Restored Israel

admin December 17th, 2010

Imagine that you are an archaeologist working in south central Mexico. You find a ruinous city on a defensive hill in the center of a lush valley. Cliffs adjoin three sides of the city; on the fourth side you discover a wall of earth and stone 50 to 60 feet wide, almost 30 feet tall, and stretching over 2 miles. As you investigate further, you learn that thousands of people suddenly left their small farming communities to build and fortify this city. You search the entire valley and discover that many sites were defended by walls and natural topography during this same time period.

“Why did these people abandon their homes and move onto hilltops?” you ask yourself as you study the ruins. “Why did they labor so intensely to build massive ridges of earth and stone around their cities? Such united efforts over an extensive area must have been initiated by a bold, charismatic and influential leader!”

If you actually did find that story in the dirt, which part of the Book of Mormon would you think of? Which Book of Mormon leader would come to your mind?

The story mentioned above was found in southern Mexico by archaeologists [1]. It dates to before the time of Christ and it marks the boundary between the cultures of Yucatan and those of central Mexico. As I read it I thought of Captain Moroni defending his lands from the Lamanites. As I researched further I found many “coincidences” in which the archaeology matched the story of Captain Moroni. A moat on the outside of the earthen wall, a large hill just south and west of the city, a wide strip of wilderness archaeologists labeled a “no man’s land” stretching between the two cultures, a highly developed culture on the “Nephite” side and peoples living in tents on the “Lamanite” side [2]. It was quite astounding. However, that wasn’t the first time I read an archaeological report and thought of the Book of Mormon. I’ll explain how it all began.

I never intended to study archaeology; I sort of stumbled upon it. It started with a quote by Joseph Smith in the “Times & Seasons”. In a commentary on the book “Stephen’s Incidents of Travel in Central America,” Joseph Smith identified two major Book of Mormon locations. Joseph gave the place of Lehi’s first landing, stating: “Lehi went down by the Red Sea to the great Southern Ocean, and crossed over to this land, and landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien.” [3] He then alluded to the location of Zarahemla by quoting Stephen, prefacing the excerpt: “[it] comes as near the real fact, as the four Evangelists do to the crucifixion of Jesus.” Stephen states: “Toltecan Indians [Mulekites] . . . under the guidance of Tanub [Mulek], their chief, passed from one continent to the other, to a place which they called the seven caverns, a part of the kingdom of Mexico, where they founded the celebrated city of Tula.” [4]

These quotes intrigued me, and I wondered where the Isthmus of Darien and Tula were located. As a teenager I resolved that someday I would find them. I trusted Joseph Smith and thought that if I could find those places, it would deepen my understanding of the scriptures. Yearslater, as a graduate student at BYU, I followed through on my resolve. As I entered the BYU library I felt overwhelmed. I was an engineering student, not an archaeology student—what were my chances of finding anything? I finally sat down at the online catalog and entered the vast realm of scholarly research in a field which was completely new to me. With surprising ease, I found that the Isthmus of Darien is the narrow neck of land near the Panama Canal. Wow, a real link!

With my confidence strengthened, I returned to the catalog in search of Tula. I found that many cities have held this name over the centuries, but the original Tula is believed to be either the Toltec city of Tula in the Valley of Mexico, slightly northwest of Mexico City, or the great city of Teotihuacan a little southeast of there [5]. Another link!

I was surprised at the ease of finding these two places, and I decided to look for more. I wanted a deeper understanding of the Book of Mormon and its people, and I knew that I had to rely on the scriptural text itself as my only true anchor, so I set out to create my own “internal model” of the Book of Mormon [6], or in other words a map based on geographical statements in the scriptural text alone— up, down, north, south, etc. — without considering any other information. I was amazed at how many references there are to geography, and how consistent they are — they made a very complete picture.
As I did this, and in subsequent readings and rereadings, I also sought to understand the people culturally and their ethnic surroundings; I looked for different cultures, political issues, demography, and the movement of people over time. I studied the influence of the major players—the heroes that the people must have adored, as well as the wicked men who caused so much pain. It was a very spiritual experience that brings great insight into our modern society and political situations.

As I studied I struck a massive iceberg. At first I was sure that it would sink me, but later it turned out to be the great key —the missing link. In Alma 22:27–34 we find a major geographical exposition hidden amidst Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni ’s mission to the Lamanites. I do not think Mormon included it just so we would know where Lamoni’s father ’s proclamation was sent, although that is the context in which it is found. Rather, it is a prime example of Mormon’s careful documentation of the geography of his people. He wanted us to be able to find Book of Mormon cities!

