Test #5 North South East and West

Celestial phenomena form the basis for most cardinal and ordinal (intercardinal) directional systems and the same was true anciently.

Fact #1. In temperate and tropical latitudes (south of the Arctic Circle, north of the Antarctic Circle), the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. On a flat horizon, sunrise will be due east and sunset due west twice a year, on the vernal equinox (near March 21) and the autumnal equinox (near September 21). The site of Dzibilchaltun in Yucatan is justifiably famous with tourists partly because of spectacular site alignments on equinox sunrise.

Equinox sunrise, Dzibilchaltun

This is the same structure on vernal equinox about 30 minutes after sunrise.

Equinox sunrise + 30, Dzibilchaltun near Merida

Even more renowned among tourists is the serpent of light that appears on the steps of the Temple of Kukulcan (El Castillo) at Chichen Itza on the afternoon of each equinox.

Serpent image created by the equinoctial afternoon sun

Fact #2. The earth's spin axis is tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic, the hypothetical plane that intersects both the earth and the sun. This tilt causes the seasons as days in the northern hemisphere lengthen toward summer solstice (near June 21) and shorten toward winter solstice (near December 21).

Visual representation of earth's tilted axis

At the equator on a flat horizon, the sun will rise on the summer solstice at a point 23.5 degrees north of due east. On the winter solstice that point will be 23.5 degrees south of due east. So, at the equator throughout one solar year, the sunrise point will vary across 47 degrees of a 360 degree arc, with that variation centered on due east. As one moves north or south of the equator, variation in solstitial sunrise points increases according to the formula 23.5/cosine(latitude). So, for example, the solstitial variation between sunrise points at Guatemala City (15.5 degrees north latitude) is 48.77 degrees on a flat horizon, slightly more than at the equator. The solstitial variation between sunrise points at Mexico City (19 degrees north latitude) is 49.70 degrees on a flat horizon. Mexico City (Teotihuacan) is about the northern extreme of New World locations that could plausibly be referenced in the Book of Mormon text. So, when the Nephites observed sunrise or sunset, they were looking at points on the horizon within 24.85 degrees of due east or due west. As with the equinoxes, solstice sunrise points were important in ancient architectural layouts. This, for example, is the entrance to the  famous Temple of Karnak in Egypt on the winter solstice sunrise.

Entryway, Temple of Karnak, Winter Solstice

Moonrise and moonset points follow a more complex but ultimately similar pattern. The new moon rises due east and sets due west on the spring and fall equinoxes, just as the sun does. The full moon does the same. The waxing moon rises due east and sets due west on the summer and winter solstices, which is opposite the sun's behavior. The waning moon does the same. As the moon goes through its phases, it will rise and set at points on the horizon that vary (at the equator) by the 23.5 degrees of the earth's tilt + the 5 degrees of the moon's own tilt. Like sunrise and sunset points, the amount of moonrise/set variation north and south of due east/west increases as one moves from the equator to higher latitudes. This graph from Paul Middents of the Battle Point Astronomical Association shows lunar rise/set point variation on the horizon relative to solar rise/set point variation across the 18.6 years of a lunar nodal or standstill cycle.

Variation in moonrise points on the horizon relative to sunrise points

As the graph shows, some years the variation in moonrise points will be up to 5 degrees smaller than the variation in corresponding sunrise points. Some years the variation in moonrise points will be up to 5 degrees greater. Like the sun, the apparent movement of the moon will always center on due east and due west.

Venus, the evening and morning star, exhibits similar predictable behavior in the sky rising and setting on the horizon at points in between the solar and lunar maximums. The apparent motion of Venus is  affected by its sidereal period (225 days), its synodic period (583.9 days), the tilt of its axis (2.7 degrees away from the plane of the ecliptic) and its interaction with earth's sidereal period (365.256 solar days). The ancient Assyrians were careful observers of the planet's movements as shown in the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa on display in the British Museum. This 7th century B.C. copy of a 17th century B.C. text was in the library at Nineveh.

Cuneiform Tablet Plotting the Heliacal
Risings and Settings of Venus

The Maya were even more precise in many of their Venus observations. The famous Dresden Codex calculates Venus cycles to within 1/100th of a day.

Dresden Codex with
Venus Calculations

In his outstanding new book Izapa Sacred Space: Sculpture Calendar Codex, 2nd Edition, 2013, V. Garth Norman shows how Izapa was laid out with clear site alignments to lunar, Venus and solar azimuths on the majestic horizon which includes 4,220 meter high Tajumulco, the highest mountain in Central America

Maximum Northern Venus Rise Point Between the Summer
Solstice and Lunar Maximum Rise Poiints

Throughout their various cycles and periods, the sun, the moon and the planet Venus all rise at azimuths centered on true east and set at azimuths centered on true west. The sun shows the smallest variation in maximum (solstitial) rise and set points on the horizon because it is only affected by the 23.5 degree tilt of the earth's spin axis. Venus shows slightly more variation in its maximum rise and set points on the horizon because it is affected by the 23.5 degrees of the earth's tilt + the additional 2.7 degrees of its own tilt. The moon, across the 18.6 years of a Draconic cycle, shows the most variation in its maximum rise and set points because it is affected by the 23.5 degrees of the earth's tilt + the additional 5 degrees of its own tilt. Ancient American skywatchers followed these patterns with great interest and based their calendars on immutable celestial phenomena.

Fact #3. The earth's rotational axis slowly changes orientation, moving in a circle that requires about 25,770 years to complete. This phenomenon, called axial precession, is illustrated in the graphic below.

Earth's Precession

Because of the earth's rotation, the sky at night seems to wheel in a huge circle around the pole star. This time lapsed image captures the essence of apparent star motion, noted by ancient sky watchers around the globe.

Stars in apparent rotation around the pole star

Today, the pole star in the northern hemisphere is Polaris, commonly called the north star. Because of the earth's axial precession, the faint star Gamma Cephei will replace Polaris as the pole star about 1,000 years from now. In 2,000 B.C., the pole star was the faint star Thuban in the constellation Draco. This chart shows the way the pole star changes through the 25,770 years of earth's axial precession cycle.

Precession Polar Star Chart

Sometimes in past ages the celestial pole was simply a void with no visible star at the center of the wheel. Nonetheless, ancient mariners and astronomers in the northern hemisphere oriented to this pole as an unerring indicator of true north at right angles with the eastern sunrise and western sunset. The Southern Hemisphere also has its celestial pole. The two stars forming the long leg of the famous Southern Cross point to the south celestial pole. This important navigational aid is emblazoned on the flag of Australia.

These celestial phenomena gave rise to systems of cardinal directionality broadly similar to the one we use today. Biblical authors, for example, called their cardinal points zaphon, negev, kedem and yam, words derived largely from their Levantine geography.

