Of Mammoths and Men

One of the noteworthy events of the past week (7 Nov. 2019) has been the announcement of the

discovery of a cache of mammoth bones in San Antonio Xahuento, Tultepec, Mexico. The bones of approximately 200 individual mammoths have been found in what appears to have been  large pits constructed by early humans to trap and kill the animals.  It has been estimated by the archaeologists that the bones are about 15,000 years old, and they suggest that the ancients had developed this hunting strategy as an advancement of the traditional practice of only hunting individual wounded or trapped animals. 

I think that this find is very interesting, not in the publicized sense of revealing an advancement in the skills of the aboriginal native Americans, but one of validating the Jaredites familiarity with elephants, and their use of them for labor (and also possibly for food).  Of course the main body of the Jaredites inhabited parts of the Americas from about 2500 BC to about 200 BC, so the estimated age of these mammoths predates the time of the Jaredites by perhaps 12,000 years.  So could these bones have been from Jaredite-age mammoths?  Could the experts be that wrong, or is my theorized dating completely off?

First let's look at how the experts arrived at this early date for the mammoth bones.  First, they have

compared the bones with the adjacent strata, which indeed is of their postulated age.  But if the ancients had dug a pit and the bones were secondary, then they should not correspond with the age of the strata of the pit which would obviously be older than the fill.  Secondly, the researchers have also indicated that there is dust from the eruption of a nearby volcano on top of the bones.  This eruption is dated to about 11,000 BC.  This would invalidate a later date.  But it is entirely possible that this dusting is secondary, falling in from the side walls of the trench or pit.  Also it is possible that the dating of the eruption may be in error. 

And lastly, it is accepted dogma that the Columbian mammoths became extinct on or before 10,000 BC.  This last event has been disputed in an excellent research paper by Scott Drenner who has shown that there are much more recent dates for mammoth remains.  These recent carbon dates are normally disputed by the scholars who label them as "anomalous" and routinely discard them.

Another item of interest is that the bones have apparently not been carbon dated.  Carbon dating would give a much more accurate measure of their actual age than would contextual dating.  But even though the work has been going on for some time prior to the news release, they have apparently not bothered with the carbon dating.

Another interesting fact is suggested in the above news releases; that Mexico is the second most abundant source of mammoth remains.  The first would probably be the northern Eurasian region.  This would mean that at one time Mexico was home to abundant herds of mammoths.  

Referring to the above find, my hypothesis is that these bone deposits are evidence of the Jaredite use of the elephant species in performing their extensive heavy construction projects (Refer to previous blog on elephants, cumoms and cureloms). The remains of these monumental projects are ubiquitous throughout Mexico and are a source of wonder and awe.  

Now by accepting the Book of Mormon as authentic history and scripture (which I do), we also accept the included Book of Ether, which relates the history of the original Jaredite migration from the Middle East.  In that book we find the reference to elephants among the Jaredites: "and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms (Ether 9:19)."  Scott Drenner, in the paper referenced above, has shown that the Columbian Mammoth was the original Jaredite elephant,  the Curelom was the extinct mastodon, and that the Cumom was the extinct Cuvieroniinae (or Gomphothere),  which are all similar species.  From the above we can infer that the Jaredites bred, raised, trained and worked these three groups and found them very useful.

Here I will include a quote from my previous blog on the husbandry of elephants: "The husbandry of elephants is very interesting and different from most domestic species.  This is due to their lengthy gestation, and the long juvenile phase.  Elephants will carry their young for 18-22 months, and the young infant will generally not be ready for heavy work until they are almost 20 years old.  As a result there are many years of unproductive use, and many industrial users find that it is more economical to let them run wild and then catch and train them when they are fully grown."  It is likely that the Jaredites followed similar practices, allowing the animals to run wild until they were ready for use, and then capturing and training them.  This may explain the pits and traps which were found containing all the bones.

Now if the Jaredites had used the above menitoned pits as traps for wild elephants, why are there bones deposited in the pits?  Perhaps some of the elephants were injured and died as a result of falling into the pits.  Or more likely the natives could have used the pits to dispose of the remains of old or dead animals.  Hopefully future research will give us more detailed information.  