In those verses Mormon informs us of something that perhaps everyone except me always knew, but which somehow I had missed. That the well known narrow neck of land, which only took a day [7] or a day and a half [8] to cross, is north of Zarahemla. I was shocked! Somehow I thought it was between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi, south of Zarahemla. But it was north of Zarahemla. One of the greatest and widest deserts of the Americas was sitting there on the map right between my Zarahemla [Mexico City] and my land northward. It is the great Chihuahua desert of northern Mexico, and it actually extends into Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It also happens to be bounded on each side by a chain of mountains with peaks over 12,000 feet high, and the desert itself has an average elevation of around 4,000 feet above sea level! There was no way that was the narrow neck of land! Or so I thought.

Luckily, about this time I drove to Los Angeles for a job interview. I had ten hours to look across the barren Great Basin and the scorching Mojave desert. I pondered the geologic processes which shaped that land, processes very familiar to me because of my civil engineering background. I observed that the salt basins and sanded hills of the Mojave still show the shorelines of the huge ancient lakes that filled each valley. I had an idea! Maybe, just maybe, if there also used to be huge lakes in northeast Mexico, then the shape of Mexico would have been very different in Book of Mormon times. Or maybe the ocean actually covered much of what is now eastern Mexico. Then Zarahemla could still be near Mexico City, and there really would have been a narrow neck of land north of there! Part of me said, “That’s preposterous!” But as I thought of the quote by Joseph Smith, the words of Mormon, the geology and the geography, it seemed like the only way to make it all fit.
I decided to look deeper, and as I studied I found more “coincidences.” There is evidence that a salt sea once covered northeast Mexico. There are ancient beaches[9], and limestone containing shells, coral, and the remains of other marine organisms. There are vast limestone caves up to 1600 feet long—a size typically found only under the ocean [10]. The animals that now live in this area are unique and evolutionarily young. [11]

I tried to reason through the events that could cause such extensive uplift. If the oceans really weresuch that there was a narrow neck of land in northwest Mexico, then that strip of land would have been near sea level. The “great and terrible destructions ” at the time of Christ appear to have been caused by extensive seismic and volcanic activity (3 Nephi 8:5–23), I wondered if scientists had proven uplift for the region perhaps caused by the draining of ancient inland seas or due to the addition of oceanic crust to the underside of the continents. I knew scientists believe that the continents are floating on the asthenosphere, as an iceberg floats on water. If weight is taken off the top, or if material is added to the bottom, an iceberg or in this case the continent would rise due to isostacy.

I was appeased that at least it could happen, so I moved on because my goal at the time was geography and not geology. As a point of interest, I did find my theory substantiated a few years later when I got interested in the geology of it all. Apparently in the mid-Pliocene (quite recent in geologic time and the most recent major volcanic epoch of North America) there was a short, intensely violent period of tectonic activity. It severely altered the face of North America, the greatest destruction being in the Western United States. More will be mentioned later but one of their findings is that the entire Southwestern United States was uplifted between 5000 and 10,000 feet, and it is still rising.[12]

About this time I read the following words in J. Charles Kelley’s The North Mexican Frontier: “Brand’s careful analysis of the geography of the Zape area led other workers, including the present writer (Kelley 1956) to the discovery that the Calchihuites culture had expanded northward in Durango along a very narrow and restricted ecological strip paralleling the eastern foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental.” [13] Why did the Calchihuites remain constricted along a ‘very narrow strip,’ and not spread onto all the land? Furthermore, each book I would read on the cultures of Mesoamerica showed the cultures ending along these ancient beaches and along this narrow strip and when I would look at books on the cultures of the United States they would end just south of the Mexican border except along this narrow corridor. One book even labeled the area in Northeast Mexico as the uninhabited corridor. Yet mysteriously that same area is inhabited by millions of Mexicans today including Monterrey with a population of over 1,000,000 people and Torreon that has another 500,000. Obviously something has changed and its not the lifestyles of the peoples as any person familiar with the subsistence pattern of the people of these areas can attest. A little later I found the clincher: a quote by Mosiah Hancock, one of the early Mormon pioneers, in which he records that Joseph Smith, pointing on a map, identified the American Southwest and Northwest Mexico as the place the Nephites lost their power [14]. The archaeology of this point will be discussed later, but my narrow neck stumbling block was resolved.
Next I wanted to locate another Book of Mormon location. I selected the land of Nephi. Not only is it a city of major Book of Mormon significance, but Mormon provides us with keys to estimating its distance from Zarahemla. Two carefully documented trips from Zarahemla to Nephi are recorded—one by Ammon and his group of 16 strong men, and the other by Alma the elder and his converts. Ammon’s group made the trip in 40 days, apparently as explorers if you will, and definitely unfamiliar with the territory (Mosiah 7:1–6). Surprisingly, Alma’s group of 450 souls made the trip in just 21 days. This small group of converts, however, had a major advantage over Ammon’s group: they were led by the Lord. Also, it may have helped that they were fleeing for their lives and that they were able to take the journey in three steps: 8 days to Helam (Mosiah 23:1–5, 19), one quite full day from Helam to the valley of Alma (Mosiah 24:18–20), and the final leg from the valley of Alma to Zarahemla in 12 days (Mosiah 24:24–25).

