December 1, 2021) passed away in American Fork, Utah. John Leon Sorenson (April 8, 1924 - December 8, 2021) passed away in Provo, Utah. Joseph Lovell Allen (May 29, 1935 - May 29, 2023) passed away in  Cedar Hills, Utah. All made significant contributions to Book of Mormon studies. All were awarded the Father Lehi and Mother Sariah award by Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum, now Book of Mormon Central. John and Helen Sorenson received the award in 2009, Joe and Rhoda Allen in 2011, and Garth and Cheryl Norman in 2013.

Garth Norman (1934-2021)

Garth's obituary.

John Sorenson (1924-2021)

John's tributes.

Joe Allen (1935-2023)

Joe's obituary.

A major Book of Mormon geography workshop will be held in Mexico City on June 19-21, 2023. Bright and capable Lamanite scholars such as Javier Tovar and Alejandro Martinez will help a dozen serious students of the Nephite text from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico work through the complex association between canonical verbiage, science, and geographic information systems. The names Sorenson, Norman, and Allen will come up frequently during the 3 days of the conclave. The workshop will continue the life's work of these 3 scholars and if any good results, it will be partly to the credit of this trio.

I have known these 3 most of my adult life. I have been in their homes, their offices, in academic settings with them, and in the field with them exploring potential Book of Mormon lands. I have learned from and in some cases contributed to their publications. When the Book of Mormon geography puzzle is finally solved, the work of Sorenson, Norman, and Allen will prove to have been foundational.

Ancient Treaty AD 353

Abstract: An alliance celebrated on February 26, AD 353 at the Maya site of Tortuguero in modern Tabasco may be the same treaty the Nephites entered into with the Lamanites and the Gadianton robbers ca. AD 350 as recorded in Mormon 2:28.

Tortuguero is one of the westernmost Maya sites, about 20 km SE of Macuspana, Tabasco. It is 46 km NW of Palenque, Chiapas, and 94 km NW of Tonina, Chiapas. It is 107 km SE of Comalcalco, Tabasco, which is generally regarded as the westernmost Maya site. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.

Tortuguero and Environs

Tortuguero Monument 6 is a well-known stela from the site. Most of the stone carving is housed today in the Carlos Pellicer Museum in Villahermosa. One fragment from the stela is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Monument 6 gained notoriety in the years leading up to 2012 because it references the 13-Baktun period ending event on 13.0.0.0.0 (Winter Solstice, December 21, 2012). Maya long count dates in this article are shown in standard baktun (144,000 days), katun (7,200 days), tun (360 days), uinal (20 days), kin (1 day) format. Gregorian dates are from the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian Maya Calendar Converter. 

Monument 6 celebrates a structure dedication event held on January 11, 669 in the latter part of the reign of Balaam Ajaw who ruled Tortuguero from AD 644 - 679. Key early events in Balaam Ajaw's reign as recorded on Monument 6 include:

• 9.10.11.3.9 (2/06/644) An alliance facilitated by a marriage.
• 9.10.11.3.10 (2/07/644) Balaam Ajaw's accession to the throne.
• 9.10.11.9.6 (5/30/644) First war against a rival kingdom.
• 9.10.17.2.14 (12/18/649) Major war against Comalcalco that resulted in "blood became a lake, skulls became a mountain".

This information is from Sven Gronemeyer and Barbara MacLeod, "What Could Happen in 2012: A Re-analysis of the 13-Bak'tun Prophecy on Tortuguero Monument 6," Wayeb Notes, No. 34, 2010.

One of Balaam Ajaw's objectives in erecting Monument 6 was to legitimize his lineage and power over a large expanse of time. Thus, the monument contemplates a far-off event more than a millennium in the future. The Maya also observed cycles in the passage of time. In that vein, the AD 644 alliance recalled another treaty (literally "bound the word") reached long-ago on 8.15.16.0.5 (2/26/353) that Gronemeyer and MacLeod describe as "a great political accord both worthy of distant recall, yet impersonal, and a milestone in the collective memory of the Baakiil lineage."