Biblical Cardinal Directions

The association of east with sunrise is well attested in the Biblical text. Numbers 2:3, Joshua 12:1, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 59:19, Ezekiel 8:16,

In the New World scribal tradition, east was also the direction of sunrise. See "The Defeat of Cabracan" phrases 4, 14 in Popol Vuh Electronic Library, Allen J. Christenson translator and editor, Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 2007. See the blog article "Water Fight on the River - Round Ten" for a number of other indications the ancient Mesoamericans knew and used an astral-based system of cardinal directionality similar to our own.   

The Aztec Calendar Stone served many purposes and illustrated many cosmological, chronological and geographic concepts among the ancient Nahuatl of central Mexico. Among other things, the Aztec Calendar Stone was a classic compass rose, dividing space into equal quadrants centered on the cardinal points we know today as north, south, east and west with ordinal points NE, SE, SW and NW.

Aztec Calendar Stone, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

We commissioned Mexican graphics artist Fernando Vazquez to create a compass rose based on the Aztec Calendar Stone with cardinal, ordinal and intermediate points indicated. We will use this graphic to help us keep everything straight as we wander through the Book of Mormon text examining all occurrences of the words "north," "south," "east," and "west" with variants.

Aztec Calendar Stone as Compass Rose

North

Terms derived from the root "north" appear 83 times in the text:

• north 36 instances, 33 in a specific geographic context that can be mapped
• northward 45 instances, all in a specific context
• northern 1 instance, in a context we can map
• northernmost 1 instance, in a discrete context

Netting out duplicates, we have 39 from and to location pairs where we can calculate the azimuth of the vector between them. Azimuths could range from northwest (315 degrees) to northeast (45 degrees) and still be in the north quadrant. We plot all 39 vectors and calculate variance from true north. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.

Analysis of All Occurrences of the Term "North" with Variants

A summary of our results:

• No variance exceeds 45 degrees which means all azimuths fall within the north quadrant. Our correlations conform to the text 100%.
• The term "north" trends much more strongly toward true north than the term "northward," precisely as we would expect given the common usage of those terms in English.
• "Northward" generally means in a northwest direction which is not surprising given the lay of the land and the flow of the rivers in southern Mesoamerica.

The data in text order:

2 Nephi 24:13

Jerusalem North to Mount Zaphon

2 Nephi 24:31

Ashkelon North to Plain of Sharon

Omni 1:22; Alma 22:33, 46:22, 50:29, 50:31, 50:33, 51:30, 52:2, 63:4; Helaman 3:3, 3:8, 3:9, 3:10, 3:11, 6:6, 7:1, 7:2; 3 Nephi 3:24, 6:2, 8:12; Ether 10:21

Land Southward to Land Northward - the fundamental axis

Mosiah 7:5, 7:16, 11:13

Land of Shilom to Hill North of Shilom

Mosiah 10:8

The North of the land of Shilom

Mosiah 27:6

Nephite culture core North to Bountiful line

Alma 2:36, 2:37

Local land of  Zarahemla Northwest to Wilderness of Hermounts

Alma 8:6

Land of Melek 3 days journey North to Ammonihah

Alma 22:27

Narrow Strip of Wilderness North to Wilderness ca. 90 B.C.

Alma 22:29

Narrow Strip of Wilderness to Northern Parts of the Land

Alma 22:29 (second time)

Narrow Strip of Wilderness North to Bountiful Line

Alma 22:30, 22:31

Land Bountiful Northward to Land Desolation including Cumorah

Alma 22:32, 63:5

Narrow (Small) Neck of Land to Land Northward

Alma 22:33

Land Bountiful North to Land Desolation across the East-West
Bountiful-Desolation Line

Alma 43:34

Lamanites North of Hill Riplah

Alma 46:17

Land on the North of Midpoint of Nephite Lands

Alma 50:9

East Wilderness North of Greater Land of Nephi

Alma 50:11

Southwest Corner of Nephite Lands to Land Northward of Bountiful 

Alma 50:15

Moroni North to Lehi

Alma 50:34, Alma 52:9

Narrow Pass to Land Northward

Alma 52:23

Mulek Northward along the Seashore

Alma 56:22

Judea Northward to other Nephite Cities

Alma 56:36

Antiparah and City Beyond Northward

Alma 63:6, 63:7, 63:9, 63:10

Proposed Hagoth Route Northward

Helaman 1:23

Local Land of Zarahemla to North Parts of the Land

Helaman 1:31

The Most Capital Parts of the Land North

Helaman 3:8

Sea South to Sea North

Helaman 4:7

East-West Fortified Line to North Country

Helaman 6:9, 6:10, 6:12; 3 Nephi 1:17

Greater Land of Zarahemla, Bountiful North of Narrow Strip of Wilderness

Helaman 11:20

Northward from Approximate Midpoint of Nephite Lands

3 Nephi 4:1, 6:2

Possible Land Vacated by the Nephites North of Refuge

3 Nephi 4:23

Land Southward to Furthermost Parts of Land Northward

3 Nephi 7:12

Land Southward to Northernmost Part of Land Northward

Mormon 2:3

Land Southward Toward North Countries

Mormon 2:20

Land of Jashon Northward to Land of Shem

Mormon 2:29

Narrow Passage into Land Northward

Ether 1:1

This North Country Land of Cumorah

Ether 1:42, 2:1

Tower of Babel (Shinar) Northward Down into Valley of Nimrod

Ether 9:35

North Countries from Perspective of Land Southward

South

Terms derived from the root "south" appear 57 times in the text:

• south 36 instances, 34 in a specific geographic context that can be mapped
• southward 20 instances, all in a specific context
• south-southeast 1 instance, in a discrete context

Netting out duplicates, we have 36 from and to location pairs where we can calculate the azimuth of the vector between them. Azimuths could range from southwest (225 degrees) to southeast (135 degrees) and still be in the south quadrant. We plot all 36 vectors and calculate variance from true south, or in the case of the term south-southeast 1 Nephi 16:13, variance from true south-southeast (157.5 degrees).

Analysis of All Occurrences of the Term "South" with Variants

A summary of our results:

• No variance exceeds 45 degrees which means all azimuths fall within the south quadrant. Our correlations conform to the text 100%.
• The term "south" trends much more strongly toward true south than the term "southward," precisely as we would expect given the common usage of those terms in English.
• "Southward" always means in a southeast direction which is not surprising given the lay of the land and the flow of the rivers in southern Mesoamerica.

