DNA and the Truth of the Book of Mormon

Of late, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the DNA of the American Indian populations. Most recent findings have suggested an Asian origin for these populations which some feel invalidates the claims of the Book of Mormon. Since DNA science is still in its infancy, these findings may change or be reversed in the future. However, is it possible that these results actually validate the claims of the book. I think so!

When viewed in the proper manner, DNA results do tend to prove the truth of the Book of Mormon. How so? According to the Book of Ether, the Jaredite civilization was the greatest the world has ever known. In their 2000 year history they spread all over North America from Nicaragua in the south, to possibly Canada in the north. A Jaredite colony may have even populated Peru, establishing the advanced civilizations there.

The Book of Ether itself describes only the local history of the tribe of Jared, not all the Jaredite offshoots. This local group was annihilated about 300 BC in a final great battle at Cumorah. However the greater Jaredite civilization survived, more or less, although there was a general cultural decline at this time throughout the Americas as evidenced by the history of the Olmec.

The Nephites had settled in an isolated area south of the main Jaredite centers and to our knowledge had little contact with the Jaredite remnants. The Jaredites regarded the Nephite area as a “wilderness” which they reserved for hunting (at least until about 300 BC). When Mormon and his people retreated northward to Cumorah for their final battle, they couldn't escape farther north because of the Jaredite remnants (whom we know as Aztecs, Toltecs, Maya, etc.). These remnants were as hostile as the Lamanites, so they had to make a last stand at Cumorah.

Following the Nephite demise, the surviving Lamanites intermingled more or less, with the majority of the remnant Jaredites, resulting in the multitude of tribes and peoples that the Europeans found when they invaded the Americas. The Jaredites were of Asiatic extraction, so it is only natural that their descendants would show dominant Asiatic DNA. Therefore, from this viewpoint, the DNA results tend to validate the veracity of the Book of Mormon.

Mesoamerican Pyramids--Satanic Temples

Mesoamerican Pyramids--Satanic Temples

Following Christ’s resurrection in Jerusalem, we read of his glorious and singular appearance to the Nephites at their temple in the Land of Bountiful. 

AND now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which had taken place.

And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death.

And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.

And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.

And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. (1)

 Continuing in Third Nephi we find a remarkable and detailed account of His visit and teachings among the Nephite people.  In fact it is the most detailed and descriptive of any account of the appearance of Christ or His Father as immortal beings in all holy writ.  It is an extremely important event and ushers in two hundred years of a Zion society.  The church prospered and they had all things in common. 

This event has been artistically depicted as occurring on or near the ruins of a Mesoamerican pyramid.  I would like to discuss the correctness of this depiction.

But first, let me backtrack for a moment and discuss the nature and purpose of the Mesoamerican pyramids.  These pyramids were originally initiated by the so-called “Olmec” people who in all probability were Jaredites, or other closely associated groups.  The pyramids were patterned after the original tower temple, the infamous Tower of Babel.  The Jaredites acquired this cultural tradition in Babel.  

These temples (or ziggurats as they are known in the Middle East) were stepped pyramids, accessed by ramped stairways, with a very small temple placed on the top.  The pyramids themselves were constructed of packed earth cores and normally faced with brick, rock or plaster. 

The political or religious elite would use these structures as the focal point of their heathenistic rituals in order to gain power and influence over the population.  The common people were not allowed access to these sanctuaries.  Only the priests and the elite were so privileged.  The pyramid-topping temple was only large enough for a small number of people, normally the priests, and was not intended for groups.  Their rituals included the practice of human sacrifice.  In Mesoamerica such sacrifices were perfected to the point of maximum barbarism.   The Spanish invaders, who were barbarous people themselves, were horrified when they witnessed these horrible rituals 

P. J. Gladnick writes: Even today, it is hard to comprehend the extent or rationale for this ritual sacrifice. It is estimated that approximately 20,000 people per year were sacrificed by the Aztec royalty. Captives were taken to the top of pyramids where, upon a ritual flat stone table, they had their chests cut open and their hearts ripped out. Then the bodies of the victims were tossed down the steps of the pyramids.  The scene to both the Spaniards of that time and to us today is truly gruesome. (2)

Another source explains: The most common form of sacrifice was performed outside, on the top of a great pyramid. The victim was spread-eagled on a round stone, with his back arched. His limbs were held, while a priest used an obsidian knife to cut under the rib cage and remove his heart. (3)

These barbaric rites were of ancient origin dating back to the original Tower of Babel.  They were not a recent invention just prior to the conquest.  An accurate account of the early practice is given in the Book of Abraham 1:5-20.  The Jaredites (or Olmecs) continued these practices during their periods of apostasy and passed them on to the Maya, Aztecs, etc.   The purpose of the Mesoamerican pyramid was to practice these rites.  

The Mesoamerican pyramid temples do not resemble temples of the Lord in our day or in any other dispensation of time.  In particular they do not resemble the Nephite temples described in the Book of Mormon.  Solomon’s Biblical temple was the model for Nephite temples and did not resemble the Mesoamerican pyramid in any way.  

Of the first authorized Nephite temple built by Nephi we read:

And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple.  But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine. (4)

This first temple was patterned after Solomon’s temple, it was not as elaborate and ornate, but in design it was the same.  On the other hand, it was not constructed of packed earth, surfaced with stone or plaster, and it was not a pyramid. 

We can get some idea of the Nephite construction from the apostate King Noah’s projects, which included the temple at the city Nephi.

And it came to pass that king Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings; and he ornamented them with fine work of wood, and of all manner of precious things, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of brass, and of ziff, and of copper;

And he also built him a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst thereof, all of which was of fine wood and was ornamented with gold and silver and with precious things.

And he also caused that his workmen should work all manner of fine work within the walls of the temple, of fine wood, and of copper, and of brass.

And the seats which were set apart for the high priests, which were above all the other seats, he did ornament with pure gold; and he caused a breastwork to be built before them, that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people. 

Here we note that Noah’s buildings were made of wood and ornamented with precious wood and metal.  The temple, which may have even been the one built earlier by Nephi, was enhanced with fine woodwork with seats for the priests as they instructed the people, all within the temple walls.  Would it be appropriate to show Abinadi on trial for his life on the steps of a Mesoamerican pyramid? I think not.  

The function of the Nephite temples was public worship and instruction.  They may have included sacred ordinances, however we are not told of such things in the record.  Jacob tells us:

Wherefore I, Jacob…taught them [his people] in the temple, having first obtained mine errand from the Lord. (5)

He then goes on to give one of the great stirring sermons found in the Book of Mormon.  These temples were buildings designed to hold congregations of believers that they might worship as a group and be taught. 

Another good example of the Nephite temple is found in the book of Mosiah speaking of the occasion when King Benjamin gives his famous sermon and instructed his people.  