I have included below some of the references to these finds.  Most are in Spanish, but the written ones will give a rough translation using Google Translate.  The videos give visual information but will probably be unintelligible to non-Spanish speaking persons.

English paper: They discover in Tultepec, State of Mexico, unpublished context of hunting and mammoth detachment.  https://www.inah.gob.mx/en/boletines/8647-descubren-en-tultepec-estado-de-mexico-contexto-inedito-de-caceria-y-destazamiento-de-mamuts

Spanish paper: Descubren en Tultepec, Estado de México, contexto inédito de cacería y destazamiento de mamuts.  https://www.inah.gob.mx/attachments/article/8647/20191106_boleti%CC%81n_463.pdf


Videos
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2019/11/07/Anthropologists-unearth-remains-of-mammoths-trapped-in-15000-year-old-pits/5201573136924/?ls=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c0G-iLZg_E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oTpqV9tzBI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyslDL5SoOU

Mexican TV series "Following the Footprints of Mammoths in Mexico" (in Spanish) One, Two, Three, Four.

What is the Location of Ur of the Chaldees?

In recent years the question has arisen "where was the Ur of the Chaldees mentioned in the Book of Abraham located?"  Historically it was always thought to be the site of Ur in southern Iraq, the site excavated by Leonard Woolley in about 1922.  But recently, some have claimed to have located another biblical Ur in Turkey, near the site of Harran (Haran).  This article will argue for the original southern Iraq site at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphates rivers, and adjacent to the Persian Gulf.

From Hoskisson

In the Book of Abraham (in the Pearl of Great Price) we read Abraham's account about the land and city of Ur; "In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my fathers, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence (Abr. 1:1).  What was the reason he needed to leave?  He was to have been sacrificed, on the order of Nimrod the king,  by an Egyptian priest on an altar that "was in the land of Ur, of Chaldea (1:20)".  The Lord was displeased with this threat against Abraham and caused a severe famine to come upon the land.  It was so severe that Abraham's brother Haran died, and Abraham was commanded to take his family, leave Ur and go to Canaan.  On his way he stopped in south eastern Turkey for some time and named this spot Haran (apparently after his dead brother);  then later took up his journey, at the Lord's command, southwestward to Canaan (2:1-5).  This was not the shortest route from Ur to Canaan, which would have been due west from the southern Ur, but seemed to follow the trade routes  NNW along the rivers, and then southward along the Mediterranean coast.

The proposed northern Ur is located in south east Turkey at the head of the Euphrates 

Gobekli Tepe (Courtesy Wikipedia)

River.  It is near a town called Sanliurfa (the latter part of the name being Urfa, which it is thought refers to the ancient name Ur).  There is an ancient ruin named Göbekli Tepe which is an ancient sanctuary located about 15 km northeast of the city of Sanliurfa.  It does not show evidence of a zuggurat as was characteristic of Sumerian cities, and is actually dated much earlier than Abraham's time (10,000 BC).  Although  I do not think that this date is accurate, it seems to place it outside Abraham's time frame.  Although there are traditions about Abraham at Urfa, I don't feel that they are as convincing as the southern ones.  As a result I do not think Urfa is a valid candidate for the Pearl of Great Price city of Ur. 

I will now focus on six points which seem to validate a southern location for the city of Ur.

1.  Chaldea and the land of the Chaldeans

Courtesy Wikipedia

In the scriptures Abraham is associated with Chaldea and the Chaldeans.  This is a very strong link.  Chaldea was located at the head of the Persian Gulf, at the mouths of the Tigris and Euphates rivers.  If Ur was located in Chaldea, it could not have been at the suggested site in southeastern Turkey.  Some of the scriptural references from the Book of Abraham will be of use here.

Abr 1:1  In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my fathers, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence.  (Here we have Abraham located at his father's residence in the land of the Chaldeans.)