The data in text order:

1 Nephi 16:13

Valley of Lemuel nearly South-southeast to Shazer

Mosiah 9:14

The South of the land of Shilom

Mosiah 27:6

Nephite Culture Core Expansion South

Alma 8:18

South Entrance to City of Ammonihah from Wilderness Side

Alma 16:6, 16:7

Borders of Manti to South Wilderness East of Sidon

Alma 17:1

Gideon Southward to Manti

Alma 22:31

Multiple Mulek Landfalls up into South Wilderness

Alma 22:31 (second time); Helaman 3:8; 3 Nephi 3:24, 6:2, 8:11; Mormon 1:6; Ether 9:31, 9:32, 10:19, 10:21

Land Northward to Land Southward

Alma 22:32

Land Northward to Land Southward via Narrow (Small) Neck of Land

Alma 22:33

Lamanites Hemmed in South of Land Bountiful

Alma 27:22

Land of Jershon South of Land Bountiful

Alma 31:3

Land of Antionum South of Land of Jershon

Alma 31:3 (second time)

Wilderness Full of Lamanites South of Land of Antionum

Alma 43:31, 43:35

South of Hill Riplah

Alma 46:17

Land South of Desolation - Bountiful & Greater Land of Zarahemla

Alma 46:17 (second time)

South Portion of Nephite Lands in Land Southward

Alma 50:7

Lamanite Lands South of Narrow Strip of Wilderness Border

Alma 50:10

Fortified Southern Border in the Nephite East 

Alma 50:13

City of Moroni on the East Sea South by Narrow Strip of Wilderness

Alma 52:15

South and West Borders of Greater Land of Zarahemla

Alma 53:8

West Sea South

Alma 53:22

Melek to Judea on the South near the West Sea

Alma 62:34

Wilderness South of Land of Moroni

Helaman 1:31

South from the Most Capital Parts of the Land

Helaman 3:8

North Sea to South Sea

Helaman 4:8

All the Possession of the Nephites in the Land Southward in white overlay from
Land Bountiful on the North to the Narrow Strip of Wilderness on the South

Helaman 5:16

People of Nephi who were in the Northern Half
of the Greater Land of Zarahemla ca. 30 B.C.

Helaman 6:9, 6:10 (twice), 6:12 (twice), 3 Nephi 1:17

Lamanite Culture Core in Land South

Helaman 11:20

Southward Portion of Nephite Lands

3 Nephi 4:1, 4:26, 6:2

Deserted Nephite Lands South of Refuge
between Zarahemla and Bountiful

Mormon 2:29 (twice)

Land Northward to Narrow Passage in Land Southward

Mormon 3:5

Land Northward to Land Southward via Narrow Pass

Mormon 6:15, Mormon 8:2

Nephite Escapees from Cumorah into South Countries

Ether 15:10

Ogath Southward from Waters of Ripliancum

East

Terms derived from the root "east" appear 51 times in the text:

• east 48 instances, 43 in a specific geographic context that can be mapped
• eastward 3 instances, all in a specific context

Netting out duplicates, we have 30 from and to location pairs where we can calculate the azimuth of the vector between them. Azimuths could range from northeast (45 degrees) to southeast (135 degrees) and still be in the east quadrant. We plot all 30 vectors and calculate variance from true east.

Analysis of All Occurrences of the Term "East" with Variants

A summary of our results:

• No variance exceeds 45 degrees which means all azimuths fall within the east quadrant. Our correlations conform to the text 100%.
• Less variance occurs with east directions than with either north or south directions. This is due to the large number of east vectors that originate or terminate on the seacoast or river Sidon.
• Our sample size for the term "eastward" is too small to support meaningful conclusions.

The data in text order:
1 Nephi 17:1

Nahom nearly Eastward to Old World Bountiful

2 Nephi 12:6

Israel East to Rabbath-Ammon, modern Amman

2 Nephi 21:14

Israel and Philistia together Spoil the Children of Ammon in the East

Mosiah 27:6

Expansion from Nephite Culture Core East ca. 100 B.C. 

Alma 2:15, 2:17

400 Meter Hill Amnihu East of Sidon

Alma 6:7

Valley of Gideon East of  Sidon

Alma 16:6, 16:7, 43:35, 43:52, 43:53, 49:16

Wilderness Valley East of Sidon, South of Manti

Alma 22:27

Greater Land of Nephi to East Sea

Alma 22:27 (second & third time), 3 Nephi 1:17

Narrow Strip of Wilderness to East Sea Terminus

Alma 22:29

Expansion from Nephite Culture Core to East Sea

Alma 22:29 (second time)

Northern Parts of the Land on the East, South of Bountiful

Alma 22:32, 22:33

Eastern Terminus of Bountiful Desolation Line to West Sea

Alma 25:5

Wilderness East of Sidon South of Manti to East Wilderness

Alma 25:8

East Wilderness Further into East Wilderness

Alma 27:22

Land of Jershon on the East by the Sea South of Bountiful

Alma 31:3

Land of Antionum East of Local Zarahemla South of Jershon

Alma 43:31

East of Hill Riplah

Alma 50:7 (twice), 50:9 (twice), 50:11

Central Sidon Corridor to East Wilderness

Alma 50:8

Greater Land of Nephi Northern Border East Sea to the West

Alma 50:13

City of Moroni by the East Sea on the South

Alma 50:34

Narrow Pass by Eastern Component of the West Sea

Alma 51:26, 52:13 (Note: "Nephihah" in Alma 51:26 is a scribal error that should read "Moroni.")

Nephite East Coast Cities

Alma 62:21

Proposed Entrance to City of Nephihah on the East

Alma 62:34

Wilderness East of Land of Moroni

Helaman 1:31

The Most Capital Parts of the Land East

Helaman 3:8, 11:20

Sea West to Sea East

Helaman 4:7

West Sea to Fortified Line Eastern Terminus

Ether 9:3

Hill Ramah-Cumorah Eastward to Ablom by the Sea

Ether 14:26

Shiz Pursuit Eastward to the Sea

West

The term "west" appears 41 times in the text with no variants. 38 of those instances appear in specific geographic contexts that can be mapped. Netting out duplicates, we have 28 from and to location pairs where we can calculate the azimuth of the vector between them. Azimuths could range from northwest (315 degrees) to southwest (225 degrees) and still be in the west quadrant. The phrase "west and north" occurs once in association with the phrase "on the west, and on the north" Alma 2:36-37. That variance we calculate from true northwest (315 degrees).

Analysis of All Occurrences of the Term "West" in the Text

A summary of our results:

• No variance exceeds 45 degrees which means all azimuths fall within the west quadrant. Our correlations conform to the text 100%.
• Less variance occurs with west directions than with north, south or east directions. This is due to the very large number of west vectors that originate or terminate on the seacoast or river Sidon.

The data in text order:
2 Nephi 21:14

Jerusalem to Ashkelon in Philistia

Mosiah 27:6

Expansion from Nephite Culture Core West ca. 100 B.C.

Four Quarters of the Land ca. 100 B.C.