AND it came to pass that after Mosiah had done as his father had commanded him, and had made a proclamation throughout all the land, that the people gathered themselves together throughout all the land, that they might go up to the temple to hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them.

And there were a great number, even so many that they did not number them; for they had multiplied exceedingly and waxed great in the land…

And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another.

And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;

For the multitude being so great that king Benjamin could not teach them all within the walls of the temple (italics mine), therefore he caused a tower to be erected, that thereby his people might hear the words which he should speak unto them. (6)

Several points are evident from this passage.  First, the temple was large enough to hold a normal size congregation but in this case, Benjamin's group was much larger and included most of the Nephite population.  Second, the temple was walled and built for congregational worship and instruction.  Third, Benjamin's temple was located in an open, possibly a rural, area where hundreds, even thousands, of tents could be set up.  Fourth, this temple was not an elevated tower or pyramid, otherwise there would have been no need to construct another tower to speak from.  Fifth, Benjamin’s tower was not a pyramid, but was probably constructed of wood and built within a short period of time, possibly within a day. 

In conclusion, the Nephite temples, and in particular the temple of Christ's appearance at Bountiful, were not Mesoamerican pyramids, but were buildings patterned after the temple of Solomon, built for congregational worship and instruction.  If this is true, then Christ did not appear to the Nephites on, or adjacent to, a pyramid temple.  

Why does all this matter?  Because the Holy Spirit’s responsibility is to witness to the truth of all things.  If the information is erroneous, whether written, audio or visual, the Holy Ghost will not, or is limited in, witnessing to the truth of the information.  It is that simple.  If we expect the Spirit to witness to the truthfulness of this most important event, we need to be accurate in our depiction of it.  

1.   3 Ne. 11:1-8.     

2.   http://www.essortment.com/all/aztecsacrifice_raif.htm  Accessed 12-1-08.

3        http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/topics/human_scacrifice.html Accessed 12-1-08.

4.   2 Ne. 5:16.

5.  Jacob 1:17.

6.   Mosiah 2:1-7.    

First illustration: Pyramid of Chitzin Itza from Wikipedia Commons.                       

Second illustration from Codex Magliabechiano.

The Jaredites and Indian Traditions

Do we have any historical information relating the Indians of Central America to the Jaredites? In fact we do.  There are persistent legends among the earliest post conquest historians relating traditional stories claiming that their ancestors came from the Tower of Babel, passed through China, crossed the ocean, and settled in the Americas.  Others explain that they are descendants of the Jews and Hebrews and of the posterity of Abraham.

Most researchers have tended to ignore or deny these accounts claiming that the Indian histories had been tainted by their conversion to, or contact with, Christianity.  But this is a weak argument as these same researchers go on to accept at face value many other accounts of the native histories dealing with other aspects of their history, even though some of them are only fables, and others are of questionable validity.  Also it is unlikely that the native Americans would focus on an obscure and brief Biblical account of the Tower of Babel (it is only 9 verses in the book of Genesis).  Perhaps it was not even mentioned by the early Catholic priests, when so many other important doctrines of Christianity would have been of much greater importance.  It is also likely that there would have been a tendency to simplify and minimize the doctrine for the “new” converts.

The following are opinions and comments from leading authorities and scholars regarding the traditions and histories of the native Americans of Mesoamerica.

Charles Dibble (a linguist and an authority on the Aztec language) has observed that the young Indian priests were trained to memorize the historical language and repeat it word-perfect, and that errors were severely punished.  Therefore it is unlikely that they would knowingly change the traditional histories just to please the Spanish conquerors.

Miguel Leon-Portilla, a respected Mexican historian, observes:

“in the Indigenous centers of education the priests and teachers explained the paintings of the codices, making the students literally fix in their memory the commentaries.  A systematic tradition arose, supported in the testimony of the codices that were transmitted faithfully from generation to generation.

 In a later paper Leon-Portilla concludes

“There is no doubt that colonization impacted the continuity of the oral tradition, and in some places completely obliterated all evidence of the timeless traditions of the elders.  On the other hand, there is also testimonial evidence by witness accounts such as Andres de Olmos (an early Franciscan priest) who claims that the indigenous transliterated directly from the pre-invasion manuscripts....without changing or altering the content and context of these.”

These ancient native traditions, history and teachings were highly respected and would not have been altered on a whim or to please the conquerors.  This would have been akin to altering the wording in the Bible just to satisfy a non-believer.  It simply would not be done!

David Becraft, a linguistic scholar, concludes

“It seems unlikely that the oral tradition was altered substantially by the indigenous people studying in the Eurocentric institutes of education (missions).  There is no evidence to believe that because of a supposed Christian influence, the Nahua (Aztec) altered the oral tradition of their elders.....to please their new teachers.” 

According to Elizabeth Boone, an authority on Mesoamerican art, even scribes who had no knowledge of the oral traditions continued transliterating without altering the documents.

Thus we see that there is no reason not to accept these sacred traditional accounts as valid.  The native scribes could be trusted to have given an accurate rendering of their history, and because of their traditional training and culture, they would have been reluctant to alter or embellish them.  Many of the supposedly “perverted” histories were built into their pre-conquest calendars-such events as the creation and the flood.  They had specific words, which were apparently part of their pre-conquest language, to describe these events such as ark-toptlipetlacalli and the Tower of Babel-zacualli.

However, there does seem to be some confusion and ambiguity in these histories as they mix references to Asiatic peoples from the Tower of Babel, or Mesopotamia, with Jewish and Hebraic emigrants.  Obviously such accounts are not referring to the same people.  However, this confusion is understandable if we remember that there were at least three separate ancestral groups which came to the Americas.  These were, of course, the Jaredites, of whom we have been speaking, the Lehites (Nephites and Lamanites) and the Mulekites.  The original stories of these first emigrants could easily have been confused or intermingled, and perhaps in the case of many of the conquest era Indians, they could actually have been mixed descendants of all three.

The Native Histories

Now we are ready to discuss the actual native histories themselves.  But first one caveat.  Veytia warns us that often the early Indians would mislead the Spanish historians because they did not trust them and had earlier seen them burn their ancient written histories.  Often they would tell them lies or fables or relate the histories in an allegorical style.  The historian Ixtlilxochitl (who we will shortly consider) even reports that they tried to deceive him, even though they knew that he understood the ancient writings and was familiar with the histories, because they suspected that he was a Spanish sympathizer.