I used these numbers and estimated a potential 20 miles a day [15]; then I used a modern map and a compass to draw a circle around my Zarahemla [The Valley of Mexico] with a radius of 420 miles (21 days x 20 mi/day = 420 mi). My land of Nephi would have to exist somewhere within this circle, and according to the Book of Mormon it would probably have to be in the mountains (“up” to the land of Nephi) [16], and somewhere to the south [17]. As I studied the map, the only possible place I could see was somewhere in the mountains of Chiapas.

I returned to the library, and soon realized that there are not a lot of archaeological sites in the mountains of Chiapas which date to before the time of Christ. However, BYU’s own New World Archaeological Foundation has probably done more archaeological research in the Chiapas mountains than all other schools combined. I combed the shelves and found numerous research reports on the few sites from this area, and best of all, they were the actual theses, or “digging notes,” from the students and researchers who dug the sites.
I quickly determined that Chiapa de Corzo, just a few miles southeast of the state’s capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, was the largest site of the area. As I read about it, I was surprised at how closely this site seemed to match the history of the land of Nephi: an early culture purposefully erased by the succeeding culture [18] / [19] ; a culture separate from the surrounding cultures that rebuilds the land and then becomes rich, builds a tower and a large palace then disappears [20] / [21] ; a new culture that matches the surrounding cultures which eventually begins making massive war preparations [22]/ [23] ; a Zion-like culture that then turns proud [24]/ [25]. It all seemed to be there, in striking detail, though none of the dates matched. With the hypothesis that this was the land of Nephi and that somehow the scientific dates were off, I used the apparent correlations between the scriptures and the archaeology to establish a “calibrated” timeline (a timeline which is adjusted so that the scientific and scriptural dates match). Then I used my timeline and my internal model of Book of Mormon cities to find other archaeological sites that matched the Book of Mormon.

This “calibrated” timeline proved to be the key to unlocking the entire book. Culture after culture fell into place. The histories of many Book of Mormon cities were linked to exact archaeological sites. Many Book of Mormon events were laid out in the dirt, each in its proper location according to Mormon’s directions and each in its proper sequential order—only the time scale was off. As I read the archaeological reports, I was astounded. The archaeologists often used the same wording to describe what they found in the dirt that Mormon had used as a historian.

In studying archaeology and other sciences and how they relate to the Book of Mormon, I have come to realize that God gave us the Book of Mormon to increase our understanding of the secular world, as well as to increase our spirituality. I have also come to realize what a huge debt of gratitude we owe to archaeologists, historians, geologists, biologists, physicists, chemists, and all scientists who have increased our understanding of the world, and whose research, once correlated, can give us a deeper love for the scriptures and a greater understanding of scriptural peoples and God’s workings with them.
In the pages ahead we will visit each major culture of the Book of Mormon, beginning with the Jaredites. We will even take a glimpse of Old World history from a new perspective. We will see that a myriad of archaeologists have unknowingly found in the dirt striking evidences of the scriptures. As the Prophet Joseph Smith stated: “It will be as it ever has been, the world will prove Joseph Smith a true prophet by circumstantial evidence.” [26]
This paper is a collection of interesting “coincidences” correlating archaeological findings of renowned scholars with the cultures of the Book of Mormon. First we present a little scientific background, and then we begin our journey through the Book of Mormon.

Geologic & Scientific Dating Background
Scientific findings match the Biblical account of the history of the earth. This statement may at first seem hard to believe, because some people have tried to persuade us otherwise. However, the facts speak for themselves; Biblical events are recorded in rock layers throughout the world, and the events are in sequential order according to the Bible—the only difference is in the dating: the time frames are vastly different. It is the same phenomenon we see when we compare stories found in the dirt with stories from the Book of Mormon—archaeologists have found all the major cities and peoples, but the time frames are different.