Alma 2:34

Battlefield in Local Land of Zarahemla West of Sidon

Alma 2:36

Wilderness of Hermounts North and West of Local Zarahemla

Alma 8:3 (twice)

Melek West of Sidon, Wilderness West of Melek

Alma 22:27

Greater Land of Nephi South of Narrow Strip of Wilderness
Running from the East Sea to the West Sea

Alma 22:27 (second time)

Narrow Strip of Wilderness from East Sea to West Sea

Alma 22:27 (third time)

Narrow Strip of Wilderness from Head of Sidon to West Sea

Alma 22:28

Wilderness West in Greater Land of Ne phi

Alma 22:28 (second time)

Greater Land of Zarahemla to West Sea

Alma 22:28 (third time)

Greater Land of Nephi West to Land of First Inheritance

Alma 22:29

Nephite Culture Core Expansion to the West South of Bountiful

Alma 22:32, 22:33

Bountiful Desolation Line from the East to the West Sea

Alma 43:27, 43:32 (twice), 43:53

Valley West of Sidon, South of Manti

Alma 50:8

Greater Land of Nephi from East Sea to the West

Alma 50:11

On the West of Greater Zarahemla

Alma 50:11 (second time), 3 Nephi 1:17

Narrow Strip of Wilderness from West Sea to Head of Sidon

Alma 50:34

Narrow Pass by the Sea on the West

Alma 52:11, 52:12, 53:8

Borders of Greater Zarahemla by the West Sea

Alma 52:15, 53:22

Borders of Greater Zarahemla South by the West Sea

Alma 52:22

Wilderness West of City of Mulek with Battle Movements

Alma 62:22

Proposed West of City of Nephihah

Alma 63:5

Hagoth's Port in Land Bountiful on the West Sea
near the Narrow (Small) Neck of Land

Helaman 1:31

The Most Capital Parts of the Land West

Helaman 3:8, 11:20

Sea West to Sea East

Helaman 4:7

Fortified Line in Land Bountiful from the West Sea
to a Point One Days Journey East

Mormon 2:6

Land of Joshua in the Borders of Greater Zarahemla
by the West Sea

Conclusion

We have now analyzed all 232 occurrences of the terms "north," "south," "east," and "west" with variants in the text. We have identified 133 discrete from and to locations in both the Old World and the New where we can map a vector between them and calculate a directional azimuth. We have compared these 133 directional azimuths against the cardinal points of a traditional compass rose and calculated variance. In all 133 cases, the variance is less than 45 degrees which means our map fits the text precisely without discrepancy. We submit any viable Book of Mormon geographic correlation should pass this test.

Test #4 Ecological Boundaries

The Book of Mormon text describes at least three abrupt boundaries between different ecological zones. The first is the border between the populated local land of Zarahemla to the south and east and the wilderness of Hermounts to the north and west Alma 2:37. Gravely wounded men staggered across this border and died from their battle injuries, their flesh promptly consumed by ravenous beasts and vultures Alma 2:38. On the Zarahemla side of this border we would expect to find settled agricultural lands. On the Hermounts side we would expect wild, undomesticated country. This kind of stark border is discernible using modern geographic information systems technology such as Google Earth.

We find another obvious ecological border between the city of Ammonihah and its wilderness side Alma 16:2. The Lamanite armies invaded Ammonihah in a lightning strike, completely destroyed the city before its inhabitants could escape, marauded around the city of Noah, and retreated back toward the greater land of Nephi with captives before the Nephites could even begin to assemble a defensive army Alma 16:3. The line between Ammonihah and its wilderness side, which must have been very close to the city, is a feature that should show up on satellite imagery.

Another life zone boundary in the text is the line along the west coast Alma 22:32, Alma 63:5 separating the land Bountiful on the south and east from the land Desolation on the north and west. The text paints a picture of a wetter, more verdant Alma 22:31 Bountiful fronting a drier Mosiah 21:26, more sparsely vegetated Helaman 3:5-11 Desolation. Again, this is a border we should be able to detect using specialized data sets in Google Earth.

Test #4a Our local land of Zarahemla is shown in red overlay on the map below, our candidate for Hermounts (Pantanos de Centla) in light green. The border between them is in white. For a more detailed discussion of the wilderness of Hermounts, see the blog article entitled "Hermounts."

Proposed Local Land of Zarahemla with Wilderness of Hermounts
to the North and West 

Zooming in on this border region we set a terrain plane at an altitude of 15 meters. Everything lower than that altitude appears in white.

15 meter terrain plane showing higher ground on the
Zarahemla side of the Hermounts border

At an average elevation of about 15 meters, our border between Zarahemla on the south and east and the wilderness of Hermounts on the north and west is the line between arable piedmont and the permanent flood plain of the Usumacinta River Delta. North and west of this line the land is a huge swamp, the largest wetlands in Mexico. The dramatic image below was taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite on October 10, 2010. The blue-black areas are standing water. The white puffs are clouds. There is near total inundation on the Hermounts side of our line, virtually no standing water on the Zarahemla side.

NASA image of our Zarahemla Hermounts border
region at the height of the rainy season

NASA's land cover imagery (LANDSAT) confirms a similar pattern. We have changed the color of the Hermounts/Zarahemla line to black so it stands out on the image below. Land on the Zarahemla side is almost all planted in crops. On the Hermounts side we see standing water, wetlands, grasslands and various forest types in addition to scattered cropland. Much of the farming taking place in this very wet area is recent. As Mexico's population has continued to increase, more and more marginal land is being brought under cultivation, even in legally protected areas such as Pantanos de Centla which is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

NASA image of our Zarahemla Hermounts border
region showing land use

Test #4b We correlate the city of Ammonihah with the site of El Hormiguero II in the San Pedro River Valley just east of the Mexico/Guatemala line. For more details about this correlation, see the blog article "Ammonihah." Turning on a shaded relief layer, it is obvious that a sizable mountain lies immediately south of the city.

Proposed Ammonihah (El Hormiguero II) at the foot of
a mountain that rises to an elevation of 450 meters 

Our Ammonihah sits at an elevation of approximately 50 meters. Setting a terrain plane at an elevation of 100 meters shows that less than 1/2 kilometer from the city the mountain begins its sharp vertical rise to a height of 450 meters.

100 meter terrain plane showing our proposed Ammonihah
immediately north of a heavily forested mountain

Test #4c We place the Bountiful/Desolation line on an east - west transect (shown in red on the map below) fronting Mar Muerto and rising to an elevation of 522 meters in the Sierra Madre. From that point, we follow rivers and other terrain features in a general NW direction to the great southern bend of the Coatzacoalcos. From then on, we postulate the Bountiful/Desolation line followed the big river to the sea.

Proposed border between the land Bountiful (shown in green)
and the land Desolation (shown in brown) 

We turn off all other details except the Bountiful/Desolation line shown in white and overlay that with isobars from INEGI showing average annual precipitation.

INEGI rainfall map

There is a great deal of detail in the map above. The dark blue areas receive more than 4,000 millimeters of rain annually, making them among the wettest places on the planet. The light blue areas receive more than 3,000 millimeters of rain each year, still very wet. The green areas receive more than 2,000 millimeters of annual precipitation, still wet. The orange areas only receive 1,500 millimeters of rain annually, which makes them significantly drier. The tan areas receive from 1,000 to 1,200 millimeters of rainfall each year, making them quite dry. And, the brown areas receive less than 800 millimeters of annual precipitation which creates very dry conditions, particularly during the dry season (November to April). The black areas (further north in Mexico beyond the range of the map above) receive less than 500 millimeters of rainfall annually, making them deserts or nearly so.