First we will consider the report of this Ixtlilxochitl (pronounced Eesh­tleel-sho-cheetal).   Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl was a native historian born about 1570.  He was the son of a Spaniard and an Aztec princess and understood the traditions and language of both cultures.  He was commissioned by the Spanish viceroy to write a history of his people (the Toltecs? or Aztecs) and used the native histories and picture writing as a basis for his work.  His Relación histórica de la nación tulteca (or Historical Account of the Toltec Nation) was written between 1600 and 1608.  He writes:

“The Tultecas understood and knew of the creation of the world and how [God] created it, and the other things that are in it, such as plants, mountains, animals, etc., and, in the same manner they knew how God created a man and a woman from whom men descended and multiplied... .

And they say that the world was created in the year of the ce Tecpatl, and this epoch up to the deluge they called Atonatiuh, which means age of the sun of water, because the world was destroyed by the deluge; and it is found in the Tulteca histories that this age and first world, as they called it, lasted 1,716 years; that men were destroyed by very great storms and lightnings from heaven, and the whole world was without a thing remaining, and the highest mountains ... were covered with water ... and how men began to multiply from a few that escaped this destruction within a Toptlipetlacalli, which ... means closed ark... .

And how afterwards men, multiplying made a very tall and strong Zacualli, which means the very high tower, in order to shelter themselves in it when the second world should be destroyed.

When things were at their best, their languages were changed and, not understanding each other, they went to different parts of the world, and the Tultecas, who were as many as seven companions and their wives, who understood their language among themselves, came to these parts, having first crossed large lands and seas, living in caves and undergoing great hardships, until they came to this land which they found good and fertile for their habitation.

And they say that they traveled for 104 years through different parts of the world until they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan, their country, which happened in ce Tecpatl, for it had been 520 years since the Deluge had taken place, which are five ages.”

Here we are told that the ancestors of the Mexicans had a knowledge of the creation of the world, the flood, and the events at the Tower of Babel.  The group of seven friends and their families left Babel and crossed large lands and seas, traveling for 104 years before arriving in the Americas, 520 years after the flood.  One hundred and four years is an age according to the pre-columbian Mesoamerican calendar, and 520 years equals five of these ages so these times may have a symbolic meaning.

A second quote from Ixtlilxochitl:

It is the common and general opinion of all the natives of all this Chichimeca land, which is now called new Spain, besides appearing in the demonstration of their pictures, that their ancestors came from Occidental (western) parts, and all of them now called Tultecas, Aculhuas, Mexicanos, and other nations that are in this land say that they are of the lineage of the Chichimecas, and are proud of it; and the reason is, according as it appears in their histories, that the first king they had was called Chichi­mecatl, who was the one who brought them to this New World where they settled, who, as can be inferred, came from the great Tartary (Asia east of the Ural mountains), and they were of those of the division of Babylon, as it is declared more at length in the history that is written.

And they say that they traveled for 104 years through different parts of the world until they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan their country, which happened in ce Tecpatl, for it had been 520 years since the Deluge had taken place, which are five ages."

In this report Ixtlilxochitl notes that they came from the west, gives the name of their first king, suggests that they came from the great Tartary, that they were of the division (or inhabitants of) Babylon, and that they traveled for 104 years before arriving at their final destination.

We have already mentioned the account of Bernardino Sahagun, but will give his full acount here.

"Concerning the origin of these peoples, the report the old men give is that they came by sea from the north, and it is certain that they came in vessels; but it is not known how they were constructed. But there is an accepted tradition among all the inhabitants, that they came out of seven caves, and that these seven caves are the seven ships or galleys in which the first settlers of this land came to this land. From what can be gathered from probable conjectures, the people first came to settle this land from the direction of Florida, and came coasting along the coast disembarking in the port of Panuco which they call Panco, which means 'place where those arrived who crossed the water.' This people came in search of the terrestrial paradise and they had as a family name Tamoanchan, which means 'we are looking for our home.’

This report speaks of the seven caves or ships which we have already discussed.  But then Sahagun conjectures that they came from the east, by way of Florida, coasting along the northern edge of the Gulf of Mexico.  There are other reports which mention the same things.  This would tend to contradict my theory.  However it can be seen that 1) this is only a conjecture, and 2) that it may have confused two different arrivals, that of the Jaredites and that of the Mulekites.  It is very possible that the Mulekite group originally came from the east and landed at the Mexican port of what is now Panuco.

Next we have several lengthy quotes from the Historia Antigua de Mexico (Ancient History of Mexico) by MarianoVeytia.  Veytia was a Spanish gentleman, born in Mexico, who lived from 1720 to 1778.  While many Spaniards considered the ancient Indian writings to be worthless and of the Devil, Veytia felt they were extremely valuable and that they contained the history and cultural details of the ancient inhabitants of the continent.  He was trained to read and interpret them by Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci, who had earlier collected many Indian manuscripts and learned to read them from the Indians themselves.  Boturini was planning to write an account of them himself before his untimely death.  Veytia subsequently inherited many of Boturini’s papers, and from his prior knowledge, his Indian contacts and the Indian manuscripts wrote a detailed history of his findings sometime before his death in 1778.  The following are excerpts from the listed pages of his book.

“[In my writing I am] following the ancient monuments and manuscripts that I have gathered in interpretation of the historical charts of the Toltecs (who were the wisest among all these nations), I say that the origin and first parents of all of them were seven families who, in the scattering of the peoples because of the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel, joined together because of finding themselves of one language that they called Nahuatl, which is known as the Mexican language, and they traveled to these parts, where they established themselves and multiplied, and went on dividing into towns and nations.”  P. 40.

Veytia here indicates that he is following the manuscripts themselves and not earlier historians or commentators.  He considers the Toltecs to have been the higher civilization.  He states that they originated from seven families who were dispersed from the Tower of Babel and that their language was Nahuatl.  They traveled to the Americas, established themselves, multiplied, and divided into nations.

Regarding the histories: he indicates that some were written as a straight-forward history, while others were written as allegories.  The children of noble status were taught these writing skills as we are taught reading and writing in our schools.  p. 41.

“The first progenitor and father of their nation (Toltec) was named Tepanahuaste, which means the Lord of the Hollow Pole and that Tepanahuaste was at the construction of the great wall, as they called the Tower of Babel, and with his own eyes he saw the confusion of tongues, after which the Creator God commanded him to come to these extensive lands to distribute them among men.”  P. 47.

In this reference Veytia gives the name of the founder and indicates that he was present at the confusion of tongues and that God commanded him to travel to the Americas.

“They would include this event of the confusion of tongues on their charts, painting a round hill on the front of which a medal is seen placed, and a face engraved on it like that of an old man with a long beard, and outside the medal there are many tongues that surround it and form a border.”  P. 48.

He here describes the glyph used to denote their origin at the tower.  If this glyph could be found among any of the Maya or Aztec glyphs that have been discovered, it would be a proof of the Indians Jaredite origin.