The Lord told Moses the earth began “without form, and void” (Genesis 1:2). Scientists say essentially the same thing—that the earth began as “condensing gas and dust,” or that it was a “cloud of meteorites and meteoric dust revolving around the sun.” [27] To geologists, the early continents were very mobile, slightly ductile land masses which crashed into one another and eventually formed a single supercontinent, Pangea [28] [Paleozoic]. The next geological period brought the largest mass extinction in the earth’s history, followed by a unique period of erosion, sedimentation, and mountain building events [Late Triassic/Early Jurassic] [29]; findings scriptorians would expect from a global flood like Noah’s. In the next geological period we find an earth with extensive shallow inland seas spread across the continents, inundating more than 50 percent of the land areas, and great winds building massive sand dunes [Jurassic-Early Cretaceous] [30] / [31]; the scriptures agree (Genesis 8:1–3, Ether 2:5–6; 6:4-12; Alma 50:29; Helaman 3:3–4).

Coincidentally, the next major event to occur shortly after the Great Permian Extinction mentioned above, was the breaking up of Pangea into many smaller continents. Scientists say the dividing of the continents began in a short time, geologically speaking [end Triassic/Jurassic]. The Bible records the event beginning in one man’s lifetime- Peleg (Peleg lived to be 239) [32]. The sporadic dividing of the continents throughout the first millennium after the flood caused the land to be bent and folded, forming massive mountains, anticlines, synclines, swells, and domes [Triassic-Paleocene] [33].

After a period of calm, geologists teach that the latest episode of tectonic activity & mountain building occurred in the Pliocene [Miocene-Pliocene] [34], which they date to about five million years ago; according to our calibrated timeline that hits at about 34 AD. Researchers of this event say that North America was hit more severely than many other place on the planet; Central and South America were also greatly affected [35]. This coincides with the teachings of the Book of Mormon: “and there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward. But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; . . .” (3 Nephi 8:11–12). Both teach that the jolt was quick and catastrophic —the entire face of North America was changed [36] / [37].
Geologists have documented the events. The land was torn and bent. Mountains were thrust up and vast inland seas were drained, carving deep valleys and canyons. Massive lines of volcanoes erupted along the western coasts of South America, Central America, Alaska and Canada, while volcanoes, caldrons, laccoliths and immense lava flows were strewn across the Western United States [38] / [39]. The horsts and grabens of the basin and range system of Nevada and western Utah were greatly enlarged during this period as the land was stretched and twisted [40]. Death Valley collapsed [41]. Hundreds of strike-slip faults tore the Southwestern United States [42]. These huge earthquakes left most of the sandstone and limestone of the Southwest in seams and cracks. We see the fulfillment of Samuel the Lamanite’s prophesy: “the rocks. . . shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments” (Helaman 14:21–22).

During this time period, volcano after volcano rose up in Mexico and Central America [43], deforming the land and changing the course of rivers. Toward South America, the tectonic flurry created huge expanses of new oceanic crust at the Pacific/Nazca plate boundary [44]. This in turn caused the Andes mountains to begin a second stage of mountain building [45].

Central America was torn, stretched and rotated by the differential movement of the two major continents [46]. Parts of Central America were rotated 60 to 70 degrees in a counterclockwise direction [47]. Further research will likely show geology as the key to why so many pre-Christian temples and cities in Mesoamerica were built on a similar divergent axis.

Though these destructions, as reported by geologists, lasted only a small moment in geologic time, the effects were colossal. The draining of the inland seas and the fusion of tectonic plates to form new continental crust caused a huge area of North America, from central Mexico to the northern Rocky Mountains, to uplift due to isostacy [48] . During the ensuing periods leading to the present, between 5000 and 10,000 feet of uplift occurred (depending on the location) [Tertiary-Neogene/Quaternary][49]! In the American West, the uplift, coupled with a small ice age (apparently caused by volcanic ash which blocked the sun’s rays) [50], caused the canyons and valleys to trench yet deeper [51]. In northeast Mexico the uplift caused an extension of the Gulf of Mexico to drain, leaving a vast inland desert and eventually erasing the Nephites’ narrow neck of land [52]. In Central and northwest Mexico the lowlands which had once been so productive became a high desert plateau with deep, steep-sided gullies called Barrancas cutting through to the ocean [53].
The draining of northeast Mexico created new and different habitats for animals. When new kinds of habitats are created, new kinds of animals evolve—hence the unique and evolutionarily young animals of northeast Mexico [54] (A familiar example of geologically-induced evolution is the Galapagos Islands which are also geologically new, the animals there are unique and evolutionarily young).