The white line on the map above is our proposed Bountiful/Desolation line from the west sea to the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos. It is 505 kilometers long following the meandering river, 246 kilometers long in air (straight line) distance. Along that vast distance, four distinct ecological zones show up clearly, marked by black transect lines. During the first segment of the border, from the Mar Muerto outlet to Santa Maria Chimalapa, land on the Bountiful side of the line is generally much wetter than land on the Desolation side, receiving as much as 2X or even 3X more annual precipitation. From Santa Maria Chimalapa through the center of the isthmus of Tehuantepec to the area just south of the ancient Olmec site of San Lorenzo, there is no distinguishable difference between annual precipitation on either side of the Bountiful/Desolation line. From the area upstream from San Lorenzo to the area just south of Minatitlan, again we see land on the Bountiful side of the line is generally much wetter than land on the Desolation side. Then from the area upstream from Minatitlan to the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos, there is no discernible difference between average annual rainfall on either side of the Bountiful/Desolation line.

Another way to look at the differences on either side of the Bountiful/Desolation border is through vegetation density. INEGI publishes a map of areas within Mexico with very dense foliage. We use it as a base map and place our Bountiful/Desolation line on top.

Areas of dense vegetation in green according to INEGI

It is obvious in the border region there is a great deal more dense foliage on the Bountiful side of our line, precisely as we would expect from the text.

Test #4 Conclusion In all three cases examined above, the distinct ecological boundaries described in the text are obvious when viewed through satellite imagery or specialized data sets rendered in Google Earth. Our proposed local land of Zarahemla/wilderness of Hermounts boundary is the edge of the largest swamp in Mexico and Central America. Our proposed city of Ammonihah/wilderness side boundary is the foothill line of a mountain with 400 meters of vertical rise immediately south of the city. Our proposed Bountiful/Desolation line precisely aligns with major annual rainfall boundaries along much of its length. These three examples corroborate our text to map correlation. We believe any viable correlation will show similar results.

Temple Conference 2013

On Wednesday, October 23, 2013, an all-day conference was held in the Eccles Event Center on the Utah State University campus. Co-sponsored by the Academy for Temple Studies and the Utah State University Department of History Religious Studies Program, the morning presenters included the renowned Margaret Barker and William G. Dever. In the afternoon we got to hear from LDS egyptologist John S. Thompson and LDS female scholars Alyson Von Feldt and Valerie Hudson. The conference theme was "The Lady of the Temple: Examining the Divine Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition." The conference was largely about two books: Margaret Barker, The Mother of the Lord, volume 1: The Lady in the Temple, London: Bloomsbury, 2012 and William G. Dever, Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. Barker's work has been reviewed for an LDS audience here and Dever's here.

Barker described her background: "I was classically trained at Cambridge, U.K. During the nappy (diaper) washing years I read the Septuagint." Females in the audience were noticeably impressed when Dever, trained as a Biblical archaeologist at Harvard, gallantly said, "I call my wife my Lady."

I attended the conference with V. Garth Norman who is keenly interested in the subject because one of the two divine figures attending the tree of life on Izapa Stela 5 is female. We took notes of motifs, images and symbols associated with the divine lady in near Eastern texts, artifacts & iconography so we could compare them with what Garth has found on the Izapa monuments. Norman is convinced Izapa was a Nephite (and Lamanite) temple center. If that is true, one would reasonably expect to find similar motifs, images and symbols on Stela 5 and the other Izapa stelae.

My notes on motifs, images & symbols associated with the Lady of the Temple.
Barker 49 motifs in alphabetic order: altar, angels, animals, ark of the covenant, army, baptism by water, being hidden which could also mean remote or eternal, bovine with horns & hooves, bread, bride, cherubim, childbirth, cloud, crown, dragon, earthquake, fire, fish, garments, hail, healing, holy of holies, incense, Jerusalem, lightning, lioness, Melchizedek, moon, pools of water, rod of iron, shields, stars, storm, sun, sunrise, table, the Holy Spirit, the number 12, throne, thunder, tower, tree, virgin, water, wilderness, wine, winged sun, wings, wisdom. Barker's sources were ancient Judeo-Christian texts.

Dever 13 additional motifs in alphabetic order: anthropomorphic trees, courtyards, death, doves, four horned altars, gates, goats, life, lions, olive oil, Pleiades, sustenance, winged lion. Dever's sources came from Levantine archaeology.

Thompson 12 additional motifs in alphabetic order: ascent, cleanliness or purity, east, guide, horizon, journey to the netherworld, lamp, light, path, sunset, tree branches, west. Thompson's sources came from Egyptian archaeology.

Book of Mormon passages referencing these same motifs, images & symbols, although some are in dissimilar contexts compared with their Near Eastern counterparts:

• altar 2 Nephi 16:6 (referenciing Isaiah 6:6) 
• angels 1 Nephi 1:8
• animals 1 Nephi 18:25
• anthropomorphic trees Alma 33:23
• ark of the covenant (phrase not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• army 1 Nephi 4:2
• ascent Mosiah 15:19
• baptism by water 1 Nephi 10:9
• being hidden, remote or eternal Alma 26:36 (Ammon's words are "lost ... in a strange land")
• bovine with horns & hooves 3 Nephi 25:2 (referencing Malachi 4:2)
• bread Alma 5:34
• bride 1 Nephi 21:18 (referencing Isaiah 49:18)
• cherubim Alma 12:21
• childbirth 1 Nephi 11:20
• cleanliness or purity 2 Nephi 25:16
• cloud 2 Nephi 14:5 (referencing Isaiah 4:5)
• courtyards (word not attested in the Book of Mormon) The text does say the Nephites constructed a temple patterned after the tripartite Temple of Solomon 2 Nephi 5:16 which would have included a courtyard
• crown 2 Nephi 13:17 (referencing Isaiah 3:17)
• death 1 Nephi 15:31
• doves 1 Nephi 11:27
• dragon 2 Nephi 8:9 (referencing Isaiah 51:9)
• earthquake 2 Nephi 27:2 (referencing Isaiah 29:6)
• east 1 Nephi 21:13 (referencing Isaiah 49:13)
• fire 2 Nephi 27:2 (referencing Isaiah 29:6)
• fish 2 Nephi 7:2 (referencing Isaiah 50:2)
• four horned altars (phrase not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• garments 1 Nephi 12:10
• gates 2 Nephi 9:41
• goats 1 Nephi 18:25
• guide Mosiah 2:36
• hail Mosiah 12:6
• healing Mosiah 3:5
• holy of holies (phrase not attested in the Book of Mormon) The text does say the Nephites constructed a temple patterned after the tripartite Temple of Solomon 2 Nephi 5:16 which would have included a holy of holies
• horizon (word not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• incense 2 Nephi 13:24 (referencing Isaiah 3:24) (Isaiah's words are "sweet smell")
• Jerusalem 1 Nephi 11:13
• journey to the netherworld 2 Nephi 1:14 (Lehi's words are "traveler" and "go the way")
• lamp (word not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• life 1 Nephi 14:7
• light 1 Nephi 17:13
• lightning 1 Nephi 19:11
• lioness (word not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• lions 2 Nephi 15:29 (referencing Isaiah 5:29)
• Melchizedek Alma 13:14
• moon 2 Nephi 23:10 (referencing Isaiah 13:10)
• olive oil (phrase not attested in the Book of Mormon) The text does mention olive trees & fruit e.g. Jacob 5:17
• path 1 Nephi 8:20
• Pleiades (aka Seven Sisters) (word not attested in the Book of Mormon) The text does mention "stars of heaven and the constellations thereof" in 2 Nephi 23:10 (referencing Isaiah 13:10)
• pools of water 2 Nephi 24:23 (referencing Isaiah 14:23)
• rod of iron 1 Nephi 8:19
• shields Alma 46:13
• stars 1 Nephi 1:10
• storm 2 Nephi 27:2 (referencing Isaiah 29:6)
• sun 1 Nephi 1:9
• sunrise Helaman 14:4 (Samuel's words are "rising of the sun")
• sunset Helaman 14:4 (Samuel's words are "its setting")
• sustenance Mosiah 2:21 (Benjamin's words are "preserving you from day to day"
• table (word not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• the Holy Spirit Jacob 6:8
• the number 12 1 Nephi 11:29
• throne 1 Nephi 1:8
• thunder 2 Nephi 27:2 (referencing Isaiah 29:6)
• tower Helaman 7:14
• tree 1 Nephi 8:10
• tree branches1 Nephi 10:12
• virgin 1 Nephi 11:15
• water 1 Nephi 11:25
• west 2 Nephi 29:11
• wilderness 1 Nephi 2:2
• wine Moroni 5:2
• winged lion (phrase not attested in the Book of Mormon)
• winged sun (phrase not attested in the Book of Mormon) The text does include 3 Nephi 25:2 (referencing Malachi 4:2) where the risen Lord invokes winged solar imagery 
• wings 2 Nephi 25:13
• wisdom 2 Nephi 2:24

Most of these motifs, images and symbols appear multiple times in the Book of Mormon text. We only reference a single typical passage for each to demonstrate they were extant in the Nephite scribal world. Daniel C. Peterson explored the possibility of a Nephite female goddess in his article "Nephi and His Asherah: A Note on 1 Nephi 11:8-23" which was published in Mormons, Scripture, and the Ancient World: Essays in Honor of John L. Sorenson, Davis Bitton editor, Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998. Alyson von Feldt found evidence of the Wisdom (generally regarded as a divine female based on passages such as Proverbs 8:22-30) literature tradition in the Book of Mormon. See her article "His Secret is with the Righteous: Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon." Barker & Dever both mentioned the likelihood (based on ancient Semitic literary sources) that the Holy Ghost of the Christian trinity is female.

For more on Book of Mormon - Temple relationships, see the blog article "Sermon at the Temple."

BMAF 2013

The 11th Annual Book of Mormon Archaeological Form (BMAF) Book of Mormon Lands Conference was held on Saturday, October 19th, 2013 at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, Utah. Approximately 200 people attended. The keynote speaker was Dan Peterson who discussed similarities between the Book of Mormon and the Quran, two books from angels. He was followed by Mark Alan Wright who elaborated a vision of future Book of Mormon Studies from his perspective as a member of the BYU Religion faculty and the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.Then F. Richard Hauck gave a fascinating analysis of the chiastic structure behind Alma 22:27 - Alma 23:1 (first reported by Shirley Heater in the 1990's). V. Garth & Cheryl Norman received the Father Lehi and Mother Sariah awards for lifetime achievement serving the Book of Mormon and its peoples. Elder Clate W. Mask, recently released as President of the Guatemala City Temple, presented insights from the Cakchiquel Maya and the life of Pablo Choc, Branch President in Patzicia, Guatemala when the 1976 earthquake struck. Royal Skousen identified areas where he has had to change his mind after making new historical or documentary discoveries in or about the Book of Mormon text. Last year, as part of BMAF 2012 in Salt Lake City, John W. Welch and Kirk Magleby presented an overview of Book of Mormon studies from the time of Joseph Smith to the middle of the 20th century. That 2012 presentation can be viewed on YouTube here. This year they presented a run through of Book of Mormon Studies from 1951 to the present. Their 115 slide (107 MB) Powerpoint can be downloaded here.

Past BMAF Father Lehi Award Recipients
2003 Dale T. Tingey
2005 Juan O'Donnell
2006 Bruce W. Warren

Past BMAF Father Lehi & Mother Sariah Award Recipients
2007 Robert E. & Helen Wells
2008 Ted E. & Dorothy Brewerton
2009 John L. & Helen Sorenson
2010 Hugh W. (posthumous) & Phyllis Nibley
2011 Joseph L. & Rhoda Allen
2012 F. Richard & Laura Hauck
2013 V. Garth & Cheryl Norman

Notes from Dan Peterson
Both Joseph Smith and Muhammad are regarded by their respective faith communities as post-Biblical prophets. Islam considers Muhammad the final prophet. Latter-day Saints believe Joseph Smith began a prophetic line that continues today with Thomas S. Monson. The LDS/RLDS split over the rightful successor to Joseph Smith. The Sunni/Shia split over the rightful successor to Muhammad. The Sunni accept a line of caliphs with varied backgrounds. The Shia insist that only caliphs directly descended from Muhammad or his close family are acceptable. The Shia position was complicated from the beginning because Muhammad had no male children who lived to maturity. Both Mormonism and Islam have accepted polygamy. The Book of Mormon and the Quran are both post-Biblical scripture. Islam shares a great deal of common ground with Christianity. Muhammad restored truth during an age of barbarism. Joseph Smith restored truth following centuries of apostasy. Both faiths have a dispensational view of history. Muhammad wondered which religion to embrace and was dissatisfied with his then-available options. 7th century Arabia expected a uniquely Arabian revelation. The Quran calls Muhammad the "seal of the prophets" commonly interpreted as the final prophet in a line going back to Adam. Abraham is particularly reverenced within Islam. LDS leaders in the 19th century showed sympathy for Islam and spoke about it favorably in general conference sermons. Muhammad was visited by the Angel Gabriel while he was meditating in a cave on Mount Hira above Mecca. Gabriel asked Muhammad to read some writing on fabric. Gabriel approached Muhammad three different times. Muhammad had a throne theophany vision. 1 Nephi 1:8 begins the finest throne theopany account recorded in any ancient literature. Lehi's version is the quintessential throne theophany. No artifacts back up the  Quran. The Quran is not translation literature. All translations are considered deficient interpretations. The true Quran only exists in its original Arabic. The Book of Mormon was produced through a translation process that required over 2 intense months to complete. The Quran was revealed over the 23 year span from A.D. 610 to A.D. 632. Its 116 revelations are more like the Doctrine & Covenants than the Book of Mormon. No grand narrative underlies the Quran. The story of Joesph sold into Egypt is the most extensive narrative in the text. Islam believes all ancient prophets were given books. Moses received the Torah, David the Psalms. Christ received the Gospel. Muhammad received the Quran and both are considered supreme, Muhammad the final and most glorious prophet, the Quran the final and most glorious book. The mother (original text) of the Quran resides in heaven. Muslims believe in a strong doctrine of pre-destination. The inlibration of divinity in the Quran is roughly equivalent to the incarnation of divinity in Jesus Christ. See John 1:1. Muslims believe in apocalypse, resurrection and judgment. They are rigorous monotheists, uncomfortable with Christian trinitarianism. Islam has no priesthood and no ordinances, but demanding expectations of adherents. When Muslim students attend BYU, they are scandalized to see LDS students putting their scriptures on the floor and marking them up with colored pencils and highlighters.