“In this confusion of tongues, they say that seven families found themselves to be of the same language, which was Nahuatl, and today it is known as the Mexican language, and as they understood each other among themselves, they joined together, and together they undertook their pilgrimage through various lands and countries, at random and without a certain destination, until finding land that seemed suitable and appropriate for them to settle, and having walked for one age, which among them was the space of 104 years, crossing mountains, rivers, and arms of the sea, which they indicate on their charts, they arrived at the place where they made their first settlement at the northern part of this kingdom, which they called Tlapallan, which is interpreted as the Bermeja [red land], because the land was red, .....” p. 49.

Here again we have reference to the seven families.  Their language was Nahuatl, and if it is the same, this language is still spoke among some Indians in southern Mexico.  They traveled for 104 years.  They crossed mountains, rivers and arms of the sea to get to their destination.

“…the coming of these seven families (which I suppose were already numerous then) from the countryside of Sennaar (Mesopotamia) to these regions, was through the Tartary...” .p. 49

They came from Mesopotamia by way of the Tartary (eastern central Asia).

“On the charts they indicate the site where they departed from this other side, which they call Culhuacan, which means place of the snake, in which they subsequently founded a settlement of the same name which still remains,...” p. 50.

The site from which they departed Asia (possibly coastal China) was called Culhuancan which means place of the snake.  They had founded a settlement there.

“The manner in which they had to pass through these straits, sea arms and rivers shown was in square rafts formed of reeds or light poles, and in flat canoes to which they give the name of Acalli, which means house of water, and they paint them that way, and on them they paint the persons traveling, some sitting down and others lying down or stretched out along the raft or canoe.  But on none of the many maps I have seen do they show how they controlled them, because no person is seen swimming to guide it, nor can an oar or paddle be seen with which to steer it from on top,...” p 51.

I feel that the square raft is symbolic of boats or barges.  House of water (or water house) could be descriptive of the Jaredite barges.  It is interesting that there was no way to control them and no steering mechanism.

Next we have the History of the Xpantxay de Tecpan, a tribe of Guatemala.  They write:

"We the principal ones, this is our title (pedigree), how our grandfathers and fathers came, they came in the night, in the darkness.  We are the grandchildren of the grandfathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as they are called.  In addition we are of Israel.  Our grandfathers and fathers remained in Canaan in the land of God, that our Lord gave to Abraham.  We were also in Babylon, where all the men made a great house and great building. ------- He changed their language and they all became different.  ----- Then they separated and dispersed over all the world.  They went away to discover her mountains and her valleys.  Then our grandfathers and fathers came and passed over the sea..  --------   Afterwards they rose up and came to the shore of the sea and crossed over in seven ships like those of the Spaniards.  They landed and rested there the seven tribes of the Lords-----."

This report introduces some new claims.  First that they are of the blood of Israel, descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that their ancestors dwelt in the land of Canaan.  Apparently they had knowledge of the Abrahamic covenant and promises.  Second, we have their claim that they were also descendants of the Jaredites who came from the dispersion at the time of the Tower of Babel and crossed the sea to the Americas.  Third, they came in the darkness.  Could this refer to the darkness of the ships?  Fourth, they crossed the sea in seven ships which they say were like those of the Spaniards.  This later point would seem to contradict my model, but could also just be a comparison to ocean going ships as they probably had not seen anything like them before.

Next we have an excerpt from the Annals of the Cakchiquels, a Guatemalen group speaking of their origins.

"From the west we came to Tulan, from across the sea; and it was at Tulan where we arrived, to be engendered and brought forth by our mothers and our fathers" so they told us. ----- Thus they spoke to the thirteen clans of the seven tribes. ----- The seven tribes were the first to arrive at Tulan so they said.”

In this report we see that their fathers came from the west, from across the sea.  This would of course be the Pacific Ocean.  It mentions the 13 clans of the seven tribes, which I believe refers to Jared, his brother, and their five friends.

In the Popul Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya, we find this poetic reference to their origins.

In a certain time that now no one is certain of and which no one can now remember well,

Who it was came here to plant (sow) the grandfathers and the grandmothers,

These, they say, arrived, came, by water in the ships they came, in many groups,

And there they arrived at the edge of the water, on the coast of the north,

And there where they left their boats is called Panutla,

Their priests led them and their God was speaking to them,

Those that were there were the wise ones, those called possessors of the books of pictures,

But they did not remain for much time, the wise ones then left, once more they entered into their boats.

This excerpt from the Popul Vuh instructs us that long ago in the past their ancestors came across the sea in many groups.  They arrived in the north at a place called Panutla (this could possibly be Panuco).  Their ancestors were led by God, were the wise ones, who possessed the books of pictures or histories.  But they did not remain in the original landing place, but boarded their ships and sailed again (a possible reference to the Mulekites).

To summarize: among the things we can learn from these histories is the following:

1. The ancestors of the Aztecs and the Maya had several different origins:

 1) Some were descendants of Abraham.

 2) Some were descendants of people who left the Tower of Babel at the time of the dispersion.

2.  They came from Babylon and the Tartary or eastern Asia.

3.  They crossed the sea from the west, in the dark, in seven ships.

4.  There were seven original families (and possibly 13 clans or sub-groups).

5.  The pre-conquest Maya and Aztecs had a knowledge of the creation, the flood, and the dispersion at the Tower of Babel.

6.  There appears to have been at least two ancestral groups, one crossing the Pacific from the west, and the other crossing the Atlantic from the east.

7.  God spoke to their ancestral leaders and directed them.

8.  The legendary seven caves of the Indians are the seven barges or ships that they used to cross the Pacific Ocean.

9.  It took them 104 years to make the full journey (the length of the journey will be discussed in another section).

Assuming that the traditions of the Aztec and Maya were handed down from the ancestral Olmec, we can now establish some correspondences between the Olmec and the Jaredite peoples.  The ancestral Indians came from the Tower of Babel in Babylon, passed through the Tartary or central and eastern Asia, crossed the Pacific in ships, arriving from the west, and landing somewhere near Mesoamerica—so did the Jaredites.  The boats of the ancestral Indians are described as “caves”.  The barges of the Jaredites were enclosed and dark like a cave.  The Lord directed and led the Jaredite prophets.  The leaders of the ancestral Indians were spoken to and led by God.   The Jaredites had a knowledge of the creation, the flood and the confusion of tongues—so did the ancestral Indians.  So from these correspondences we can, in my opinion, conclude that Olmec era peoples and the Jaredites are one and the same.