Abr 1:8  it was the custom of the priest of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to offer up upon the altar which was built in the land of Chaldea;  (The altar where Abraham was to have been sacrificed was in Chaldea, therefore the adjacent Ur would have been in Chaldea as well.  See Abraham and Nimrod.)

Abr 1:20  Behold, Potiphar’s Hill [where Abraham was scheduled to be killed] was in the land of Ur, of Chaldea. And the Lord broke down the altar of Elkenah, and of the gods of the land, and utterly destroyed them, and smote the priest that he died; and there was great mourning in Chaldea, and also in the court of Pharaoh.  (Potiphar's Hill, or the location of the Egyptian altar, was in Chaldea, and the hill was also located there.)  

Abr 1:30  Accordingly a famine prevailed throughout all the land of Chaldea, and my father was sorely tormented because of the famine.  (The famine severely affected the residents of Chaldea, and the land of Ur, forcing many to flee.  Abraham and his family fled north to the upper Euphrates.  This would have been a long distance.  Fleeing 20 miles or so [the distance from Harran to Urfa, the suggested northern Ur, would not have changed the effects of the famine much.)

Abr 2:1  Now the Lord God caused the famine to wax sore in the land of Ur, insomuch that Haran, my brother, died; but Terah, my father, yet lived in the land of Ur, of the Chaldees.  (It should be noted here that Terah, Abraham's father, was the leader of Nimrod's army.  He temporarily repents of his idolatry and leaves his position of power to go with Abraham north into rural Turkey.  When they settle in the area, they name the place Haran.  It had apparently not been named before.)

Abr 2:4  I (Abraham speaking) left the land of Ur, of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan (by way of Haran).  (This identifies the three separate locations.) 

Abr 2:15  Sarai, whom I took to wife when I was in Ur, in Chaldea, (Referring to the past, he took Sarai as his wife when he previously resided in Ur.  He is now enroute from Haran to Canaan.)

2.  Nimrod (also known as Amraphel or Gilgamesh)

According to the account in the Book of Jasher, Abraham was closely involved with the Sumerian king Nimrod, and this involvement links Ur to the southern location .  It was Nimrod who almost killed him as a baby (Jasher Ch. 8).  It was Nimrod who condemned him to die at the hand of the Egyptian priest.  It was Nimrod who employed his father as his general.  And it was Nimrod who enriched him as he left Ur to travel north.  

Aerial view Ur 1927 (Wikipedia)

Nimrod's base was in Sumer, at the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.   He founded the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh.   "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (Gen. 10:10)".  Although it isn't mentioned, he undoubtedly founded Ur as well.  He was related, thru his grandfather Cush, to the early Egyptian rulers, which probably explains the presence of the Egyptian priest, and the acceptance of the Egyptian religious practices.  

3.  The Ziggurats

Sumerian religious practices focused on the artificial mountain, or ziggurat.  Major Sumerian cities are all built around, or close to, a prominent pyramid.  The city of Ur undoubtedly had its own ziggurat.  The tower of Babel was likely a ziggurat, and was probably located near the southern Ur.  In other words, the true Ur should evidence archaeological ruins including a ziggurat, royal burials, and ancient libraries (cuniform 

Reconstructed Ziggurat of Ur (Wikipedia)

tablets).

The only archaeological evidence that I can find for Urfa is the ancient city of Gobekli Tepe.  This site is dated at 10,000 BC (much too early), is built of rock and in a rocky environment (Sumer did not have rock and had to rely on clay), did not have a close relationship with Egypt, and is about 15 miles away from Urfa.  There are legends about Abraham in this region, but they are not as strong as the southern ones, and probably relate to Abraham's sojourn in the area.

4.  Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur

Sir Leonard Woolley began his excavations at the Ur site in 1922.  His findings included what one would expect from a royal tomb complex from that time period.  They included many precious artifacts, exceptional art work, the untouched tomb of the queen (but the kings tomb was empty), the remains of many servants (killed to accompany the dead), and ancient paintings.  This site is near the remains of the Ur ziggurat.

