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Mulekite Zarahemla

December 22, 2018, 10:56 pm
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2 Nephi 1:9 mentions other people the Lord would bring out of the land of Jerusalem (the Mulekites). When he uttered this prophecy, Father Lehi was already in the Americas. The next to leave the Near East would be Mulek and his party. This passage contains details that can help us locate the Mulekites in time and space.
  • they would be kept from all other nations
  • they would possess their land unto themselves
  • their righteousness would bring blessings
  • none would molest them to take away the land of their inheritance
This isolation narrative agrees with Alma 22:31 which says after making landfall in the land northward, the Mulekites settled a wilderness in the land southward. Omni 1:16 adds that the Mulekites, once settled, stayed put until the Nephites under Mosiah I discovered them ca. 200 BC. The term "discovered" implies the two groups had no prior knowledge of each other.

The Mulekite capital, the city of Zarahemla, will be found in an area that was relatively isolated during the nearly 400 year period from ca. 580 BC to ca. 200 BC.

Serious proposals for the city of Zarahemla in Mesoamerica include:
  • Yaxchilan, Chiapas (RLDS candidate since Louis Edward Hills, 1917)
  • Santa Rosa, Chiapas (John L. Sorenson followed by Joseph & Blake Allen)
  • Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, Alta Verapaz (F. Richard Hauck followed by Joe V. Andersen, Stanford S. Smith, and Lenard C. Brunsdale)
  • Santa Cruz, Chiapas (Gareth W. Lowe)
  • Ceibal, Peten (Robert Roylance & Richard Terry)
  • Nueva Esperanza, Chiapas (V. Garth Norman followed by Kirk Magleby & Javier Tovar) 
See the map in the article "Toward Consensus on Nephi and Zarahemla."

We can test the various Zarahemla candidates against this isolation narrative. We know from the work of Barbara Arroyo, Lucia Henderson, Takeshi Inomata, and others that all 3 candidates for the city of Nephi were within early Kaminaljuyu (KJ)'s sphere of influence. We also know that 4 of the 6 candidates for the city of Zarahemla were within this same sphere of influence that reached along the Grijalva to Chiapa de Corzo, along the Usumacinta to Chama, and along the Pasion to Cancuen and Ceibal.
Attested Diplomatic and Trade Relations with Early Kaminaljuyu
ca. 600 BC to ca. 200 BC
Only Zarahemla candidates Nueva Esperanza and Yaxchilan pass this KJ influence test.

We can plot known Olmec and Olmec-influenced sites.
Zarahemla Candidates with Known Olmec & Olmec-Influenced Sites
Since the Olmec (ca. 1,200 - 400 BC) generally preceded the Mulekites, areas with large numbers of Olmec or Olmec-influenced sites are incompatible with the isolation narrative we are testing. Only Zarahemla candidates Nueva Esperanza, Yaxchilan, and Salinas de los Nueve Cerros pass this Olmec influence test. Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and Ceibal themselves were all Olmec or Olmec-influenced sites in close proximity to other Olmec sites.

Bruce R. Bachand with BYU's NWAF has extensively studied Chiapa de Corzo. He documents a Zoque sphere of influence centered on Chiapa de Corzo that extended southeastward to La Lagunita and eastward to the Usumacinta ca. 1,000 to 400 BC.
Zoque Sites and Sphere of Influence ca. 1,000 - 400 BC
Sites within the area shaded blue in the map above are incompatible with the isolation narrative we are testing. Only Zarahemla candidates Nueva Esperanza and Ceibal pass this Zoque influence test.

The results of these 3 tests of the isolation narrative:
  • Nueva Esperanza passed all 3 tests.
  • Yaxchilan passed 2 tests.
  • Salinas de los Nueve Cerros passed 1 test.
  • Ceibal passed 1 text.
  • Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa failed all 3 tests.
The article "Obsidian Trade Patterns" documents a fourth test that produced similar results, validating Nueva Esperanza while ruling out Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and Salinas de los Nueve Cerros.

