Norman's Clincher

While talking with Garth Norman recently he recounted the moment he realized the Usumacinta must be the Sidon. He first determined that Moroni on the east coast just north of the narrow strip of wilderness Alma 50:13 had to be one of the known submerged ruins (such as Tiger Mound) in the Bay of Amatique that straddles the Caribbean coast of Guatemala and Belize.

Proposed Fortified Cities Moroni to Manti and Beyond

There are six serious Mesoamerican Book of Mormon correlations. They are, in order of first publication: Sorenson (1985), Hauck (1988), Allen (1989), Turner (2004), Norman (2006), and Magleby (this blog, 2011). Five of the six place Moroni (white pin) and the narrow strip of wilderness about where they are shown on the map above. The only outlier is Sorenson who places Moroni (black pin) on the Gulf Coast. So, Norman has solid support for his Moroni correlation.

Ca. 72 BC Captain Moroni fortified a string of cities at key points along the southern flank of Nephite lands. They ran from Moroni on the east Alma 50:13 to Antiparah on the west Alma 56:31. Going from east to west, the cities were Manti, Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah Alma 56:14. Westward from Moroni the next fortified city was Manti which was near the head of river Sidon Alma 22:27. Antiparah, Cumeni and Zeezrom were in the south west quadrant of Nephite lands Alma 52:11, Alma 53:22. The Sidon itself was in the center of Nephite territory Helaman 1:26. Ca. 72 BC the greater land of Zarahemla north of the narrow strip of wilderness extended from sea to sea Alma 50:11-13. So, moving westward from Moroni, Manti was the next in line of Captain Moroni's fortified cities. It was not far from the head of the river at the approximate center of the greater land of Zarahemla. The Usumacinta fits this scenario beautifully and for Norman, that was the clincher.

Introducing Book of Mormon Central

A member of the Stanford LDS Institute faculty, Lynne Hilton Wilson, grew tired of seeing bright young Latter-day Saints leave the Church without ever seriously engaging the Book of Mormon. She envisioned an organization that could communicate the wonder of this text to a broad audience, including millennials. Major donors came forward and Book of Mormon Central (BMC) was born in May, 2015. John W. (Jack) Welch is the Chairman. I (Kirk Magleby) serve as Executive Director. Taylor Halverson rounds out the volunteer management team. We have a research office and library in Springville, Utah. The legal entity behind BMC is Ancient America Foundation (AAF) chartered in 1983. In addition to full-time staff and part-time freelancers, BMC has both affiliates and associates. Affiliates are collaborative organizations with compatible goals. Associates are volunteer researchers, writers, editors, reviewers, illustrators, composers, designers, photographers, etc.

Book of Mormon Central launched on January 1, 2016. A pre-launch reception was held on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 from 11:30 am until 1:30 pm in the Fritz Burns Lobby of the J. Reuben Clark Law School on BYU Campus. About 120 people attended.

Book of Mormon Central Pre-Launch Reception Invitation

Book of Mormon Central has four major initiatives.

• The BMC Archive is a comprehensive digital repository of searchable texts and media relevant to the Book of Mormon. Over 1,000 items were in the archive at launch.
• BMC Notes are articles about the Book of Mormon organized in curated wiki format. A few notes were available at launch, with many more coming online during 2016.
• The BMC Text is an online interactive copy of the Book of Mormon linked to explanatory material in the Archive and Notes. A short demo of the text was online at launch.
• KnoWhys are concise illustrated essays about a point of interest in the Book of Mormon published frequently in many social media channels including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. KnoWhys began publication January 1, 2016.

Nothing like Book of Mormon Central has ever been attempted in this dispensation. We hope to give believers a place to strengthen their conviction through reliable scholarship and articulate communication. And we hope to help many not of our faith come to know the Book of Mormon.

A phrase we have heard frequently the last few months, "This is greatly needed and long overdue."