This is only one of a multitude of ancient sites that have been excavated in what was then Sumer.  In

Excavations at Ur (Wikipedia)

addition, thousands of clay tablets have been found containing cuniform script which detail much of the culture of the Sumerian people.  Nothing similar has been found at the archaeological sites near Urfa.

5.  Ur was a center of cultural and commerce.  

Ur was situated at a strategic location near the mouths of the two river and with access to the sea routes to various ancient nations.  As Sumer had few natural resources (other than plentiful harvests of grain) they relied on trade with their neighbors for other necessary goods to maintain and build their civilization.  This would not have been available to the people of the northern Ur (Urfa).  The Sumerians had a history of trade with other countries and a history of navigation to the coasts of distant India and Africa.

Other references
Book of Jasher
Where was Ur of the Chaldees?  An opposing view.
Ur.  From the Ancient History Encyclopedia.
Chaldea.  From Wikipedia.
The Tigris Expedition: In Search of Our Beginnings
Lament for Ur

Language and writing

The Babylonian Assyrian (or as it is now called, Akkadian) script, stated Hincks, was not alphabetical, but both syllabic and ideographic,Read more at location 248  

approaches nearer to the Mongol and Manchu type than to any other branch of the Turanian family,Read more at location 298  

One of the most original contributions of the Sumerians to the arts was the cylinder seal,Read more at location 1327  

the cylinder seal, a small cylinder of stone engraved with a design that became clear and meaningful when rolled over a clay tabletRead more at location 1327  

These were followed by collections containing literally thousands of words and phrases arranged according to meaning. Thus in the field of the "natural sciences," there were lists of the parts of the animal and human body, of wild and domestic animals, of birds and fishes, of trees and plants, of stones and stars. The lists of artifacts included wooden objects more than fifteen hundred items ranging from pieces of raw wood to boats and chariots; objects made of reed, skin, leather, and metal; assorted types of pottery, garments, foods, and beverages. A special group of these lists dealt with place names lands, cities, and hamlets as well as rivers, canals, and fields. A collection of the most common expressions used in administrative and legal documents was also included as well as a list of some eight hundred words denoting professions, kinship relations, deformities of the human body, etc. Read more at location 2981  

while most of the documents were excavated more than half a century ago, the piecing together and translation of the compositions inscribed on them made relatively little progress over the ensuing decades.Read more at location 2166  

Only the edubba graduate could read and write, and it is hardly likely that even the "men of letters" made a practice of collecting private libraries for their own personal entertainment and instruction.Read more at location 2216  

From the point of view of the history of civilization, Sumer's supreme achievements were the development of the cuneiform system of writing and the formal system of education which was its direct outgrowth.Read more at location 2910  

the number of scribes who practiced their craft throughout those years ran into the thousands; there were junior scribes and "high" scribes, royal and temple scribes, scribes who were highly specialized for particular categories of administrative activities, and scribes who became leading officials in state and government.Read more at location 2921  

2000 B.c., some five hundred individuals list themselves as scribes, and for further identification many of them add the names of their fathers and their occupations. Schneider compiled a list of these data and found that the fathers of the scribes, that is, of the school graduates, were governors, "city fathers," ambassadors, temple administrators, military officers, sea captains, high tax officials,Read more at location 2942  

The cuneiform system of writing was probably originated by the Sumerians. The oldest inscriptions unearthed to date more than one thousand tablets and fragments from about 3000 B.c. are in all likelihood written in the Sumerian language.Read more at location 3818  

The cuneiform script began as pictographic writing. Each sign was a picture of one or more concrete objects and represented a word whose meaning was identical with, or closely related to, the object pictured. The defects of a system of this type are twofold: the complicated forms of the signs and the great number of signs required render it too unwieldy for practical use. The Sumerian scribes overcame the first difficulty by gradually simplifying and conventionalizing the forms of the signs until their pictographic originals were no longer apparent. As for the second difficulty, they reduced the number of signs and kept them within limits by resorting to various helpful devices. The most significant device was substituting phonetic for ideographic values.Read more at location 3821  

The Tarim Mummies

Quoting from Wikipedia: 

The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BCE to the first centuries BCE.