The Legend of the Seven Caves

There is a pervasive legend among all the Mesoamerican peoples that they originated from seven ancestral caves.  This is generally interpreted figuratively and assumed to refer to the metaphorical womb from which the people originated.  Some have even theorized that it refers to the seven family groups referred to in the Book of Mormon (i.e. Nephites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites and Ishmaelites).  However the historian Bernardino Sahagun, who was one of the first Europeans to record the traditions and customs of the Aztecs, identifies these caves as a symbolic representation of the seven ships which they used to cross the ocean on their voyage to the Americas.  He writes:

"Concerning the origin of these peoples, the report the old men give is that they came by sea from the north . . . It is conjectured . . . that they came from seven caves, and that these seven caves are the seven ships or galleys in which the first settlers of this land came. . . .
This is also supported by the History of the Xpantxay de Tecpan, a tribe of Guatemala, who relate that their ancestors came to the Americas in seven ships.

Now the question arises, why would they compare a ship to a cave?  Think back on the ships of the Jaredites.  They were large, sealed vessels (described as “tight like a dish”) with no openings.  Although the Lord miraculously provided them with stones that would provide some light (probably equivalent to a candle) so that they would not have to travel in complete darkness, it was still not a pleasant environment.  They were shut up in these sea going containers for 344 days traveling through turbulent, tempestuous seas, not knowing what was going on outside their ships- probably a very harrowing experience.  Wouldn’t this environment remind you of living in a cave?  A damp, dark, enclosed, claustrophobic place.  An experience that would forever be etched in your memory.  If you were going to invent a mnemonic symbol for the experience, the symbol of a cave would come naturally.  I believe that this is the true meaning of the legend of the seven caves.  The ships of the Jaredites compare perfectly with the image of a cave, while a ship of standard design would not.  Any ordinary open vessel would not be comparable to living in a cave (unless one were locked up in the hold the entire trip).

However, there is one problem with this interpretation.  Perhaps you have already thought of it.  The Brother of Jared was commanded to build eight ships (Ether 3:1), what happened to the eighth ship?  If the legends were correct, shouldn’t there have been eight?  If my theory is correct, the only answer is to assume that something happened to the last ship.  This is not a completely satisfactory answer, but it is legitimate to consider it.  A number of possibilities come to mind.  The eighth ship was lost at sea.  Or for some reason they had to return to the Asian coast. Or perhaps they were separated from the others and landed in a completely different location.

Actually, when you think about it, isn’t it miraculous that even two of the ships landed in the same place.  Chance would scatter them all down the Pacific coast of North and Central America.   So just how did the ships maintain contact with one another and stay grouped together?  And did they need to?  Here again we are not provided with an answer in the abbreviated history of the Jaredites.  However, I am sure that the Lord could have arranged for them to stay in proximity of each other, or at least land in the same general area if he had wanted to, but as is often the case He leaves such details up to His disciples to work out.  Perhaps the ships were attached in some way, such as by a long, strong rope.  But it seems that any attachment would have created problems and risked the danger of collision.  But as they were only drifting with the current, or driven by the wind, at a fairly slow rate of speed this might not have been a serious problem

Did the Chinese Know About the Jaredites?

Following the flood, the Lord's intent was to thoroughly populate the earth with scattered colonies of Noah's descendants.  However the people, in general, ignored the Lord's command and tended to congregate in population centers.  The culmination of this trend was the building of the Tower of Babel under the unrighteous king Nimrod.  This incident provided the Lord with the pretext to carry out his original plan.  By a means not known to us, he confused the congnition process whereby we decipher speech, after which formerly known words took on different meanings, and previously familiar sound symbols became unrecognizable.  This process was extremely successful in separating the masses into small groups whose natural tendency was to separate themselves from those speaking a “foreign” tongue.  Even to this day we see the natural tendancy of people to associate with those of their own language which results in prejudice, discrimination, and ethnic conflicts.

The Jewish historian Josephus reports:

After this [the confusion of tongues] they were dispersed abroad, on account of their languages, and went out by colonies every where; and each colony took possession of that land which they light upon, and unto which God led them; so that the whole continent was filled with them, both the inland and the maritime countries. There were some also who passed over the sea in ships, and inhabited the islands: and some of those nations do still retain the denominations which were given them by their first founders.   (Josephus Bk. 1, Ch. 5)

What we find in the Jaredite microcosm recorded in the Book of Ether was no isolated incident.  It happened countless times and with numerous groups of people.  Each traveling to their own “promised land”, and often being led by the Lord, until the whole continent was filled with their posterity.  The Jaredites were only one such group, and it is very possible that their journey to the New World was not unique.

We read in the Book of Jacob (ch. 5) of four groups that the Lord “planted” in different parts of His vineyard; some in good lands and other in not so favorable circumstances.  The Jaredites were only mentioned in retrospect being those previous inhabitants who the Lord had “cut down (v. 44)” that he might plant the Lehites in their place.   Who were the other “transplants”?  Do we have any records of them?  Will we ever?  That is in the hands of the Lord.

We can glean one other bit of information from the above quote from Josephus.  It seems to imply that those who remained behind had a knowledge of the destinations of the various colonies, even those which “passed over the sea in ships and inhabited the islands.”  If this were the case, would there be surviving histories or references to them?  Might the Asian colonies have known about the American ones?

There are many indications that the Asians did indeed know about their American cousins, and many researchers who think there was contact between mainland Asia and the Americas.  One such researcher is Mike Xu who has written a book called Origin of the Olmec Civilization.  Although most main line archaeologists reject his theory out of hand, I think he has made some good points and needs to be heard on the merits of his findings, rather than being ignored out of bias.

Xu believes that when the Shang Dynasty was overthrown in 1122 BC that 250,000 refugees fled China, and taking to the sea, and came to Mesoamérica.  They formed, or altered, the culture giving birth to the Olmec civilization.  He observes:

The last Shang king was defeated by his rivals and was killed in ll22 B.C. The collapse of the dlnasty forced the loyalists to flee to the East Ocean (the Pacific).  Olmec civilization suddenly emerged around or immediately after the Shang's fall. Was it just coincidence?  Or is it possible that part of those 250,000 refugees from ancient China ended up in the New World? 

He then goes on to enumerate the identical cultural traits that are found in both China and Mesoamérica.  He has identified a number of Shang characters used in ancient Chinese writings and also found on Olmec monuments in Mexico and Guatemala, and he seems to be able to interpret some of the Olmec glyphs and signs.

Is it possible that the Chinese knew of the departure of the Jaredites and could have known their destination?  It is a possibility, and something worth considering.  It would definitely solve the riddle of the Olmec emergence.

The Greatest Nation on the Earth

[Speaking to the Brother of Jared the Lord says] And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation.  And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth (Ether 1:43).

In our search for the historical Jaredites there is one paramount clue. We should be looking for the greatest, or a combination of the greatest, nations in history.  It should have been preeminent in all areas, culture, science, government, arts, etc.  It would have dominated its neighbors and been a forerunner in the technology of its day.  It should have been enduring over time.

As we survey the historical nations we see Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and of course the great nations of our day.  But would any of these qualify as the greatest?  Some of them were long-lived, while others had relatively short supremecies.  Some had great influence while others only dominance was that of military might.