This article updated January 30, 2016

Great Western Trade Route

Brent K.S. Woodfill and Chloe Andrieu published an article in the September 2012 edition of the journal Ancient Mesoamerica entitled "Tikal's Early Classic Domination of the Great Western Trade Route: Ceramic, Lithic, and Iconographic Evidence." They describe a well-known trail that led from the Pacific coast of Chiapas up to Kaminaljuyu on the continental divide, then down the Motagua drainage, up over the Sierra de las Minas, through the Salama Valley and around the Cahabon River to modern Coban, then down to Cancuen on the Pasion, through Dos Pilas near the head of the Usumacinta, then down the Usumacinta past Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, down the San Pedro to Moral-Reforma, then down the Usumacinta and Palizada to Aguacatal on the western edge of Laguna de los Terminos, and finally along the western coast of Campeche. Important points on the trail were the confluence of the Pasion with the Salinas to form the Usumacinta, and the confluence of the San Pedro with the Usumacinta.

Great Western Trade Route with Tikal Extension

The Tikal extension went through Seibal and around Lake Peten Itza to Tikal on the continental divide between the San Pedro and Belizean drainages.

Many Book of Mormon scholars believe Kaminaljuyu was the city of Nephi. Following the Great Western Trade Route from Kaminaljuyu to Moral-Reforma takes you right to our land of Gideon across the Sidon from our lesser land of Zarahemla. This is of some interest because the Book of Mormon says Alma, wishing to travel south from Zarahemla to Manti, first crossed over the river and began his southward journey from Gideon Alma 17:1.

Trade Route Linking Proposed Nephi and Zarahemla

Archaeologists believe the Great Western Trade Route was used in late pre-classic times and well-established by the early classic period ca. AD 250. This corresponds nicely with our current understanding of Book of Mormon geo-political history.

• ca. 592 BC The Lehites landed on the west coast of the land southward and established the land of first inheritance Alma 22:28. In our correlation, the land of first inheritance corresponds with the Soconusco region in the general vicinity of Izapa. The Great Western Trade Route began on the Pacific coast of Chiapas in this region. 
• ca. 588 BC Nephi took those who were willing to follow him and traveled many days eastward to the city of Nephi 2 Nephi 5:7-8. In our correlation, he traveled from the Izapa area to Kaminaljuyu, precisely following the first leg of the Great Western Trade Route.

This map shows the section of the Great Western Trade Route running eastward from the Chiapas coast to Kaminaljuyu.

Proposed First Inheritance Eastward to Nephi

It is about 180 air kilometers from Izapa to Kaminaljuyu. This distance certainly qualifies as "many days" travel according to our derived metric of 15 air kilometers per day. See the blog article "Land Southward Travel Times."

The Nephites maintained their capital at the city of Nephi for generations. Then, ca. 200 BC, Mosiah₁ led the Nephite faithful on an exodus down from Nephi to the local land of Zarahemla. This was a long and arduous trip. The Nephites did not know the way beforehand. They were guided by divine revelation Omni 1:13. There is a concept in geo-spatial modelling called the least-effort path. This is a route through the topography that gets you from point A to point B with minimal expenditure of energy. A few years ago I came up with an idealized route from proposed Nephi to proposed Zarahemla This was my attempt to create a least-effort path, shown in black on the map below.

Proposed Nephi to Zarahemla via Least-Effort Path

On the map above, red represents the streamflows of the Usumacinta drainage basin. White is the Great Western Trade Route attested by archaeology. Black is a hypothetical least-effort path from Nephi to Zarahemla.Under the best of circumstances, the trip from Kaminaljuyu to Moral-Reforma was long and arduous. The fact that a known travel corridor connected them adds to the viability of our Nephi and Zarahemla candidates.

From ca. 200 BC to ca. 121 BC travel between Nephi and Zarahemla was sporadic. Most groups got lost en route. This is consistent with the archaeological record which reports the Great Western Trail little used during this time period. Between ca. 121 BC and ca. 90 BC Manti was established as the southernmost outpost of Nephite influence along the central Sidon corridor. That was a turning point in Nephite affairs. After the settlement of Manti, the text never reports another group getting lost and travel between Nephi and Zarahemla became routine Alma 17:1. This corresponds precisely with the picture we see from archaeology. Travel along the Great Western Trail became standardized during the late pre-classic and by the early classic ca. AD 250 the route was well-established.