Among the Mesoamerican proposals we have considered for the city of Zarahemla, Nueva Esperanza best fits the isolation narrative described in 2 Nephi 1:9.

This is the first slide of John E. Clark's powerful presentation at the Library of Congress Worlds of Joseph Smith Conference in 2005. The conference commemorated the bicentennial of the prophet's birth in 1805.
John Clark's Joseph Smith Bicentennial Presentation Title Slide 
The site pictured is Nueva Esperanza, Chiapas, west of the Usumacinta about 4 kilometers from the town of Emiliano Zapata. John Clark told Garth Norman about the site which led Garth and I to visit it in 2006. It has about 200 mounds similar to the ones shown above. Garth did a little surface scavenging and found preclassic pottery shards.
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Names Evidence Antiquity

December 28, 2018, 6:51 pm
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Book of Mormon Central just published the sixth video in its stellar Evidences series. This new production analyzes Book of Mormon names with interesting origins in ancient Semitic and/or Egyptian languages.

The blog article entitled "Watch: Five Evidences for Book of Mormon Names" has a long list of references documenting the copious scholarship behind this video.

The five other superb videos in the Book of Mormon Central Evidences series are all available on the BMC Studios YouTube Channel. Elder Larry Y. Wilson of the Seventy saw the Complexity video and thought it was so good it should be featured on the lds.org homepage so every Church member could see it. These are the highest quality Book of Mormon evidence videos ever produced. They deserve a wide audience. The first one was published in June, 2017 and in the intervening year and a half they have garnered over 500,000 views in English and Spanish. Videos with this much animation are costly to produce. Dozens more videos in this series are possible if funding materializes.
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Veils

January 4, 2019, 10:13 am
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A beautiful blog post by Jasmin Gimenez captures the essence of veil symbolism in the Temple and on a bride's wedding day. Recently married herself, Jasmin draws on scholarship by Lynne Wilson and deep insights from scriptures such as Ether 3 to help us understand the Temple more clearly from a woman's perspective. Highly recommended.
Lace Cathedral Length Veil from the UK
My brother, Alfred Magleby, has spent many years as a diplomat in Islamic countries where his wife, Hiromi, wore a face veil in public. I asked her once if she did not feel belittled or demeaned by what I regarded as a suppression of her natural right to self expression. On the contrary, she replied, she felt liberated and empowered wearing her veil and most of the Muslim women she talked with felt similarly. Being inside rather than outside the veil symbolizes being in the presence of God.
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Why Only Male Authors in the Book of Mormon?

January 5, 2019, 10:53 am
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Many gifted writers are female as J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series demonstrates.
J. K. Rowling's Ubiquitous Boy Wizard
In Joseph Smith's America (1805 - 1844), women were recognized authors. The first book published in the English colonies was a collection of poems by Anne Bradstreet (1612 - 1672) entitled The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America that appeared in 1650. English America's first best-seller was Charlotte Temple first published in 1790.
1814 New York Edition of Charlotte Temple
It was written by Susanna Rowson (1762 - 1824) who came to Massachusetts from England at the age of 5. Charlotte Temple remained the most successful book in English American literature until Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. Briton Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), largely unheralded in her lifetime, achieved enormous posthumous fame as the author of the very popular Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Joseph Smith's Bible contained the books of Ruth and Esther. We don't know for sure who wrote either book, but their presence in the Old Testament tells us something about the role of women in ancient storytelling.

So, why, when we read the Book of Mormon, do we find all its authors are men?
  • Nephi
  • Lehi
  • Isaiah
  • Jacob
  • Enos
  • Jarom
  • Omni
  • Amaron
  • Chemish
  • Abinadom
  • Amaleki
  • Mormon
  • King Benjamin
  • King Limhi
  • Zeniff
  • Alma
  • Captain Moroni
  • Helaman
  • Giddianhi
  • Parhoron (Critical Text orthography)
  • Ether
  • Moroni
The foregoing list is not exhaustive, but it is exclusively male. Women such as Sariah 1 Nephi 5:2 and King Lamoni's wife Alma 19:29 are quoted briefly very occasionally, but female authorship is not attested in the text. If the Book of Mormon was written in Mesoamerica as most Latter-day Saint and Community of Christ (Restoration Branch) scholars believe, the reason is straightforward.