At the beginning of the 20th century, European explorers such as Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq and Sir Aurel Stein all recounted their discoveries of desiccated bodies in their search for antiquities in Central Asia. Since then, numerous other mummies have been found and analyzed, many of them now displayed in the museums of Xinjiang. Most of these mummies were found on the eastern end of the Tarim Basin, or along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin

The earliest Tarim mummies, found at Qäwrighul and dated to 1800 BCE, are of a Caucasian physical type whose closest affiliation is to the Bronze Age populations of southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the Lower Volga.

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

My interest in these mummies is their possible relationship to the Jaredite migration across ancient Asia.  The location is overlapping and the time time period, is close, although a little latter for the mummies, but they could have been from some of the remnant population left behind from Jared's group.  My feeling is that Jared's people would have been a mixture of Shemites, Japhethites, and Hamites with a majority of Shemites.  However, judging from the Olmec culture in the New World, the majority should have been distinctly mongoloid, but whether this cultural trait (or mutation) originated from one of the three dominant groups or some other source is not obvious.  However it does seem to postdate the dispersion from Babel.

In any event, it would be wise to study the Tarim mummies, their language, writing, artifacts, etc. with a possible connection in mind.   

The Dunhuang Manuscripts

In 1900 a cache of religious manuscripts from a sealed cave was discovered at Dunhuang, China by a Daoist monk and began to be circulated and exhibited by collectors and museums.  In many respects the collection is similar to one gathered by the Nephite leaders in the Book Of Mormon and hidden away by one of their last prophets Mormon (in about 380 AD) near a place called by them Cumorah (Morm. 6:6).  A study of it may give us some clues to the still hidden Mormon collection.

Dunhuang Caves courtesy Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia

The Dunhuang manuscripts are a cache of important religious and secular documents discovered in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, in the early 20th century. Dating from late 4th to early 11th centuries, the manuscripts include works ranging from history and mathematics to folk songs and dance. There are also a large number of religious documents, most of which are Buddhist, but other religions including Daoism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism are also represented. The majority of the manuscripts are in Chinese. Other languages represented are Khotanese, Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tangut, Tibetan, Old Uyghur language, Hebrew and Old Turkic. The manuscripts are a major resource for academic studies in a wide variety of fields including history, religious studies, linguistics, and manuscript studies.

The documents were discovered in a sealed cave by the Daoist monk Wang Yuanlu on June 25, 1900. From 1907 onwards he began to sell them to Western explorers, notably Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot. ...Those purchased by Western scholars are now kept in institutions all over the world, such as the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. All of the manuscript collections are being digitized by the International Dunhuang Project, and can be freely accessed online.

Manuscript courtesy Wikipecia

Also included under heading Mogao Caves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves

Mike Xu and the Jaredite Celts

No civilization has arisen from a single focus.  If we want to have a metaphor, we would do better to compare the process of civilization to the propagation of waves on a rising tide.  Its genesis is the interaction of cultures, and no isolated and homogeneous culture has ever risen much beyond its original level.  Tatiana Proskouriakoff 

From his studies of the Olmec culture of Central America, Mike Xu, a professor at Texas Christian Universtity, noticed that some of the inscriptions of the Olmec (called epi-olmec script) resembled ancient Chinese writing.  He was able to translate some of this writing as he was familiar with ancient Chinese script.  Following his further studies, he wrote a book  which he titled Origin of the Olmec Civilization.  He postulated that the Olmec culture resulted from an influx of Chinese refugees that had fled mainland China following the collapse of the Shang Dynasty about 1600 BC.  These refugees brought with them the culture and innovations of the Shang Chinese and taught them to the native inhabitants, resulting in the quasi oriental culture of the Olmec.
This goes along with my theory that there was a connection between the ancient, so called Olmec, and the ancient Chinese.  The Olmec being equivalent to the Jaredite civilization, which passed through China on their way to the Americas.

