The Hill Ephriam

There is an interesting account in the Book of Ether in which the son of the deposed king arms his followers with steel swords, manufactured from Iron from the hill Ephriam.  He is then able to dethrone his brother who had earlier usurped the kingdom. We read:

"And it came to pass that Shule was angry with his brother; and Shule waxed strong, and became mighty as to the strength of a man; and he was also mighty in judgment. Wherefore, he came to the hill Ephraim, and he did molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel for those whom he had drawn away with him; and after he had armed them with swords he returned to the city Nehor and gave battle unto his brother Corihor, by which means he obtained the kingdom and restored it unto his father Kib (Ether 7:8-9)."

In this blog I would like to discuss the location of this “Hill Ephriam.” I have identified Honduras and Nicaragua as the areas of the early Jaredite homeland, with the capitol city Moron located in southern Honduras near the Bay of Fonseca, near the Nicaraguan border. I have not identified a location for the city Nehor, however, it is possible that it was the original settlement at the ruins of Copan, or there are a number of ancient ruins in the Comayagua Valley.  If these locations are correct, there should be an identifiable body of iron ore in the area from which Shule could have made his steel swords.

In examining the records, I have found that there are two iron ore deposits that could have been used by the

Jaredites. One is the Agalteca deposit in the Sierra de Comayagua, 24 miles north of the present capitol of Tegucigalpa. The second, and smaller one, is the Aramecina deposit near the city San Sebastian de Aramecina, about 15 miles north of the Bay of Fonseca. Either one of these deposits could have provided the ore necessary to manufacture Shule's swords.

This scripture also implies that the Jaredites (at least some of them) had the metallurgical skill necessary to smelt iron and make primitive steel. This skill was known among the Sumerians prior to Jared's departure from Babel and so could easily have been passed on down to later generations of the Jaredites. Swords are mentioned a number of times in Ether's record, but the above scripture is the only one specifying a location.

Now as to the deposits themselves, the US Geological Survey has published a research bulletin which lists the ore deposits of the various Central American countries.  The section on Honduran iron deposits mentions both the Agalteca deposits and the Aramecina.  Portions of their report are included below. 

AGALTECA DEPOSITS

The Agalteca iron-ore deposits are on the Finca Santa Clara, which is in the foothills of the northern flank of the Sierra de Comayagua, in the Departamento de Tegucigalpa. The nearest settlement is the village of Agalteca (approximately lat 14°30' N., and long 87°16' W.), which lies a mile north of the mine area. Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is 24 miles to the south. The Agalteca deposits have been known for many years, but because of their inaccessibility no attempt has been made to work them ... The ore bodies crop out in the foothills of the range south and west of the Finca Santa Clara, and, as most of the ore is more resistant than the associated rocks, the ore bodies generally form ridges rising a few feet to 200 feet above the surrounding area ... The ore bodies are tabular, lenticular, or irregular masses of iron oxides, mainly in the hornfels but partly in tactite and limestone. In some places the ore has replaced these rocks along the bedding, but generally the ore cuts the bedding ... Hematite and magnetite are the principal ore minerals; the proportion of these minerals is variable, but commonly the hematite predominates.  It is thought that the hematite may have been in part formed by oxidation of the magnetite near the surface. The magnetic variety of magnetite, commonly called lodestone, is present on the southeast end ... The ore is principally hard, tough iron oxides which form craggy outcrops, but locally this ore is weathered and is altered to soft, earthy material which forms smooth slopes

Ephriam Squier, in his book Notes on Central America (page 143) comments: The mountain of Agalteca...is a vast mass of very pure and highly magnetic iron ore.  Some of the ore has so high a percentage of metal, that it is forged directly from the mine, without undergoing the previous process of smelting.

[There is also a smaller iron deposit at Aramecina, Honduras.]

Small deposits of iron ore are found 3 miles east of Aramecina, Departamento de Vaile, Honduras, on the south slope of Cerro Colorado at an altitude of 2,600 feet. Granodiorite, the principal bedrock in the area, is the host rock of the iron ore. The hills south of Cerro Colorado consist of Tertiary lavas and tuffs.  The iron ore is intergrown magnetite and hematite and forms a lenticular body in the granodiorite. The lens strikes north and appears to dip steeply. 'It is about 30 feet long, as much as 10 feet wide, and is exposed for a vertical distance of about 15 feet. The ore in the central part of ·the lens appears to be nearly pure iron oxide (USGS Bulletin 1034, Mineral Deposits of Central America, 1957, pp. 64-71).