One of the best sources for late-breaking news from the exciting world of Maya Decipherment is a blog named simply "Maya Decipherment" authored by David Stuart, Stephen Houston, Simon Martin, Marc Zender, and other luminaries. In a June 28, 2018 post entitled "What Writing Looks Like," Stephen Houston, formerly at BYU, currently at Brown, discusses glyphs on textiles. Even though weaving in the Maya world was typically done by women, "Yet there is also overwhelming evidence that the scribes and literate sculptors were men." For authority, Houston cites his article "Crafting Credit: Authorship among Classic Maya Painters and Sculptors" in Cathy L. Costin, editor, Making Value, Making Meaning: Techné in the Pre-Columbian World (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2016) pp. 391-431.
The Hero Twins as Scribes, Drawn from Justin Kerr Number K344
In the Mesoamerican world the Book of Mormon likely came from, only men were authors.

A related topic is discussed in Book of Mormon Central's KnoWhy #391 published December 19, 2017 in English "Why Are So Few Women  Mentioned in the Book of  Mormon?" This KnoWhy was published July 10, 2018 in Spanish.

Kirk Magleby volunteers as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central which builds enduring faith in Jesus Christ by making the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the entire world.
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The Challenge the Book of Mormon Makes to the World

January 13, 2019, 3:45 pm
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In a talk given at BYU in 1955, Elder Hugh B. Brown (1883 - 1975, his middle name was also Brown), then an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve, laid the foundation for what would later be called
Elder, then Pres. Hugh B. Brown in His Later Years
"The Challenge the Book of Mormon Makes to the World." This is a list of 30 or more characteristics (multiple versions exist as people have tweaked and shared it over the years) a work must have to be like the Book of Mormon. The challenge is for you to write a comparable book:
  • You will be in your early 20's with limited formal education.
  • You can do no research of any kind.
  • You must dictate 268,000 words to a scribe in about 65 working days.
  • Your cannot go back and edit your first draft.
  • You must get hundreds of historical and cultural details right that science will confirm over time.
  • Your book will remain in print continuously and be translated into more than 100 languages.
  • Over 1 million people will donate years of their lives to publicize your book worldwide.
  • and 23 other stringent requirements... The full list is here.
The long list of 30+ features is impressive because the Book of Mormon is beautiful, miraculous, and true. Historical forgery is impossible. The Book of Mormon continues to resonate with many people on multiple levels. The primary institution resulting from the Book of Mormon odyssey, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is world-class in dozens of ways.

Hugh Nibley (1910 - 2005) issued a version of this challenge to his BYU students year after year.
Hugh W. Nibley Who Taught at BYU from 1946 until 1994
"Write a history of ancient Tibet. Why Tibet? Because you likely know as much or more about ancient Tibet than Joseph Smith or anyone else in 1829 knew about ancient America." No one ever took Nibley up on his challenge. Of course no mere author could produce an equivalent book. The Book of Mormon is the most divine object most of us will ever hold in our mortal hands.

In 1966, Grace Guymon Jones first read a copy of "The Challenge" and decided she would do something with it someday. In 1990, her professor husband, Milt, was on Sabbatical in New Zealand. Her children were adults and she had time on her hands. She began collecting source materials and writing.
Grace Guymon Jones Received a BYU Emeritus Award in 2001
27 years later, when she was 88, she had a manuscript in circulation that was nearing publication quality. I worked with her for a few months, heavily editing and ghost-writing some sections. Her son, Milt Jr., did the same. By early 2018 she was sourcing images and working with a layout artist. In December, 2018, her website went live and her book was selling on Amazon. Grace was 90 years old.
Important New Book
This 340 page book has an introduction by Milt Jones, Jr. and 30 chapters, one for each of the 30 requirements on Grace's list. Her writing style is more folksy than scholarly, although her sources are well-documented with 926 end notes. Her text is enlivened with dozens of photos and illustrations from very good artists. In these pages you will find a faithful retelling of the Joseph Smith story, some of the best current Book of Mormon scholarship, an insightful look at many aspects of the contemporary Church, and above all lots of stories. Sister Jones has been collecting stories for decades from the Church News, Ensign, published books, and her own contacts in the places she and her husband have lived around the world. The result is a compilation of Book of Mormon human interest stories at their finest. I highly recommend this book.