If we consider only the factor of longevity, the obvious answer would by the civilization of China. China has a lengthy history extending from prehistory to the present.  Could this be the “great nation” that the Lord is referring to?  I will argue that it is indeed part of the answer.

China has been influential thoughout recorded history.  It has made great contributions in the arts, sciences, technology, astronomy, medicine, etc.  The world has never been quite the same since China discover gunpowder.  And where would the fashionable be without their silk.  According to some accounts, Chinese sailors were navigating the high seas long before Eurasians even thought of venturing out of the Mediteranean.

But, you might ask, how can the Chinese be related to the Jaredites?  Wasn't the Jaredite an American civiliztion?  According to Hugh Nibley, the Jaredites traveled eastward across the continent of Asia until they reached the shores of the Pacific.  Here, according to the record in Ether, they wasted away four years.  Finally, after being prodded by the Lord, they built their famous barges and crossed the sea to America.  But, did they all go?  Were any left behind?

An interesting Indian legend (see below) relates that the Jaredites actually took a very long time in their crossing of  Asia―104 years in fact.  As they traveled along, they would periodically stop and rest, clear land, and plant and harvest crops.  Some of the company would have grown too old to travel.  Some would have been incapacitated due to illness or injury.  We are told that these were left behind in the form of small colonies.  If this legend is true, these Jaredite stragglers may have grown to form the nucleus of ancient China.

The historian Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci, who was an authority on, and collector of pre-columbian Indian manuscripts, wrote the following based on his translation of these manuscripts:

There were only seven of these Toltec Indians [probably referring to the male heads of family], that left the rest of the people in the land of Sennaar [Shinar], and the colonies that proceeded from them have become innumberable, as well in Asia as in America ...  

After having left the land and countryside of Sennaar [Shinar] with their increasing posterity, and being guided by divine providence ... they went forth through the wildernesses of the earth ... the clans grew with the new addition of servants, and mulitplied in number, they journeyed for a long time in Asia passing from place to place, carrying with them seeds ... and in each place they cleared the forests, made gardens, and perhaps left behind the old and weary, that they might populate those lands, and they traveled so much ...  that with the passing of time, they approached America, and at last entered the land and set foot on their continent. 

(Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci.  Idea Nueva de la Historia General de la America Septentrional. p. 111 and 126.)

The other fragments of this great nation are of course those advanced civilizations of the Americas.  But that is another story.

Route of the Jaredites

There has been a lot of speculation about the route that the Jaredites followed as they left Babel and traveled to the Americas. Some suggest that they traveled westward, eventually crossing the Atlantic ocean, and thence to their homeland in the New World. Others think that they migrated eastward, crossing Asia, and then the Pacific, to arrive at the Promised Land. One researcher (George Potter) even thinks that they journeyed southward, crossing Saudi Arabia to the Indian Ocean, and thence eastward across the Pacific. So, as with other areas of Book of Mormon geography, there seems to be a lot of confusion.

In my opinion, the best study on the Jaredites and their migration was done by the scholar Hugh Nibley in his work Lehi in the Desert, The World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites.  In this treatise He seems to favor the eastern route across the steppes of Central Asia.  He notes:

Whether the party moved east or west from the valley of Nimrod is not a major issue, though a number of things favor an eastern course.  For one thing, there is the great length of the journey: "for this many years we have been in the wilderness" (Ether 3:3); such a situation calls not only for vast expanses to wander in, but a terrain favorable to cattle-raising nomads and a region "in which there never had man been," conditions to which the Asiatic rather than the European areas conform. But most revealing is the report that "the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land, while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind" (Ether 6:8). Now whether the Jaredites sailed from eastern or western shores, they would necessarily have to cross the ocean between the thirtieth and sixtieth parallels north, where the prevailing winds are westerly right around the world. Since the cause of these winds is tied up with the revolution of the earth and the relative coolness of the polar regions, it may be assumed that the same winds prevailed in Jared's time as in ours. Of course, one cannot be too dogmatic on such a point, for weather has changed through the ages, and freak storms do occur; yet the extreme steadiness of the wind strongly suggests prevailing westerlies and a North Pacific crossing, since it would have meant a headwind all the way had the voyagers attempted the Atlantic. The length of the sea journey, 344 days, tells us nothing, since the vessels, though driven before the wind, apparently did not use sails: the almost perpetual hurricane conditions would have made sails impossible even if they had had them. But the fact that the party spent almost a year on the water even with the winds behind them certainly suggests the Pacific, and recalls many tales of Chinese junks that through the centuries have been driven helplessly before the wind to end up after a year or so at sea stranded on the beaches of our West Coast.  Then too, we must not forget that a mountain of "exceeding height" stood near the point of Jaredite embarkation (Ether 3:1), and that there is no such mountain on the Atlantic seaboard of Europe, as there are at many points on the Asiatic shore (page 181.)

As he has observed there are a number of factors which suggest the eastern, Asiatic route.  These include (1) the length of the journey, (2) the geography, (3) the prevailing eastward winds, (4) the favorable Pacific currents, and (5) the mountainous terrain of eastern Asia.

1) The journey of the Jaredites was long.  We don't have any definite information on the actual length of the journey, other than the ocean crossing, which was 344 days.  In addition, after their arrival at the sea Jared notes that their trip had taken a long time for he says "for these many years we have been in the wilderness" (Ether 3:3).  Finally, after arriving on the coast, they lived there in tents for a period of four years.  So we can account for a minimum of five years that we know of, but the journey was probably much, much longer when we factor in "these many years."

There are some traditions of the descendants of the Jaredites which speak of this journey to the New World.  Lorenzo Boturini, speaking of the ancestral Indians [or Jaredites], tells us "they traveled for a long time in Asia…going from one place to another and carrying with them seeds, particularly of corn, chili, and beans, and in each region they cut down the forests [cleared the land] and prepared farm land [or sowing fields], and perhaps leaving behind the aged and weary that they might populate those lands; and so they walked that with time th ey were nearing America, and at last they entered and set foot on their continent."  P. 126.  Note that he speaks of clearing land and planting crops (at least a year long project for each season), and of leaving behind colonies of the aged and infirm.  

Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl relates that the ancestral Indians (who I believe were the Jaredites) "came to these parts [Mexico], having first crossed large lands and seas, living in caves and undergoing great hardships, until they came to this land, which they found good and fertile for their habitation.  And they say that they traveled for 104 years through different parts of the world until they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan [or the New World], their country, which happened in [the year] ce Tecpatl, for it had been 520 years since the Deluge had taken place, which are five ages."  This account allots 104 years to the journey which seems like an unreasonable length of time, but it is within the realm of possibility as many contemporaries of Jared were long lived, some living as long as 250 years.  