Aztec Garrisons

The husband and wife team of Arlen F. and Diane Z. Chase of the University of Central Florida have spent much of their professional lives investigating the site of Caracol, Belize. In a 1998 paper entitled "Late Classic Maya Political Structure, Polity Size, and Warfare Arenas" they posit "the 60 kilometer rule" that armies supplied from various late classic Maya capitals were effective within a 60 kilometer radius of their home. They marshall data from several lines of inquiry to support their idea that because of logistical limitations, Maya armies did not venture much past this hypothetical limit around their capitals.

Late Classic Maya Capitals with 60 Kilometer Circles

If armies on the march in this part of the world really did stay this close to home, it has profound implications for potential Book of Mormon correlations. It means the capital cities Nephi and Zarahemla were probably located within 100 - 150 air kilometers of each other. I am indebted to Dave Gray of Queensland, Australia for sharing the Chase's paper with me.

There is another way to look at things, though. We know the post-classic Aztec Empire maintained military garrisons throughout their territory. This is a map showing known Aztec military outposts at contact.

Aztec Troop Garrisons AD 1518

The distance from Oztoman in the Aztec NW to Xoconochco in the SE is approximately 900 air kilometers. From their capital at Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs supplied armies deployed throughout their vast realm. They also used their garrisons as forward operating bases to project force and maintain supply lines.

The Aztecs fought a lengthy, well-documented battle at the site we now call Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. A sizable Aztec force laid siege to the town for several months.The blog article "Isthmuses" has details about this famous battle. Tehuantepec is 160 air kilometers from the nearest Aztec military base at Huaxyacac and 535 air kilometers from the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

Aztec Battle Site - Tehuantepec

The Aztecs clearly operated much further afield than a 60 mile radius from their capital.

The text of the Book of Mormon makes it clear the Nephite military also had a tiered logistical system with multiple sources of resupply. In his epistle to Captain Moroni, Helaman describes his army operating on the SW front being resupplied from both Melek and Zarahemla Alma 56:27-28. The Nephites also opportunistically resupplied Judea from Cumeni Alma 57:11. So, the Nephite military operated like the documented Aztec model rather than the Chases' hypothetical Maya model. This means the Nephites could have projected force and maintained supply lines throughout territory hundreds of kilometers distant from their capital at Zarahemla.

In a 2009 Ancient Mesoamerica article entitled "States and Empires in Ancient Mesoamerica," the Chases and Michael E. Smith provide more nuanced context behind their "60 kilometer rule." They derive a sixty kilometer radius from the distance they believe an army could march in 3 days at the rate of 20 air kilometers per day. This metric compares favorably with our derived value - 15 air kilometers per day - for the Nephite standard unit of distance measure "one day's journey." See the blog article "Land Southward Travel Times." They also recount known conquests of Tikal documented both epigraphically and archaeologically.

Neighboring Sites that Invaded and Conquered Tikal

Calakmul (100 air kilometers), Caracol (73 air kilometers) and Dos Pilas (112 air kilometers) all conquered Tikal militarily at various times in its turbulent history.

In addition, Tikal is known to have had very strong trade and political relationships at times with distant Copan (268 air kilometers) and Kaminaljuyu (304 air kilometers).

Relationships between Tikal and Distant Copan, Kaminaljuyu

These data points make our proposed Nephi - Zarahemla distance (326 air kilometers from Kaminaljuyu to Boca del Cerro) seem plausible.