Kirk Magleby volunteers as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central which builds enduring faith in Jesus Christ by making the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the entire world. Book of Mormon Central currently publishes in English and Spanish.
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124 Prophecies Fulfilled

January 16, 2019, 11:31 am
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Book of Mormon Central published KnoWhy #498 today and it is phenomenal. Entitled "How Does Prophecy Shape the Book of Mormon's Content and Structure?" this outstanding essay written by Ryan Dahle of Salmon, ID details 124 prophecies in the text whose fulfillment is explicitly recorded elsewhere in the Nephite record.


For instance, 1 Nephi 1:4 records a prophecy that Jerusalem will be destroyed and this prophecy gets repeated five additional times in the text. The first report of fulfillment came soon after the prophecy itself. Once his family was in the New World, Lehi announced that he had seen the destruction of Jerusalem in vision 2 Nephi 1:4 although some among the patriarch's posterity were inclined to disbelieve him 2 Nephi 4:13.

Nephi, through prophetic vision, also came to understand that Jerusalem had been destroyed and many of the Jews had been taken captive into Babylon 2 Nephi 25:10. He knew that not all of his family believed him 2 Nephi 32:7.

Undeniable proof that Jerusalem had been destroyed came when Mosiah I came down to Zarahemla from the city of Nephi and discovered the Mulekites ca. 200 BC Omni 1:15. Nephi II made this proof explicit when he called the people of Zarahemla to repentance from his garden tower Helaman 8:21.

As he compiled his book, Mormon made it abundantly clear that prophecies get fulfilled. We can trust inspired prophets. God keeps His promises. It is clear to most readers that the Book of Mormon places high value on prophetic content. When we discussed a potential KnoWhy on internal prophecies, I thought we might find 25 or 30 instances of prophecies fulfilled later in the text. Ryan found 124 examples and there are undoubtedly more. We have been reading it carefully for years and the Book of Mormon continues to surprise, excite, and impress us.
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Book of Mormon Geography 101

February 4, 2019, 11:50 pm
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This article introduces basic Book of Mormon geography based on the February, 2019 version of the Magleby-Tovar Book of Mormon Map. Kirk Magleby lives in Utah. Javier Tovar lives in Hidalgo. This map successfully passed 11 stringent tests designed to evaluate degree of fit to the text. See the articles in this blog entitled "Test #1 Ups and Downs" through "Test #11 The Big Picture."

1. Authority. The primary source for evidence about the real-world location of Book of Mormon events is the text itself. Written by eye-witnesses and translated by the gift and power of God, the Book of Mormon is the most divine object most of us will ever hold in our mortal hands. The Lord could have revealed the location to Joseph Smith, but He did not just as He has not to any Prophet since. See the Church's January, 2019 Gospel Topics Essay on Book of Mormon Geography. I know people who personally guided modern-day Apostles and Prophets on visits to ancient American archaeological sites such as Izapa, Tikal and Teotihuacan. I have read modern-day Apostles and Prophets' marginalia in books they once owned such as Popol Vuh. The brethren who have dealt with it have not considered the matter settled, but have wrestled with the geography issue just like the rest of us.

2. Setting. Based on close reading, most modern Book of Mormon scholars (Sperry [1895 - 1977], Nibley [1910 - 2005], Sorenson, Welch, Skousen, Givens, Hardy) are persuaded Mesoamerica best fits the text. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.
Mesoamerica with Major River Systems
Why Mesoamerica? See the article "The Case for Mesoamerica."