We can still measure the effects of those catastrophic events of 34 A.D. Utah is still rising [55], ever so slightly. The continents are still moving in the same directions [56], a few inches per year, and the rivers are still cutting. The scriptures suggest that since the time of Christ, the earth’s climate and tectonic activity have been more stable than at any other point in the earth’s history. God has tempered the climate, for our sake. Some people use our tempered climate as evidence to support their own theories concerning the age of the earth and suggest the scriptural timeline is inaccurate. Surely the Lord was referring to these unbelievers in D&C 121:12: “God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them also and take them in their own craftiness. . .”

In this article we propose two new dating sequences—one for geology, and one for archaeology. It is important to remember that these are two separate sequences. The calibrated timeline for geology is much different than the calibrated timeline for archaeology because scientists in these two fields use very different methods to date objects. Archaeologists primarily use carbon dating and dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) for “absolute” dating, and a myriad of relative dating methods to fill in the gaps. Geologists typically use various radiometric dating methods for “absolute” dating (such as uranium-lead dating and potassium-argon dating) and they use superposition and common sense observations for relative dating.

In order for carbon dating to give valid results, it must be assumed that the ratio of stable carbon (carbon-12) to radioactive carbon (carbon-14) has been constant throughout earth’s history. However, there are many factors which affect this ratio and geological research has shown it to vary greatly over time [58]. Carbon-14 is formed from nitrogen-14 by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere; therefore, any change in the number of cosmic rays that reach the upper atmosphere alters the carbon ratio [59]. Factors which affect cosmic rays reaching the upper atmosphere include: the amount of solar energy produced by the sun, the intensity of Earth’s magnetic field, and the density of the earth’s cloud cover[60]. The ratio is also affected by the frequency and magnitude of volcanic eruptions which eject large quantities of Carbon-12 into the atmosphere and create dust clouds that block solar radiation [61]. The ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 is also affected by the erosion of ancient carbonate rocks; the erosion of these rocks releases carbon-12 into the world’s oceans where it is then released into the atmosphere [62].

In our research we have found that carbon dates grow increasingly old before the time of Christ (see tables throughout paper). Following the time of Christ the trend seems to reverse. If our proposed dates are correct, then before the time of Christ there must have been less carbon-14 or more carbon-12 in the atmosphere then there is currently. For the trend to reverse following the time of Christ would require a large amount of carbon-12 to be introduced into the atmosphere between A.D. 50 and A.D. 400 and the ratio to then restabilize between A.D. 400 and the present. Supporting research is beginning to appear.
First of all, scientists have found evidence that the sun was dimmer in ancient times than it is today[63], which means less carbon-14 would have been formed anciently. Scientists also believe that the intensity of earth’s magnetic field was stronger in ancient times [64], so again, less carbon-14 would have been formed as a stronger magnetic field diverted more cosmic rays from the earth [65].

Additionally, it is possible that there was less nitrogen in the ancient atmosphere because of microscopic organisms called cyanobacteria. These organisms “fix” nitrogen, taking it out of the atmosphere by metabolizing it. They are one of the few organisms able to do so. [66] Research shows that cyanobacteria were much more numerous anciently than they are today [67].

These two factors point to a carbon-14 poor ancient atmosphere. Thus ancient organisms would contain a higher-than-normal ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 in their bodies just due to their environment and not due to their great antiquity.
The reversal of dates around A.D. 50 is likely connected to the great destruction that occurred at the death of Christ. As discussed previously, these destructions involved extensive volcanism [68]. It also caused the catastrophic draining of many ancient inland seas and a subsequent small ice age which eroded immense amounts of ancient carbonate sandstones and limestones in the West [69]. Together, these events introduced huge amounts of carbon-12 into the atmosphere reversing the trend for a short period [70].
Despite the problems inherent in carbon dating, however, it is still a very good relative dating tool, and as such is extremely valuable.

Geologists use radioactive elements in order to find “absolute” dates of rocks. These dating methods, much like carbon dating, are based on fundamental assumptions which cannot be definitively proven. In fact, for the most part, geologic dating methods are completely dependant upon the theory of uniformitarianism. For instance, K/Ar and U/Pb dates are dependant upon the assumption that the earth’s magnetic field has not changed sufficiently in the past to affect the decay rates of these isotopes. Likewise uniformitarian assumptions must be made about the initial ratios of these isotopes within the earth. If the composition of the earth’s outer mantle has changed dramatically in the past, the dates which these methods produce would yield skewed results. The fact is that no geologic dating method can be used to date a rock of known age. Thus there is no way to scientifically prove for sure if the assumptions upon which these dating methods depend, are accurate.

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