Proposed Distance Nephi to Lesser Land of Zarahemla

The Chases and Smith also make a strong point about "hegemonic" states being very different from "territorial" polities. A territorial state exercises exclusive sovereignty over the land within its borders via centralized political and military power. A hegemonic state is a looser, more decentralized alliance of polities. According to their analysis, most state-level cultures in Mesoamerica were hegemonic rather than territorial. This is good news for the Book of Mormon because it explicitly describes a relatively loose, decentralized alliance where city-states took themselves out of the confederation at will Alma 2:9, Alma 43:4.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S. Two of our children, in from Minneapolis and Los Angeles, celebrated with us. We spent time with my mother-in-law who is feeling the effects of her 86 wonderful years. We visited my brother who entertained 44 guests in his new home. We are thankful for our eternal family. We began by offering prayers in all the languages spoken by the six people around our table - German, Spanish, Russian, French and English. We are thankful for the Church's missionary program and for educational opportunities. Our meal was splendid. We are thankful for adequate nutrition. We ended by singing the 1927 song "Bless This House" written by Helen Taylor (UK) and composed by May Brahe (Australia). We are thankful for a happy home and for the role music plays in our lives. Our other children shared reports of their celebrations in Houston and Chicago. I spent two hours on Skype with a terrific Book of Mormon scholar who lives in the Australian outback. The connection was so clear I could hear his young children playing in the background. We are grateful for the blessings of technology, for the Book of Mormon, and for the bond the Gospel creates among the worldwide fellowship of Saints. We saw photographs from our son's recent visit to one of our ancestral homelands just south of Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport. We are thankful for things which are at home and things which are abroad as D&C 88:79 says.

George Washington proclaimed that a "Day of Thanksgiving" be held on November 26, 1789. His words sound like something from Captain Moroni. "...A day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness." "...The service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us." - George Washington, October 1789.

The Book of Mormon uses the term "thanksgiving" six times.

• In 2 Nephi 8:3 (citing Isaiah 51:3) the term is associated with the redemption of Zion and the return of the House of Israel in the latter days.
• Alma 19:14 describes the great missionary Ammon in the court of King Lamoni.
• Ammon himself used the term in his exultation at the conclusion of his mission Alma 26:37.
• Amulek used the term in his preaching to the Zoramites in the land of Antionum Alma 34:38.
• Mormon used the term to describe his hero, Captain Moroni Alma 48:12.
• The term is used to describe the Nephites' reaction to the calming voice of the resurrected Savior following the vast destruction at His crucifixion 3 Nephi 10:10.

George Washington associated thanksgiving with prayer to God in gratitude for divine providence. This is precisely how Book of Mormon prophet/authors employed the term.

Mosquitia

The October 2015 National Geographic magazine contains an intriguing article entitled "Lure of the Lost City" by Douglas Preston with photographs by Dave Yoder. Airborne LIDAR remote sensing has located large ancient urban complexes previously unknown to science in a remote part of Honduras near its border with Nicaragua. The Mosquitia area is approximately 100 air kilometers from the Honduran town of Catacamas.

National Geographic Map of Mosquitia Area

Ground reconnaissance has verified the existence of large sites, but intense field work and excavation are still needed to establish dates and cultural relationships. The Mosquitia area is about 300 air kilometers distant from the traditional eastern boundary of Maya civilization which roughly follows the Ulua River. This Maya boundary has often been used to demarcate the eastern and southern limits of Mesoamerican high culture which many Book of Mormon scholars in turn have equated with the Lehite land southward border. Cultural remains from eastern Honduras and Nicaragua are generally regarded as significantly less advanced than those coming from western Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. If evidence of high culture or strong Maya affinities are found at Mosquitia sites, our maps of southern Mesoamerica may have to be re-drawn.

Maya Region and Newly-Discovered Mosquitia Area

Garth Norman has made the keen observation that if Mosquitia turns out to have occupation layers dating to Book of Mormon times, our notion of the land southward nearly surrounded by water Alma 22:32 may have to move further south into the narrower parts of Central America.

One Interpretation of the Land Southward Nearly Surrounded by Water

Many students of the Nephite text will be following developments in the Mosquitia area with interest.