3. Voyages. Jaredites ca. 2,300 BC, Mulekites ca. 595 BC., Lehites ca. 590 BC.
Proposed Jaredite, Lehite, and Mulekite Sea Voyages 
Most students of the text accept a Lehite  landfall on the Pacific coast based on Alma 22:28 and a Mulekite  landfall on the Atlantic coast based on Alma 22:30 and Omni 1:16. Whether the Jaredites crossed the Atlantic or Pacific is ambiguous in the text. A Pacific crossing correlates well with the length of time it takes for Asian debris to wash up on North American shores. See the articles "Test #6 Relative Distances" and "Tracking the Jaredites." An Atlantic crossing is too short for the 344 days at sea reported in Ether 6:11. Columbus in 1492 crossed from Spain to the Canary Islands in 6 days, and from the Canaries to the Bahamas in 42 days. In 2018, Bryce Carlson from Cincinnati set a new world's record for a solo row across the Atlantic. He did it in 38 days, shattering the previous record of 53 days set in 2016. The Ocean Rowing Society is the official adjudicating body of solo rows across the Atlantic. My friend, Richard Jones of Midvale, Utah, rowed across the Atlantic in 2000-2001 in a homemade 27-foot boat he named "The Brother of Jared."

4. Marine environment. The Nephites were conscious of their proximity to salt water. The article  "Smoking Gun" shows how frequently aquatic terms occur in the text. According to 2 Nephi 10:20-21 they believed their promised land was an isle of the sea. Alma 22:32 says the greater lands of Zarahemla and Nephi (most of what the Jaredites and Nephites called the "land southward") was nearly surrounded by water. Mesoamerican cultures often perceived themselves surrounded by bodies of water in the four cardinal directions. See the article "Quichean Directionality" for examples. The Nephites perceived themselves surrounded by oceans in the four cardinal directions Helaman 3:8.
Likely Land Southward Nearly Surrounded by Water
Seas in the Four Cardinal Directions
The map circle above roughly corresponds to our correlation of the Jaredite and Nephite "land southward." No point in this circle is more than 250 air kilometers (155 air miles) from salt water.

5. Orientation. The Book of Mormon uses the term "land southward" 14 times and "land northward" 30 times. We assume a "northward" heading is not as close to true north as a "north" azimuth would be. So, we expect the major Book of Mormon lands to be oriented either northwesterly or northeasterly.
Plausible Lands Northward & Southward Oriented NW to SE
The straight line on the map above runs due NW to SE. It precisely follows the Pacific coastline of Chiapas. The Chiapas coastal plain was a major travel corridor anciently as it is today. The NW SE orientation of the Chiapas coast is probably the origin of the Book of Mormon terms land "northward" and "southward."

6. Size. The Book of Mormon term "day's journey" is most likely a Nephite standard unit of distance measure. See the articles "Textual Progress" and "Land Southward Travel Times" for context. Plotting all instances of a "day's journey" (Test #6 Relative Distances), the terms "near" and "far" (Things Near and Far), the term "by" (By and By), the terms "narrow" and "small" (Narrow and Small Things), and the terms "many" and "few" (How Many were Many and Few?) we can deduce plausible minimum and maximum values for the the size of the Nephite known world. It turns out to be 750 to 1,500 air kilometers or 500 to 1,000 air miles. Other careful students of Book of Mormon geography such as Jesse Alvin Washburn (1873-1951), his son, Jesse Nile Washburn (1901 - 1986), and John L. Sorenson have arrived at similar numbers.
 
Likely Maximum Extent of the Nephite Known World
Beyond the Mexico City area on the northward or the Ulua River in Honduras on the southward was probably terra incognita in the Nephite worldview.