La Venta Offering 4 (Wikipedia Commons)

Now back to Mike Xu.  His interest was originally stimulated by his study of some Olmec artifacts discovered during archaeological excavations at the site of La Venta in the Mexican state of Veracruz (La Venta Offering #4).  These consist of a number of jade standing figures facing six jade celts with inscriptions on them.  The inscriptions on the celts (or polished stone implements) are what initially prompted his research.
In spite of his research being well founded and logical, it was unanimously rejected by the leading scholars.  Writing in the forward of his book, Clifton Warren, the dean of liberal arts, comments that the book came forth in an “arena of unusual prejudice” (probably an understatement).  As a result, Xu not only wasn't accepted as a legitimate scholar, but lost his position at the university and was ostracized by other scholars in the field.

Olmec Celts
from www.ancient-encounters.com

Of interest at this point is a quote by Edward Moreno from one of his articles in the Intenet magazine Discover Nikkei.

At Texas Christian University—whose slogan is Learning to Change the World—Modern Languages teacher, Dr. H. Mike Xu, had been studying the Olmec script. He concluded that most of its 146 characters resembled Chinese ideograms from the Shang Dynasty (17-1100 BC). Other similarities between Olmec and Chinese—rituals; motifs; tools; body language—also surprised him. After going several times to China to consult Chinese scientists, he sat down and wrote about his findings. Academic orthodoxy became furious, and Xu was sacked. He went to court and won reinstatement, but had to sit at his campus office, thumbs dwindling, forbidden to ever teach again. 

Unfortunately, this seems to have ended Mike Xu's research into the Olmec.  His book has all but disappeared, and is currently out of print.  However, for anyone interested in reading it, it is possible to borrow it through Inter-library loan programs.  Such loans can be arranged through your local library and a number of university libraries who still have the book on their shelves.  Also you can do a search on Google for the book and click on the option "get the book from a library" to determine if there is one in a library near you. 

A summary of Xu's findings: 

The sudden emergence of the Olmec culture coincided with the downfall of the Shang dynasty in China and the disappearance of a large number of refugees.  (250,000 Chinese were missing after fall of the Shang.)

The Shang writings as found in China are found in the Olmec world as well.  The most frequent and significant symbols refer to sun, rain, water, worship, sacrifice, wealth, land, mountain and plants.

The Olmec religion shared many beliefs with the Shang in the area of ancestral worship, human sacrifice, animal totems as well as the worship of the Sun God and the rain.  Their sharing of eagle, dragon/serpent, and tiger/jaguar symbols, as well as the cleft head motif is very significant.  

The Olmec and the Shang shared the same knowledge of astronomy and astrology as seen in the practice of architectural orientation.  Their shared knowledge of Polaris, and the sharing of the Eight Trigram motif in their calendar making is very noticeable.

Other references:

http://www.chinese.tcu.edu/www_chinese3_tcu_edu.htm

http://www.chinese.tcu.edu/www_chinese2_tcu_edu.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Olmec-civilization-H-Mike/dp/096486942X

http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp273_olmec_chinese_writing.pdf  (a counter argument)

  

Note: From the La Venta Offering #4 it is apparent that the Olmec practiced cranial deformation (at least among the elite).  This is an ancient cultural practice that could be used in tracing the Olmec to their roots.  It was practiced among various other groups, but interestingly it was also practiced among the Sumerians.  Refer to http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/cranialdeformation.htm  for more information.
Also the nudity of the figures is of interest.  The Sumerians often depicted their statues in the nude which apparently represented holiness to them.

Destruction of the snakes

Several scriptures found in the book of Ether help us to further define the Book of Mormon term "narrow neck of land."

You will recall that about 1300 BC, during the reign of King Heth (the 9th Jaredite king), the Lord cursed the people with a grievous famine.  It was so severe that even the king died.  The famine was accompanied by an infestation of poisonous snakes which migrated en mass southward afflicting both man and beast.  The surviving animals fled before the snakes, passing through the narrow neck of land, into the land southward (Alma 22:41), which later came to be known as the land of Zarahemla.  About 400 years later the plague of snakes was successfully destroyed giving the Jaredites access to the land southward which they hadn't had for many years.  The first series of scriptures that speak of this is found in Ether 9:29-34. 