2) The geography favors an Asian route.  They traveled for many years in a virgin unpopulated wilderness. We read "the Lord commanded them that they should ago forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been (Ether 2:5)."  They had to cross many bodies of water (i.e. " they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters [2:6])."  Nibley points out that following the flood there would have been huge residual lakes in central Asia

3) The prevailing winds are always eastward due to the rotation of the earth.  These winds would not have necessarily affected land travel, although it is easier to travel with the wind at your back.  But they would have been crucial to the ocean voyage.  Facing a head wind, the barges would never have been able to float to the New World.   

4) The Pacific currents are favorable for drifting from the Asian coast to the American one.  Nibley mentions Japanese junks which periodically are washed up on the Pacific US coast.  This is a regularly occurring phenomena as the Japanese current flows like a river bordering the west coast.  On the other hand, the Atlantic currents are contrary to a westward voyage from Europe as they flow northeastward.  To catch a westward flowing current, the barges would have had to float south almost to the equator before the current would carry them westward.  

5) The Pacific Asian coast has many mountains which would match that described in Ether 3:1.  We read: 

And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height, and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount.  

I do not know of any mountains of exceeding height on the European Atlantic coast, but there are a number on the Asiatic one.  My favorite candidate would be Mount Laoshan.  It is on the Pacific coast near Qingdao, China and rises 3716 feet above the near by sea.  It is traditionally regarded as a holy mountain and was the birthplace of Taoism. 

One additional factor can be considered.  If we accept the early Indian cultures of Mesoamerica to be roughly equivalent to the Jaredite culture, then the earliest settlements in Mesoamerica should be on the shores where the Jaredite barges landed.   According to archaeological studies, the earliest sites are located along the Pacific coasts of Southern Mexico and Guatemala.

The Valley of Nimrod

Following the Confusion of Tongues at Babel, Jared's brother was directed by the Lord to take his group and leave following a specific course revealed to him by the Lord.  He was told:

And ... thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward.  And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.  And it came to pass that Jared and his brother, and their families, and also the friends of Jared and his brother and their families, went down into the valley which was northward, (and the name of the valley was Nimrod, being called after the mighty hunter). Ether 1:40-42; 2:1.

Where is this northward valley named Nimrod?  If the site of Babel were located, as is generally assumed, in the Tigrus-Euphates valley, the valley of Nimrod would lay somewhere to the north of present day Iraq or Iran.   The terrain to the north of this region is quite mountainous, including major mountains such as Mount Ararat at 16,000 plus feet.   To the south, the lower Tigrus-Euphates delta area is only about 50 feet above sea level, while near Baghdad it rises to about 150 feet.  At the headwaters of the Tigrus-Euphates, where some feel Babel was located, it rises to above 1000 feet.  Continuing north, the mountain ranges rise to average elevations of 5000-6000 feet and more.  

There are only a few small mountain valleys in this region, all of them higher than the Tigrus Euphates valley. The only large, prominent valley is that of the Kura-Aras lowland, or depression, which is the basin formed by the Aras and the Kur rivers.  These rivers originate in the mountains of Armenia and Georgia and flow eastward through Azerbaijan to the Caspian Sea.  This basin dominates central Azerbaijan and slopes down from the west to the Caspian Sea,  which is actually lower than sea level. As a result of this low elevation, this valley would be "down" from any point in Mesopotamia.

The Kura-Aras lowland is about 600 miles northeast of Baghdad, and lies on the north side of the northern Iranian highlands.  I feel that this is a good candidate for "the valley which was northward," and as such would have been the starting point of the Jaredite odyssey.  It may have derived its name from having been a favorite hunting area for king Nimrod, the great hunter.

Some Criteria for Testing the Indian Histories

I have earlier discussed the Indian legends that mention the Jaredite origins of the Mesoamerican Indians. Here I would like to consider criteria that would tend to corroborate the veracity of those legends. Anthropologists and historians have tended to ignore these native traditions without much serious consideration. They have off-handedly rejected them as being tainted by early Catholic teachings. But I suggest that they are indeed the product of long held beliefs, passed down for many generations, predating the Spanish conquest by at least a thousand years.

How can such traditions be validated? I would like to consider a number of criteria which could be used to show whether the stories were the product of Catholic imitators, or the long-held legends of the pre-conquest natives. I have developed the following criteria to assist in this process. Can the legends be shown to be pre-hispanic? Are they evident among widely dispersed groups, in different locations, among different tribes and in different languages? Were they written by native scribes or first hand observers? Have the stories been given pre-conquest dates? Do the people or places mentioned have pre-hispanic Indian names? Do the histories contain additional details-details which are not contained in Biblical records, or details that would not have been taught by the Catholic priests? Are the related events and histories corraborated by accounts in the Book of Mormon?

Let us analyze each of these criteria individually.

1. Can the records be shown to be pre-hispanic? Obviously, if the record pre-dates the Catholic influence, it would have to be valid. For example the Borgia, Laud, Cospi, Fejervary-Mayer and Zouche-Nuttall codices are all considered to be pre-hispanic documents. The Popul Vuh was purportedly re-written to duplicate a pre-conquest history which had been lost or destroyed. Lorenzo Boturini, a prominent early historian, claims to have found many original documents upon which he based his history.
2. Is there evidence of identical widely dispersed histories. If native scribes, or post-conquest historians, altered the legends to conform to Catholic and Biblical teachings, this would have been an individual act. They would not have been uniform and would have varied from individual to individual, and from tribe to tribe. If widely dispersed groups were recording or relating uniform histories, or closely similar events, it would tend to prove the veracity of those stories.
3. Accounts by first generation Indian scribes. The first generation scribes would have been less tainted by Catholic tradition than later ones. If so, we can assume that first generation scribes would have been more accurate. In addition the scribes were orginally taught to repeat the legends word for word from memory. Errors were not tolerated.
4. Accounts by early unbiased European observers. While many of the clergy were hostile to native traditions and energetically destroyed all in their power, many early Europeans were sympathetic to the natives and sought diligently to save or record their histories. A certain amount of trust in their accounts is warranted.
5. Are the events given long count calendar dates. The native people of Mesoamerica used a dating system which specialists have named the Long Count Calendar. The starting date for this calendar has been calculated to have been 3114 BC. If long count calendar dates are given in the histories it would tend to validate them. Why would scribes make up a date for an event? And if different scribes used the same, or very similar, dates it would again show their accuracy. For example, various Aztec histories give similar dates for the flood, the dispersion of tongues, and the arrival of the Babylonian emigrants in the Americas, all in long count dates.
6. Do the histories include Nahua names for places or people. As in all histories, the pre-conquest Indians named events, people and places in their accounts. If these things had been given names in the original stories, and the names carried over past the conquest, this would argue for a pre-conquest origin.
7. Do the histories include additional details amplifying the Catholic tradition or Biblical account. If additional details are included in the Indian histories they would either have been invented (in which case they would be false), or the accounts would be true. Many of the Indian legends contain many more details than the Biblical accounts that they are assumed to copy. A good example is their claimed origin in Babylon at the time of the confusion of tongues. The Biblical account is a brief nine verses in length with very few details to flesh out the skeleton. On the other hand, the Indian legends give a name and date to the place, specify the length of the journey, mention colonization along the way, and refer to sabatical seasons spent raising crops.
8. Do the legends contain events, places, or histories that can be correlated with similar facts in the Book of Mormon. Of course most non LDS investigators will not accept this last criterion, but there is no reason in the world why believers in the Nephite history should not use this additional resource to identify truth in the Indian histories. Accepting the truth of the book, as we do, we can recognize the kernals of truth passed down through the generations by the native historians. The Book of Mormon provides us with specific details of many of the events which are only alluded to in the Indian legends. An entire book could be devoted to exploring these correlations. Perhaps it is worth doing if the Good Lord grants me time.