Deuteronomy in the Book of Mormon

On November 18, 2015, I attended a lecture by Prof. David Rolph Seely entitled "Deuteronomy in the Book of Mormon" sponsored by BYU's Ancient Law Foundations Association (ALFA). This was an expanded version of a presentation Seely will give next week at the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) annual conference in Atlanta. Seely is on the ancient scripture faculty at BYU. His PhD is in biblical studies and Hebrew from the University of Michigan where he studied under renowned biblical scholar David Noel Freedman (1922-2008). Seely has worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He co-edited the 2004 Glimpses of Lehi's Jerusalem (Maxwell Institute) with Jo Ann Seely and Jack Welch. He co-authored the 2007 Solomon's Temple: Myth and History (Thames and Hudson) with Bill Hamblin.

Lehi had first-hand experience with Josiah's reforms. The book of the law referenced in 2 Kings 22:8 was some form of Deuteronomy. The Book of Mormon has many examples of Deuteronomic language, themes, and laws. The Book of Mormon is steeped in King James Version (KJV) language. Mark Twain observed that the Book of Mormon has the quaint and old-fashioned structure of the KJV. The Book of Mormon contains 21 chapters - 478 verses - of Isaiah. On intertextuality between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Seely referenced Philip Barlow's 2013 Mormons and the Bible (Oxford) and the anti-Mormon Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon.which emphasizes passages from Isaiah and Exodus. Nick Frederick has found 670 New Testament quotations in the Book of Mormon. (For my notes on a presentation Nick Frederick gave in March, 2015, see the article "English in the Book of Mormon"). BH Roberts in his 1907 2 volume Defense of the Faith and the Saints was beginning to address the issues of biblical intertextuality. Biblical quotations generally follow KJV language.

Seely then mentioned the two schools of thought regarding translation methodology: A) Joseph read word-for-word from text displayed in the seer stone (Royal Skousen) and B) Joseph dictated an open rendering of thoughts in his own words (Brant Gardner). Seely favors Skousen because the literal rendering theory has a great deal of evidence to support it.

Seely shared two humorous anecdotes:
A) When he first hired on at BYU, the department chair asked him never to use the term "cult." It is such a useful word in the study of ancient religion that Seely has used it as often as possible since that day. B) Seely once visited Jerald and Sandra Tanner at their Lighthouse Ministry home office in Salt Lake. A little barking dog greeted him furiously at the door. Sandra said, "Our dog has been trained to bite Mormons."

Critics of the Book of Mormon generally raise two issues regarding biblical intertextuality. A) Joseph Smith simply plagiarized the Bible, and B) Joseph copied from the Bible so clumsily that the Book of Mormon is full of anachronisms. Possible answers include A) Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon share certain ancient texts in common, B) The Book of Mormon is fiction or divine fiction, and C) The Book of Mormon is a mixture of ancient texts and modern inspired expansions from Joseph Smith. Seely sees both the Book of Mormon and the book of Deuteronomy descending from common ancient sources.

Characteristics of both the book of Deuteronomy and the Book of Mormon:

• Ancient authorship
• Lost, hidden, buried for centuries
• Re-discovery led to covenant renewal
• Re-discovery led to centralization of cult
• Re-discovery led to religious reforms
• Covenant renewal ceremonies
• Sacrifices at temples
• Prophet authors speak as voices from the dust
• Authors expected their text to transform the world
• Book with a mission
• Authors wrote for their own time and the future
• Recitation of past history
• Emphasis on the Exodus motif
• Blessings and curses
• Prophecies
• Messiah
• Ultimate destruction
• Authoritative copy of the law (in the case of the Book of Mormon, the law was on the Plates of Brass) used to measure the people
• Self-referential literature

The story of King Josiah and the discovery of the book of the law is in 2 Kings 22 - 23. The discovery was in 622 BC, within Lehi's lifetime. The book, or Torah, was delivered to King Josiah. As the king read, Moses was literally speaking to him from the dust. Josiah recognized his nation's apostasy and immediately instituted reforms. He led a covenant renewal ceremony and repaired the temple.