But the people believed not the words of the prophets, but they cast them out; and some of them they cast into pits and left them to perish. And it came to pass that they did all these things according to the commandment of the king, Heth.  And it came to pass that there began to be a great dearth upon the land, and the inhabitants began to be destroyed exceedingly fast because of the dearth, for there was no rain upon the face of the earth.  And there came forth poisonous serpents also upon the face of the land, and did poison many people. And it came to pass that their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents, towards the land southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla.  And it came to pass that there were many of them which did perish by the way; nevertheless, there were some which fled into the land southward.  And it came to pass that the Lord did cause the serpents that they should pursue them no more, but that they should hedge up the way that the people could not pass, that whoso should attempt to pass might fall by the poisonous serpents.  And it came to pass that the people did follow the course of the beasts, and did devour the carcasses of them which fell by the way, until they had devoured them all. Now when the people saw that they must perish they began to repent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord.

About 400 years later, during the reign of King Lib (the 13th Jaredite king), Lib managed to

destroy the plague of serpents to the extent that men could travel thru the narrow neck 

without being bitten.  We are not told how this was accomplished, but my opinion is that they used repeated burning of the land which would have effectively annihilated the snakes over several years.  This repeated burning may also explain why there were few trees in the land northward when the Nephites later began to inhabit the land (Hel. 3:6-7).  

Sometime previous king Lib had built a large city near the narrow neck (presumably to the north), near a geographical feature called "the place where the sea divides the land."  These references thus relate the land northward, the narrow neck of land, the city of Lib, and the land southward (or Zarahemla) spatially.  These references are found in Ether 10:19-21.  

And it came to pass that Lib also did that which was good in the sight of the Lord. 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.

See also https://moriancumr2.blogspot.com/2014/01/seeking-city-of-lib.html

Chinese Inventions

"The Western world used to know little about China's past, except for the four major inventions.  As a matter of fact, China as an important source of human civilization had given birth to brilliant ancient science and technology and led the world in most of the history of world civilization, and till the mid-19th century its economy was the largest in the world ... The achievements nourished Chinese culture and civilization, and contributed greatly to mankind."  (Ancient Chinese Inventions.  Deng Yenke)

I was recently reading the book Myths and Legends of China (printed 1922) by E T C

Terraced Rice Paddies (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Werner who was British Counsel to China for a number of years.  I found his accounts interesting, but was repulsed by his bias toward the Chinese themselves.  He makes a number of assertions which are very prejudicial, one of the most blatant being that "the inventions of the Chinese can be counted on one hand."  I would like to comment on this last one and refute his false assertion. 

I have discussed in an earlier blog the importance of China in world history (especially from God's perspective, that the Jaradites, and their descendants, would become the greatest nation on the earth).  And as I believe that these Jaredites were the original populators of China, it is logical to assume that their descendants would have contributed an inordinate number of innovations to the culture of the world.  

For example, if we consider the greater Chinese civilization as a whole, it has been, and is the major culture in the world numberwise and is second economically.  In this blog I will present examples of Chinese inventions and developments that support my hypothesis.

The four most outstanding of these Chinese innovations are generally considered to have been paper making, printing, gunpowder, and the compass.  The importance of these innovations is obvious. As for the rest, I have included a long list of Chinese inventions at the end of this article (probably only partially complete) taken from the Historyplex website.  As can be seen, it is a lengthy list and includes many important innovations which have greatly benefited mankind.  So Werner's biased opinion is certainly worthy of the dustbin.

The Lord has certainly blessed the Chinese over the centuries, although there have been periods of accelerated progress, and others of retardation.  Those times when egotistical rulers have destroyed records so that history could begin with their reign were certainly blights on history.  Also those eras in which scientific research was proscribed were to be regretted.  But overall the Chinese have been a great blessing to the world and will continue to be if their politics don't drag them into a period of decline.

My favorite Chinese inventions are paper, fireworks, the plow, the compass, silk and the junk.  What are yours?