The Jaredite Statues of Nicaragua

This title is of course premature, but it does reflect my opinion; an opinion which I feel is based on good evidence. Let me present some of this evidence-but first an introduction.

In the 1850s Ephraim Squier was sent to Nicaragua as the American ambassador.  His primary assignment was to evaluate a possible route for an interoceanic canal. He spent a lot of time traveling and wrote extensively about his observations and experiences. His book, Nicaragua; Its People, Scenery, Monuments, and the Proposed Interoceanic Canal, was published in 1852 and is currently available online. I found it very interesting reading.

During his explorations he discovered a number of ancient Indian statues. Many of these were hidden away on an island off the shore of Lake Nicaragua. Squier indicates that the Indians told him that their ancestors had hidden them to preserve them from the Spanish priests who were destroying them in order to eradicate idolatry. The natives had apparently venerated these statues for generations.

Since Squier's day many more of these pre-Columbian statues have been unearth and are currently housed in various museums throughout Nicaragua. Some have even been sent abroad. But in general the statues, which if they had been found in Mesoamerica would have been a subject for intense study, have been largely ignored.

These rock images are large, often as tall as a man, and may weight up to four tons. Many of them are termed “alter-ego” statues as they portray a man underneath an overarching animal symbol. Because of this, some feel that they represent some form of shamanistic symbolism. A good representation of these statues can be found online at the Pre-Columbian Stone website.

Most researchers feel that the statues are fairly recent and can be dated during the period following the birth of Christ. But recently an archaeologist has suggested that some of them may date to as early as 200 BC. One problem with dating such artifacts is that they can't be dated directly and as a result are given dates of the associated artifacts or materials. However this method is open to error as many of the statues have probably been moved a number of times in the course of their history. One researcher in Mexico found that all the stone monuments that he studied had been reset multiple times. So there is a possiblity that these statues could be much older than proposed.  I feel that they are.  

Now, let's return to the Jaredites. I have proposed that the original Jaredite landing was at the Bay of Fonseca to the north of Nicaragua. This is several hundred miles north of the Isthus of Rivas, which I have suggested as the Book of Mormon Narrow Neck of Land. The area in-between would have been the Land of Desolation. Moroni, in his translation of Ether, mentions that the Jaredite capitol, Moron, was near the Land of Desolation (Ether 7:6). Later (about 900 BC) we are told that the Jaredite king Lib “built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land (Ether 10:20).” This fits in very nicely with the area around Managua, Nicaragua at the north end of Lake Nicaragua. Here the “sea divides the land.” This is also the area where most of the stone statues have been found.

I suggest that these statues were the work of the original Jaredites. They are not similar to the Mayan ones.  There is some similarity to the Olmec statuary, but there is a definite similarity to the statues and stonework of the ancient Sumerians, the Jaredite source culture. The Jaredite culture had a long standing tradition for idol worship and very likely reverted to such practices in their periods of apostasy. We read that they had a written record of the old Sumerian practices which could have inspired their evil. The daughter of Jared referred to this record when she encouraged her father to overthrown his father, the king. We are told:

And it came to pass that she did talk with her father, and said unto him: Whereby hath my father so much sorrow? Hath he not read the record which our fathers brought across the great deep? Behold, is there not an account concerning them of old, that they by their secret plans did obtain kingdoms and great glory? (Ether 8:9)

In my opinion, these statues are the work of the original Jaredites.  If this is correct it would be another definite proof of the veracity of the Book of Mormon.

Problems of the Jaredite Voyage

I would like to address two problems of the Jaredite's ocean voyage: drinking water, and space and feed for the animals.

First, potable water for humans and animals. The ocean voyage of the Jaredites lasted for 344 days-a long time to depend on a limited supply of water. It is unlikely that they were able to carry enough water with them to supply all their needs. Several possiblities suggest themselves. They could have stopped along the way and replenished their water supplies. This is unlikely as it is not mentioned in the text and they would have had difficulty getting back into the ocean currants that were carrying them to the New World.

Another possiblity would have been to use sea water. This is normally considered impossible as it is lethal over time. However, Thor Heyerdahl, during his voyage on the Kon Tiki, found that they could mix 40% sea water with their fresh water and use it with no ill effects. As long as the Jaredit's fresh water held out, they could have extended it in this way. It is also likely that being in the dark, humid environment that they were, they did not require as much water.

A third possiblity would have been to harvest the rainwater. The text mentions fierce and tempetuous weather during their voyage. There must have been many opportunities to harvest rainwater, but how? One possiblity comes to mind. The roofs of the barges must have been flat, slopping surfaces. If a slightly raised ridge had been constructed along the lower edge, it would have served as a gutter to catch the rainwater. They could have had periodic holes in the trough of this gutter which could have been opened at appropriate times to collect the rainwater.

There may have been other possiblities, but these are the ones that come to mind.

The other problem was space and food for the animals. The Jaredite experience was a mirror image of Noah's challenge, but with more people, more boats, and a longer voyage. Both groups had to plan for an extended time and provide enough food for man and animal. But the Jardites voyage was longer and thus required more provisions. One solution for both the Jaredites and Noah would have been to carefully select animals that would minimize space and the need for food. Such could have been accomplished selecting recently weaned animals that could be self supporting but were still growing and small in size. Such an approach could have reduced the space and feed requirements by up to 2/3rds. Another approach could have been to take pregnant females which would have given them two animals for the space of one.

If the Jaredites were technologically advanced, as some have suggested, they might even have been able to artificially insemminated their animals to get twins and triplets, but that is being too speculative. But the entire adventure of the Jaredites was miraculous, so we should not be surprised if the Lord did provide them with unusual means to accomplish His ends.