In Mormon 2:28-29 the Nephites negotiated a treaty with 1) the Lamanites and 2) the robbers of Gadianton which ended Nephite presence in the land southward and bought the doomed nation 10 years of temporary peace. This treaty was finalized ca. AD 350. Mormon's Codex (John L. Sorenson's apt name for the Book of Mormon) and Tortuguero Monument 6 may be describing the same political agreement. A few reasons this makes some sense:

1. Mormon gathered the Nephites into the city of Desolation on the extreme southern border of the land northward (Mormon 3:5-7). The Book of Mormon map with the highest degree of fit to the text (100% satisfaction of 247 basic criteria) correlates the city of Desolation with El Paredon on the shores of Mar Muerto in Chiapas. If Paredon is Desolation, then the western Maya in Tonina (216 km distant) or Tortuguero (230 km distant) could have been part of the Lamanites.

2. Numerous lines of reasoning support the idea that the Gadianton Robbers could have been Teotihuacanos. See the blog articles "Robbers and Lamanites" and "Notes on the Maya and Teotihuacan." Right at the time Tortuguero Monument 6 reports a political agreement (AD 353), Teotihuacan influence was spreading throughout the Maya area. Close to AD 350 Maya elites living in Teotihuacan suffered persecution and death. Then in AD 378 (near the time of the Nephite demise at Cumorah) military emissaries allied with Teotihuacan forced regime change in Tikal. Teotihuacan influence is known from Palenque and Panhale which are geographically close to Tortuguero. See the lecture David Stuart gave at Dumbarton Oaks on December 1, 2022 entitled Rulers from the West: Teotihuacan in Maya History and Politics.  See also Armando Anaya H., Peter Mathews, and Stanley Guenter, "A New Inscribed Wooden Box from Southern Mexico" in Mesoweb Reports, August 27, 2001. If the Gadiantons were Teotihuacanos, then the AD 353 treaty ratified at Tortuguero could have involved them.

3. The Tortuguero AD 644 alliance was followed by war, then a few years later by a decisive war that inflicted heavy casualties on Comalcalco. In the cyclical way the Maya viewed time, the AD 353 alliance could also have presaged war. Monument 6 does not explicitly mention war following the AD 353 accord, but the text has many allusions to war as Gronemeyer and MacLeod point out. So, if the AD 353 alliance did involve the Nephites, the massive destruction at Ramah/Cumorah ca. AD 385 could be implied. The Book of Mormon map with the highest degree of fit to the text correlates Ramah/Cumorah with Cerro San Martin Pajapan in the eastern Tuxtlas of southern Veracruz. Pajapan is 160 straight line kilometers due west of Comalcalco. See the blog article Ramah/Cumorah.

There are enough if/then conditionals in this logic chain to make this correlation tentative, but the ca. AD 350 treaty mentioned in Mormon 2:28-29 is thoroughly plausible. Its in a time and place when far-flung projections of military force were creating new alignments of power between allies and enemies. At minimum the Book of Mormon treaty has a known contemporaneous parallel in the historical record of the Tortuguero royal dynasty.

Nineteenth Century English in and around Palmyra New York

 In 2014 I published a blog article entitled "Early Modern English."

The next year I published another article entitled "English in the Book of Mormon."

Both articles support the idea from Royal Skousen and Stanford Carmack that the language Joseph Smith dictated to his scribes in 1829 was primarily Early Modern English. Nothing I have encountered in the intervening years has convinced me otherwise. But, I have run across people who wonder if an archaic form of English may have been spoken by rural people in the Palmyra, New York frontier area during Joseph's lifetime. After all, we know that Appalachian English aka Smoky Mountain English aka Southern Mountain English is an oral linguistic phenomenon known to science that persists today in the mountainous area from southern New York to northern Mississippi and Alabama.

Point #1: Appalachian English is not a fossilized form of Early Modern English preserved in isolation in the hills and hollers of the region. It has much stronger affinities with 18th century American Colonial English which is generally considered Modern English. Scotch Irish influences from northern Ireland are widely recognized. See A Handbook of Varieties of English (Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004) and  Michael Montgomery, "How Scotch-Irish is your English?" in The Journal of East Tennessee History, Vol. 67 (2005).