From: Historyplex

• Pre-Shang Dynasty Inventions
• Coffin (rect. wooden)
• Dagger-axe
• Drum
• Fork
• Lacquer
• Millet (cultivation)
• Noodle
• Oar (rowing)
• Plastromancy
• Plowshare (triangle)
• Rice (cultivation)
• Salt (use)
• Silk
• Soybean
• Steamer (pottery)
• Treetrunk coffin
• Urn (pottery)

Shang and post Shang inventions

A...

• Acupuncture
• Animal zodiac
• Archeology
• Anti-malarial properties of artemisia
• Armillary sphere, hydraulic-powered
• Automatic opening doors
• Automation

B...

• Banknote
• Beer (high-alcohol)
• Bellows, hydraulic-powered
• Belt drive
• Blast furnace
• Bomb, cast iron
• Borehole drilling
• Bristle toothbrush
• Bulkhead partition

C...

• Chinese calendar (365.2425 days)
• Cast iron
• Caledon
• Chain drive
• Chemical warfare
• Chopsticks
• Chromium (use)
• Chuiwan (Chinese golf)
• Civil service exams
• Co-fusion steel process
• Coke (fuel)
• Contour canal
• Crank handle
• Crossbow, handheld
• Cuju (football)
• Cupola furnace

D...

• Deficiency diseases correction
• Diabetes (recognition and treatment)
• Dominoes (Chinese)
• Duogong (building bracket)
• Drawloom (fabric)

E...

• Endocrinology (isolation of sex and pituitary hormones from urine)
• Escapement (used in clockwork)
• Exploding cannonballs 

F...

• Field mill (carriage)
• Finery forge
• Fire lance
• Fireworks
• Fishing reel
• Flamethrower
• Flare, military signal
• Forensic entomology
• Free reed aerophone

G...

• Gas cylinder
• Gimbal (Cardan suspension)
• Go (board game)
• Guqin (zither instrument)

H - I...

• Hand cannon
• Horse collar
• Horse harness
• Hybrid rice
• India ink
• Inoculation (smallpox treatment)
• Iron plow

J - L...

• Jacob's staff
• Jade burial suit
• Junk (ship)
• Kite
• Land mine
• Leeboard
• Liubo (board game)

M...

• Marine salvage operations
• Makyoh (magic mirrors)
• Magnetic levitation
• Mahjong (gambling game)
• Man-lifting kite
• Match, non-friction
• Mechanical theater
• Modular system of architecture
• Multiple-tube seed drill
• Multistage rocket

N...

• Natural gas (fuel)
• Naval mine
• Negative and non-negative numbers

P...

• Pinhole camera
• Playing cards
• Porcelain
• Pound lock
• Puppet theater, waterwheel-powdered

R...

• Raised-relief map
• Restaurant menu
• Row planting
• Rocket bombs, aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads
• Rotary fan (manual and water-powered)
• Rudder

S...

• Seismometer
• South pointing chariot
• Steel making (from cast iron)
• Stirrup
• Suspension bridge

T...

• Tea
• Thyroid hormones (goiter treatment)
• Tofu
• Toilet paper
• Toothbrush
• Traction trebuchet catapult
• Trip hammer
• Tuned bells

W - Z...

• Wheelbarrow
• Wine server
• Winnowing fan
• Xiangqi (Chinese chess board game)
• Zeotrope (cinemetograph)
• Zhaozhou bridge

Since this blog was originally published I have continued my research into the culture of China by studying the life of Joseph Needham, one of the pre-eminent Sinologists of the past century.  A handy outline of Needham's life and achievements is found in Simon Winchester's book The Man Who Loved China.  After a full life devoted to the study of Chinese history, Needham set the monumental goal of chronicling it all in what he has called Science and Civilization in China.  After many years of effort, by himself and others, he has composed 27 large volumes of detailed history relating all the advances, over the years, of the various Chinese innovators.  It would be a rather daunting task to studying all the original material, but fortunately there is a shorter digest of the whole in a book titled The Genius of China by Robert Temple which gives a comprehensive but concise overview.  I would recommend it.