The Agalteca deposits are currently being mined by Five Star Mining, an Italian mining company (see above photo).

Seeking the City of Lib

One of the more interesting stories found in the book of Ether is that of King Lib. In the Jaredite's king list, he is one of the middle kings, half way between Jared and Coriantumr.

Zapatera Island

I estimate that he lived in the neighborhood of 900 BC. During his reign the plague of serpents blocking the Narrow Neck of Land was destroyed. It is also recorded that he built a great city at the place where the sea divides the land.  This place was near the Narrow Neck of Land. But before we go into detail, let us review the story and get some more background.   

In the book of Ether we read the story of King Heth. He rebelled against the Lord, refused to obey his commandments, and killed his messengers. The Lord in his displeasure cursed the people with a severe drought which resulted in wide spread crop failure and famine. At the same time a plague of poisonous snakes moved down from the north killing animals and men as they swept southward. The surviving animals fled before the serpents, going through the narrow neck of land, and into the land southward, which the Nephites would later call Bountiful and Zarahemla. The snakes stopped migrating south and occupied the narrow neck, preventing any humans from passing through. Thus the narrow neck was effectively blocked for the reign of four Jaredite kings—approximately 300 to 400 years.
The wicked King Heth died as a result of the previously mentioned famine. His people subsequently repented, and the Lord then blessed them with renewed rainfall. We find this in chapter 9 of Ether.

Four generations later Lib comes on the scene. He is a righteous king and is blessed of the Lord. He devises a way to exterminate the snake infestation (I personally think he repeatedly burned the area until they were driven off or destroyed thus rendering the land northward treeless), opens up the southern lands, and builds a great city north of the narrow neck. However, he reserves the southern lands for a hunting preserve and as far as we know, no Jaredite cities were built south of Lib's great city. This is recorded in chapter 10 of Ether. The scripture is instructive.

“And in the days of Lib the poisonous serpents were destroyed. Wherefore they did go into the land southward, to hunt food for the people of the land, for the land was covered with animals of the forest. And Lib also himself became a great hunter. And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land. And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants (Ether 10:19-21).”

This is one of the few references linking Nephite and Jaredite geography. Here the key is the narrow neck of land. The city of Lib was built near the narrow neck, at the place where the sea divides the land. I have identified the narrow neck of land as the Isthmus of Rivas in Nicaragua. It is bound on each side by a sea—the Pacific Ocean on the west, and Lake Nicaragua on the east.

But what is the place where the sea divides the land. I believe that this is an island near the mainland which was significant to the people of Lib as a ceremonial center. North of the Isthmus of Rivas is an island near the shore of Lake Nicaragua. It is called Isla Zapatera and borders the mainland south of the city of Granada. It is easily seen from the shore, and is no more than 2 kilometers out in the lake. At one point it is only a half kilometer offshore.

Zapatera map

I have been wanting to visit and explore this area for some time, and in January of 2014 the opportunity presented itself. My brother and I spent 10 days in Nicaragua visiting the sites and museums, and looking for archaeological evidence of habitation sites. Our objectives were to 1. Determine if there had been ancient habitations on the mainland near the island; 2. To determine if any of the artifacts housed in the local museums of the area could date to Jaredite times; 3. To visit the ceremonial sites on Zapatera Island and determine if they could possibly relate to Jaredite culture.

At the end of our stay in Nicaragua, we felt that our objectives had been met and that there is a good possibility that Lib's city could have been located there. I will now discuss each of the objectives and report on our findings.