Point #2: English in most parts of colonial North America was surprisingly uniform. Historical linguists such as Paul K. Longmore and Joey L. Dillard discuss "linguistic levelling" and the "American koiné" that they attribute to extensive travel and migration and the rapid assimilation of immigrants speaking Dutch, French, German, Swedish, and other western European tongues. "By the early to mid-eighteenth century, varieties of English emerged that many observers perceived as both homogenous and matching metropolitan (London) standard English." Paul K. Longmore, "Good English without Idiom or Tone: The Colonial Origins of American Speech" in Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 37:4 (Spring, 2007). The nation building that accompanied the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783) further standardized a language that was already much more normalized than the regional dialects prevalent in Britain at the time. John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Scotland. He observed that Americans had geographic, occupational, and social mobility so they were "not so liable to local peculiarities either of accent or phraseology." Very high American birth rates added to the linguistic levelling effect since native born colonials quickly came to vastly outnumber immigrants. Intercontinental travelers and long-term settlers such as Hugh Jones, William Eddis, Jonathan Boucher, and many others were impressed with the homogeneity they found in American speech patterns. See "They Speak Better English than the English Do: Colonialism and the Origins of National Linguistic Standardization in America" in Early American Literature Vol. 40 No. 2 (2005). Eighteenth century British visitors marveled at the "striking uniformity" of the English spoken by American colonists. "The American Koine - Origin, Rise, and Plateau Stage" in Kansas Journal of Sociology, Vol. 9 No. 2 (1973),

Point #3. Joseph Smith, Emma Hale Smith, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and others associated with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon precisely matched the demographic profile described above: geographically, occupationally, and socially mobile.

Point #4. The Erie Canal was under construction from 1817 - 1825. It runs right through Palmyra, New York. Construction was a polyglot enterprise employing thousands. Once it began operation, people from around the world traveled on it routinely. It connected Buffalo on Lake Erie to Albany on the Hudson River to New York City on the Atlantic. Palmyra was not a bucolic backwater. After 1825 it was highly integrated into the global economy of the time. Click to enlarge the map below.

1825 Map of the Erie Canal. The Red Arrow Indicates Palmyra.

Point #5. Beginning about 1760 there was a conscious effort among American nationalists to further standardize language throughout the colonies. This was considered a social, economic, and military good. Luminaries such as Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) fostered the movement. Noah Webster (1758-1843) eventually became a leader in the cause which culminated in his celebrated 1828 dictionary of American English.

Point #6. Methodism was the fastest growing faith community in North America from 1766 through the 1820's, largely due to circuit riders. These itinerant preachers traveled widely and their far-flung influence helped standardize linguistic patterns throughout the country. See William A. Powell, Jr. "Methodist circuit-riders in America, 1766 - 1844." Master's thesis, Paper 813, University of Richmond (1977). 

So, the notion that the archaic language in the earliest Book of Mormon text originated in or was intended to communicate colloquially with upstate New York seems far-fetched. We have a fair sampling of Joseph's personal words and a larger sampling of his mother's words. Both spoke Modern English as we would expect given their cultural origins in 1805 Vermont and 1775 New Hampshire respectively.   

Church Growth in 2022

For the second year in a row, the Church annual growth rate increased and in 2022 the Church growth rate once again exceeded the world population growth rate after 2 years of falling behind the world number. Clearly some of the missionary techniques perfected during the worldwide COVID pandemic are proving effective for the global missionary force of 62,544. The new missionary mantra "love, share, invite" introduced in June 2021 (Elders Quentin L. Cook, David A. Bednar, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and Sister Bonnie H. Cordon in global missionary fireside) publicized by Elder Gary E. Stevenson in April 2022 General Conference, and repeated in October 2022 (Elder Denelson Silva) and April 2023 (Elders Quentin L. Cook and Ahmad S. Corbitt) General Conferences appears to be working. 

Blue Line = Church Annual Growth Rate

Red Line = World Population Annual Growth Rate

Church annual growth rate was 1.54% in 2019, .60% at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, .85% in 2021, and 1.17% in war-ravaged 2022. World annual population growth rate was 1.08% in 2019, 1.05% in 2020, 1.03% in 2021, and .84% in 2022. Some demographers expect world annual population growth to go negative by 2050.

As of 12/31/2022 total Church membership stood at 17,002,461, a net increase of 197,061 from 2021's year end number of 16,805,400. Most informed estimates put active, tithe paying, temple recommend holding, mission serving, Sacrament Meeting attending Latter-day Saints at about 6 million or approximately 35% of global membership.

Elder Quentin L Cook on Lehi's Descendants

 In the Saturday morning session of April 2023 General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook described the scattering and the gathering of Israel. As part of that talk, he said "Descendants of Father Lehi are spread throughout the Americas." 

Elder Quentin L. Cook on Location of Lehi's Descendants
April 1, 2023

This is yet another witness from modern revelation that Book of Mormon peoples (Lamanites) are not found in just one region of the Western Hemisphere, but reside in all parts of the New World.