Notes from Mark Wright
Some of the excellent Book of Mormon scholars currently at BYU include Brian Hauglid, Thomas Wayment, John Hilton III, Robert Millet, Paul Hoskisson, Royal Skousen and Kerry Hull. Others are Adam Miller, David Bokovoy and Joseph Spencer. Claremont and the University of Virginia now have Mormon Studies programs. The University of Utah has a course studying the Book of Mormon as literature. The Maxwell Institute recently assembled a "Book of Mormon Think Tank." They want to consider the world behind the text (Old World, New World, 19th Century); the world of the text (critical text, literary analysis, comparative texts); the world in front of the text (canonicity) and the Book of Mormon in the academy (Book of Mormon studies, religious studies). Robert Millet is focused on the doctrines within the Book of Mormon, Joe Spencer on the theology. Mark really likes Spencer's 2012 book An Other Testament: On Typology. We need to know who the speakers (authors) are, the types of literature. There are blessings, sermons, letters. A recent article that came across Mark's desk shows a preponderance of Book of Mormon chiasms in sermons, for instance, and a paucity in other types of literature. We need to study the structure of the text. Why is there a 2nd Nephi but only one Alma even though Helaman wrote Alma chapters 45 - 62? Types of criticism that can be productively applied to the Book of Mormon: text, historical, grammatical, literary, form, tradition, redaction, structuralist and canonical. A mesoamerican image shows a bound captive being tortured to death by multiple pokes with fiery torches. This sounds much more like Mosiah 17:13 (the critical text replaces "scourged" with "scorched") than the traditional European image of burning a victim at the stake. David Bokovoy is studying intertextuality between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We need to know the reasons and contexts behind New Testament passages that appear in the text prior to the time of Christ. John Hilton III is using wordcruncher to study instances where the Book of Mormon cites itself. We need a better chronology and a historical geography tied to chronology. Kirk Magleby has done some good work in this regard. The Maxwell Institute has recently put up a website dedicated to the Book of Mormon onomasticon that includes the ability to search by suffix. Only 5% of the 6,000 known Maya sites have been studied, although the pace of exploration is accelerating. Kerry Hull is now the second mesoamericanist (Mark Wright being the first) to be hired by the BYU Department of Religious Education. Hull has done work on hydrology which shows that the Peten and parts of Veracruz were wetter anciently than they are today. Bruce Warren's suggestion that the Kix glyph (stingray spine) might be related to the name "Kish" in the Book of Mormon Ether 1:18 we now know is invalid. The word "Peten," in use since at least classic Maya times, means "island" which has significant implications for our exegesis of 2 Nephi 10:20. Brian Hauglid, Joe Spencer and Mark Wright edit the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies which will recommence under the original name in 2014. James Faulconer, on the Philosophy faculty at BYU, says richness is the new proof. Wright wishes to demonstrate the Book of Mormon interesting, not necessarily true. Proof is an unattainable standard. Archaeology is an imprecise science and most interpretations are highly subjective. The joke in the profession is that if you don't know what an item was used for, you call it a "ritual object." The Maya conceived the world resting on the back of an enormous turtle. Turtle carapaces have 13 sections, which helps explain Maya reverence for the number 13. Why the sudden interest in things Mormon by academic presses? A typical academic title sells 1,000 to 2,000 copies. LDS academic books typically sell 10,000 copies.Kerry Hull is a linguist and mayanist with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin. He is an expert on the Chorti Maya of eastern Guatemala and Honduras.

An Historical Observation from Kirk Magleby
I was thrilled to hear the BYU Department of Religious Education now has two credentialed mesoamericanists on its faculty: Mark A. Wright (PhD U.C. Riverside 2011) and Kerry M. Hull (PhD U.T. Austin 2004). When Jack Welch, John Sorenson & I were putting FARMS together in the early 1980's, we encountered thinly-veiled and sometimes open hostility from the BYU religion faculty. Joseph Fielding McConkie (1941 - 2013) expressed his disdain saying "I don't care what color the buttons were on Nephi's coat, and I don't think God cares." John Fugal was one of our few allies within the department in those early years. We have come a long way.

Notes from F. Richard (Ric) Hauck
The 10 verses from Alma 22:27 through Alma 23:1 are a complex chiasm bracketed with the Lamanite king sending a proclamation throughout all his land to all his people (Stanza 1). The passage divides into 4 additional stanzas with key words:
Stanza II borders, sea, east, west, wilderness, land of zarahemla, river Sidon.
Stanza III Lamanites, wilderness, borders, seashore, west, land of Nephi, land of Zarahemla.
Stanza IV Nephites nearly surrounded by Lamanites, lands of Nephi and Zarahemla nearly surrounded by water, wilderness head of Sidon, borders, Bountiful, Desolation, northward, southward. This fourth stanza documents several major movements - Jaredites into the land northward, Mulekites into the land northward and then from there into the land southward, and animals from the land northward into the land southward.
Stanza V Nephites, Bountiful, country whither they might flee, wisdom, Lamanites south, suffer their afflictions, no more possessions.
These 10 verses employ the word "borders" or a variant 10 times. These borders include the narrow strip of wilderness, the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, and the small neck of land. The narrow neck Alma 63:5 is not an isthmus. It is part of the border between Bountiful on the south and Desolation on the north.

Comments from Kirk Magleby
I'm not sure how many people in the audience picked up on the significance of Ric's last point. The narrow or small neck Alma 22:32, Alma 64:5, Ether 10:20 could not have been the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It was not an isthmus at all. It was associated with one and only one sea, the west sea, near the Bountiful/Desolation border. See the blog article "The Narrow (Small) Neck of Land." Ric and his colleage, Joe V. Andersen, were the first to point out the importance of the east to west, Pacific to Sierra Madre fortified wall running through the site of Los Horcones, Chiapas and associate it with the Bountiful/Desolation line in Alma 22:32 and 3 Nephi 3:23.