1. Archaeological evidence on the mainland. Our first clue, that there might have been an ancient city on the mainland opposite Zapatera Island, came from a newpaper article published on 18 Sep. 2007 in the Managua newspaper El Nuevo Diaro. It was entitled “Denucian Saqueo Arqueoligico (Archaeological Looting Reported).” It mentioned that beautiful examples of Indian pottery from the mainland opposite Zapatera Island had been appearing on the black market in Granada. No further public mention has been made of this report, but it was enough to pique our interest. While in Nicaragua we were able to spend two days in that area and were able to make friends with several of the local inhabitants.
   San Jose Mombacho is the headquarters of a large ranch, twenty kilometers, by way of a dirt road, east of the main highway. One of the ranch hands there showed us the first site, and directed us to his step-daughter, whose son took us to the second one. In both sites, graves had been opened, and the small holes were surrounded with broken, discarded pottery. They appear to be fairly large sites which have been only minimally explored. They are about a mile apart, situated on hillocks along the shore of the lake. I don't have enough experience to attempt to date the pottery, however, it does seem to resemble the monochrome style that is characteristic of the oldest period for that area. We photographed the sherds and small holes and left them in place. We concluded that there had indeed been a large inhabited site on the mainland opposite Zapatera island.
2. Attempt to determine if local artifacts could date to Jaredite times. The earliest date given by scholars for the artifacts of this area is 500 BC. We need to go back to about 900 BC for Lib's time period. One Nicaraguan archaeological site does in fact date back far enough to fit our hypothesis. The Acahualinca fossil footprint site, west of modern Managua, has been dated anywhere from 2000-5000 BC. This is a site exhibiting ancient human footprints buried beneath up to 4 meters of ash fall sediments which show the presence of people at this time period.

   

   Fossil footprints

   This second objective relates specifically to the stone statues which have been discovered on Zapatera Island, and the surrounding areas. These statues were found at a ceremonial center on the island.  Most of these statues are now housed in the San Francisco Convent Museum in Granada.  Most scholars estimate that these statues were created by Indians living after 800 AD, however, no actual scientific dating has been done on any of them. I have discussed these statues in several previous blogs. I feel that they are much older than most archaeologists have estimated, and do not resemble the normal art work of Meso or Central America. I feel that they resemble the art work of the Sumerian culture of Mesopotamia from which the Jaredites originated. For example, some of the statues have beards, which is highly unlikely for native Americans, but is typical for Sumeria. They are presented in the nude, which is not characteristic of native American art, but is of Sumerian. They were stationed as votive images around temples, which is typical for Sumerian statues.
   A comparison was made of different types of statuary in Nicaragua. We visited the excellent Gregorio Aguilar Barea Archaeological Museum in Juigalpa which contains an extensive collection of the local statuary. The late period Chontales style statues found there are distinctly different from those of Zapatera. They were fashioned from columns of basalt, with only minor alteration of the original form, and are much cruder in style. The basalt of the Zapatera statues is much more weathered than that of Juigalpa, which to me would indicate that it is much older.
   We compared the weathering of the statues in the museums with the native stone on Zapatera island. The weathering of the two seems to be comparable, which to me again indicates an ancient origin. Comparing surface weathering on other stone artifacts would indicate that the Zapatera statues are much older. For example, there are numerous ancient grinding stones (or metates) which are apparently of more recent date. They show much less weathering on the unused surfaces than do the statues.
   From the original reports of the discoverers, many of the statues were partially buried in their standing, or reclined, positions. If this burial resulted from natural causes (ie wind blown sedimentation), it would indeed indicate an ancient origin.
   According to Ephriam Squier, one of the original discoverers of the statues, one statue, which was not recovered, was partially buried and lying under a huge fallen tree, which was impossible to remove. If this tree were a Cieba Tree, which is the largest species growing in this region, it could have been as much as 400 years old when it fell, and have lain there for many years longer.
   All of this seems to validate our hypothesis that the statues are indeed old enough to be of Jaredite origin.
3. Visit the discovery sites of the statues on Zapatera Island. Zapatera Island is about 20 miles south of Granada, which is the closest harbour where boats can be rented. We hired a boat and operator and sailed to the island early one morning and spent part of the day on the island at Zonzapote. From this small village we hiked a mile or so to one of the discovery sites. Most of the statuary had been removed, but there were still a few pieces in the original location. What was more interesting, were the ancient mounds which had originally been temple or housing platforms. They are composed of a stone core and had originally been covered with earth. But they were so ancient that the earth had all eroded away leaving only the stone cores. We had earlier visited similar mounds near Juigalpa, which were apparently much younger. They still had the earth covering in place and the stone core was only exposed where they had been excavated.
   There was also a lot of broken and weathered pottery sherds scattered around the mounds. It appeared to me that very little has been done in the way of detailed examination or excavation of the Zapatera site. It is a shame that so little interest is shown by the government and the scientific community.