The Plates of Brass contained the five books of Moses 1 Nephi 5:11. Therefore, the Pentateuch was in the canon by 600 BC. This contradicts the documentary hypothesis which sees part of Deuteronomy as exilic or post-exilic. The documentary hypothesis sees sources J (Yahwist), E (Elohist), J-E, D (Deuteronomist), R (Redactors) and P (Priestly)  all coming together to form the Torah. Moses wrote Deuteronomy on Mt. Nebo, then placed the book of the law in the ark of the covenant.

Seely showed an image of the Warka Vase from Mesopotamia which includes a depiction of itself. This is an example of self-referential art.

Warka Vase with Representation of Itself Highlighted in Red

Deuteronomy is an example of self-referential literature. The Book of Mormon is a book about itself as a book.

If you read the opening of the Book of Mormon carefully, you realize Nephi wrote these lines about 30 years after 600 BC. He began his narrative by recounting past history. Noel Reynolds showed in a Journal of Book of Mormon Studies JBMS article that both Lehi and Nephi are types of Moses.

Dueteronomic words, phrases and allusions in the Book of Mormon include:

• prophet like Moses 1 Nephi 22:20
• heavens and earth bear witness Alma 1:15, Helaman 8:24
• death of Moses Alma 45:19
• commandments, statutes, judgments 2 Nephi 5:10, 3 Nephi 25:4 citing Malachi 4:4
• poor and needy Alma 4:13, Mormon 8:37
• forget the Lord Alma 46:8, Helaman 11:36
• cleave to the Lord Helaman 4:25

Joshua is part of Deuteronomic history. "Remember" is a central theme of Deuteronomy as it is in the Book of Mormon Mosiah 4:30, Helaman 5:6. Noel Reynolds found 14 themes from Dueteronomy in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon sounds Deuteronomic in many places due to the language but also because of thematic clustering. Lehi, Nephi and Abinadi are all Moses figures. Deuteronomy 12-26 is a lengthy legal document. Deuteronomic law is theoretical. The Book of Mormon documents actual legal cases. There are more than 100 discrete laws in Deuteronomy. After reading Deuteronomy, Josiah centralized the cult at the Temple of Jerusalem. Lehi did not follow all of Josiah's reforms. In the Book of Mormon we see serial temples at Nephi, then Zarahemla, and finally at Bountiful. There is documentary evidence that certain Mosaic laws were only obligatory within a distance of 3 day's journey from the Temple at Jerusalem. The Jewish diaspora built other temples such as the one at Elephantine in upper Egypt.

Known Jewish Temples at Jerusalem and Elepantine

Deuteronomy means copy of the law, not 2nd law. Many laws were humanitarian, having to do with the manumission of slaves and lending to the poor.

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Q & A

Paul Hoskisson asked about the practice of law in the Book of Mormon, versus the legal theory recorded in Deuteronomy. Is there evidence that the law recorded in Deuteronomy was actually practiced? Jack Welch responded with a handful of examples from ancient Near Eastern sources.

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Kirk Magleby asked if the discrete end of the law of Moses recorded so explicitly in the Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 15:5 was foreshadowed in the text of Deuteronomy. Seely thought not.

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Dana Pike asked why Jesus in the NT quotes primarily from Deuteronomy while the Book of Mormon quotes primarily from Isaiah? The question was left unanswered.

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Stephen Smoot asked about the documentary source criticism that divides Deuteronomy into two sections, one pre-exilic and the other exilic or even post-exilic. Seely responded that the D (Deuteronomic) and P (Priestly) sources are combined in the Book of Mormon. Seely said he would like to know if any part of the book of Leviticus shows up in the Book of Mormon. Jack Welch cited a passage from Leviticus 19:18 quoted almost verbatim in Mosiah 23:15. The 2003 book Testaments: Links Between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible by David E. Bokovoy and John A. Tvedtnes (Heritage) shows that themes and theme clusters may be even more significant than shared language.

Zander Sturgill asked where the prophet Zenos would most likely fit in the Old Testament. Seely responded that the Book of Mormon describes the plates of brass containing the five books of Moses, the history of the Jews up to the reign of King Zedekiah, and prophecies up to and including Jeremiah. Zenos was probably among the prophets.