Notes from Elder Clate W. Mask
Elder Mask was Pablo Choc's missionary companion in the Central American Mission. Pablo was the Branch President in Patzicia when the February 4, 1976 earthquake struck, killing his wife and 2 of their children. Pres. Choc was the one who extricated Elder Randall Ellsworth from under a concrete beam that had crushed his back. Here is a short synopsis of the remarkable Randall Ellsworth story. Elder Mask was President of the Guatemala City Temple when Pablo Choc, just prior to his death, was sealed to his own parents. The Cakchiquel had traditions that they came from across the sea, from the west. Elder Mask's assumptions for reconstructing Book of Mormon geography: up = rise in elevation, down = drop in elevation, north = north, water flows downhill. He begins with the 4 seas, correlating the north sea with the Gulf of Campeche (Gulf of Mexico) coast of Veracruz and Tabasco, the east sea with the Caribbean coast of Quintana Roo, Belize and Guatemala, the south sea with the Pacific coast of Guatemala, and the west sea with the Pacific coast of Chiapas. He correlates the head of Sidon with the head (nacimiento) of the San Juan River labelled "Nacimiento del rio San Juan" on the map below.

Nacimiento (Head) of the San Juan River in Aguacatan, Huehuetenango

In his October, 1954 General Conference address, Elder Milton R. Hunter associated Tulan with Bountiful. Monument 21 at Bilbao shows the 7 tribes motif, 3 + 4. Totems of the 7 tribes are shown within a womb. The Cakchiquel claim to descend from the group of 4. One of the totems on Monument 21 is a bat, widely used among the Cakchiquel today. Another totem is the flint. Other sculptures of interest include Kaminaljuyu stela 10 and Tres Zapotes monument C. Elder Mask was President of the Guatemala City Temple from 2009 - 2012. Faithful saints from all over Central America flock to the Guatemala City Temple in such numbers that there is not room in the parking lot to accommodate all the buses and families have to set up picnic lunches on the grounds while they wait their turn to go inside.

Notes from Royal Skousen
Evidence shows the text was revealed to the Prophet Joseph word for word, even letter for letter. The printer's manuscript was taken to Canada in January, 1830 in an attempt to secure a Canadian (and hence, British Empire) copyright. When Skousen learned this (by reading Stephen Ehat's 2011 article in BYU Studies) he revised a notion he had been suggesting in print for 20 years - the reason the original manuscript was used to typeset Helaman 13:17 to the end of Mormon was because the copyists preparing the printer's manuscript fell behind in their work. They did not fall behind. The printer's manuscript was already finished. It was simply in Canada so the original manuscript was used as the copytext in setting type for one-sixth of the first edition. The text uses early modern English from the 1540 - 1730 period. In some cases, the vocabulary in the Book of Mormon is earlier than that used in the King James Bible (begun in 1604 and completed in 1611). The vocabulary is at least 100 years older than Joseph Smith's 1830 milieu. The original manuscript is 100% consistent in its use of words and phrases in context. Skousen found this quite remarkable early in his research and it has now become axiomatic with him.   

Test #3 Cultural Boundaries

The Nephite greater land of Zarahemla was bounded on the east by the sea Alma 50:13, 51:26. Its west boundary was also the seacoast Alma 52:11, 53:22, On the south, the boundary was the narrow strip of wilderness that ran from the sea east to the sea west with some curvature on the western side Alma 22:27. Alma 22:27 confirms this wilderness separated the greater land of Zarahemla on the north from the greater land of Nephi on the south. This fortified line Alma 50:11, 50:13 was a major cultural boundary separating the Nephites from the Lamanites. North of Zarahemla lay the land Bountiful which was also a significant boundary Alma 22:29, Helaman 1:23 in Book of Mormon times. Part of the land Bountiful had a coastline along the sea west Alma 22:32-33, 63:5. This map shows our proposed relationships. The Mezcalapa-Grijalva River is shown as it flowed in early Nephite times (see the blog article "Wandering River").

Proposed greater land of Zarahemla bounded by 2 seas, the
narrow strip of wilderness and the land Bountiful

The sea east and sea west borders are intuitive and clear. Seacoasts serve as polity boundaries in every culture on the planet. Does any evidence exist that our narrow strip of wilderness and Zarahemla/Bountiful border were major ethnic and cultural boundaries in antiquity? The answer is yes when we examine the Maya world. This map shows the extent of Maya territory as a white overlay in what the Nephites called the land southward. Except for outliers such as Cacaxtla in Tlaxcala and the Huastec region in northern Veracruz and surrounding areas, Mayan speakers lived in this part of southern Mesoamerica. The Maya, though, were a heterogeneous group. They were divided into the highland and lowland Maya, with the lowland peoples further sub-divided into northern and southern zones.

The Maya world in white with major boundaries in orange

Test #3a. Our narrow strip of wilderness is the Polochic Fault, a thin line of  cliffs with rivers running east west at the base of the escarpments (See the blog article entitled "The Narrow Strip of Wilderness". One of those rivers is the Polochic that runs for 100 air kilometers eastward to empty into Lake Izabal. The Polochic and its sister river, the Cahabon, were part of a very important ethnic and cultural boundary from Book of Mormon times to the present. The boundary between the highland Maya to the south and the southern lowland Maya to the north ran along the Polochic over part of its length, precisely where we have plotted the narrow strip of wilderness. In the map below, major Maya boundaries are in orange, the narrow strip of wilderness in green and the area immediately north of the local land of Nephi where the two boundaries coincide is obvious.

Major  Maya boundaries, including a section along the Polochic River
that parallels the Polochic Fault, our narrow strip of wilderness

Test #3b. Our greater land of Zarahemla/land Bountiful boundary is the northern fork of the Candelaria River in Campeche and the Rio Azul - Rio Hondo on the Mexico/Belize border. The head of Rio Hondo is the confluence of the Rio Azul with the Rio Bravo near Blue Creek, Belize. The boundary between the southern lowland Maya and the northern lowland Maya follows essentially this same path. In the map below, major Maya boundaries are in orange. Rivers that drain to the Usumacinta are in red. Rivers that drain to the Mezcalapa-Grijalva are in blue. All other rivers are in yellow.

Major Maya boundaries, including a section along the Candelaria
and Hondo Rivers that parallels our Zarahemla/Bountiful line

Test #3 Conclusion. The Book of Mormon says the line separating the Nephites on the north from the Lamanites on the south was an important ancient boundary. In our text to map correlation, a significant portion of that boundary is still recognized today as the line between the highland and lowland Maya. The Book of Mormon further describes a boundary between the greater land of Zarahemla on the south and the land Bountiful on the north. According to our correlation, much of that boundary is recognized today as the line between the southern lowland and northern lowland Maya. We believe any viable text to map correlation will show correspondence between major Book of Mormon boundaries and ethnic/cultural boundaries known from antiquity.