7. Polity sizes. The Book of Mormon uses almost 20 different terms to describe settlements or occupied areas - what contemporary archaeologists call the "built environment." See the article "Nephite Political Geography." The most important political units by far were cities and lands. Many Nephite lands are described as a capital city with surrounding agricultural or wilderness territory Mosiah 7:21, Mosiah 23:25, Alma 43:25, Alma 58:13. In other words, the Nephites often organized themselves in an alliance of defensible city states like the Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Britons, Maya, etc. Ancient city states were not randomly spread across landscapes. Most averaged 2,000 to 3,000 square kilometers in surface area for good reason. See the article "Test #7 Land Areas." A polity smaller than 2,000 square kilometers may struggle to maintain a military force strong enough to defend itself against larger neighbors. A city state much larger than 3,000 square kilometers may be vulnerable to attack on the periphery because its militia would have difficulty mustering and marching to remote hot spots quickly enough to respond to threats. See Alma 16:3 for an example of an army unable to deploy in time to prevent devastation. Exceptions existed, of course, but in general the surface areas of ancient city states tended to average about 2,500 square kilometers because of immutable factors such as the distance an army could march in one day.
36 Proposed Book of Mormon Lands
The map above shows possibilities for 3 exceptional lands (Moron, Desolation, Bountiful) that are near-continental in scope and clearly not city states. Greater Zarahemla and Greater Nephi, omitted to avoid clutter, were also much larger than mere city states. The other 33 proposed lands could have been city states. They average 2,362 square kilometers in land area - right in the sweet spot of city states known from antiquity. Viable Book of Mormon maps will have reasonable land sizes.

8. Wilderness. Jaredite, Nephite, and Lamanite territories were not contiguously settled. Embedded wilderness was everywhere present. The term "wilderness" occurs over 200 times in the text. Its does not mean absence of humans. The Lamanites built strongholds in the wilderness Alma 50:11. It may be associated with mountains as in Helaman 11:31, but wilderness in Nephite parlance could also refer to a coastal plain as in 1 Nephi 16:14. Wild beasts lived in the wilderness 1 Nephi 7:16, Alma 2:37, Ether 10:21.
Possible Wildernesses
Wilderness was an untamed place outside of political control. See the article "A Note about Wilderness." For a discussion of the very interesting wilderness of Hermounts, see the article "Hermounts."

9. Narrow strip of wilderness. The land southward contained land Bountiful and the greater lands of Zarahemla and Nephi. A narrow strip of wilderness separated greater Nephi on the south from greater Zarahemla on the north Alma 22:27.
Likely Narrow Strip of Wilderness Separating Nephites & Lamanites
We (along with many others) correlate the narrow strip of wilderness with the Polochic Fault, the interaction zone between the North American Tectonic Plate to the north and the Caribbean Tectonic Plate to the south. See the articles "The Narrow Strip of Wilderness" and "Ubiquitous Narrow Strip."

10. Natural features. Besides polities and wilderness, the text describes geo-physical features of the landscape such as hills, mountains, waters, valleys, a river, a harbor, etc.
Naturally-Occurring Landforms & Geo-Physical Features
with Suggested Book of Mormon Correlations 
For details, see these representative articles:

11. The big picture. The text explicitly names four continental-scale entities that ran from sea east to sea west: land Bountiful, greater Zarahemla, narrow strip of wilderness, and greater Nephi. See the article "Test #11 The Big Picture." The Sidon corridor where Zarahemla was located was in the center Helaman 1:24-27 or heart Helaman 1:18 of Nephite lands. River Sidon ran generally from south to north. See the article "River Sidon South to North." North of greater Zarahemla was land Bountiful Alma 22:29 and north of land Bountiful was the north parts of the land Helaman 1:23.
Proposed Major Relationships
Coriantumr in Helaman 1 was trying to surround the Nephites who vigorously protected land Bountiful so they always had an escape route Alma 22:34. Amalickiah had invaded the east coast Alma 51:26 and ultimately failed. His brother, Ammoron, had invaded the west coast Alma 52:12 and ultimately failed. Now in Helaman 1, the Lamanites were invading via the central Sidon corridor. They ultimately failed, but their next invasion in Helaman 4 drove the Nephites completely out of greater Zarahemla into land Bountiful.

12. Strings of settlements. Before Utah achieved statehood in 1896, the Latter-day Saints settled colonies from Alberta, Canada to Chihuahua, Mexico and from California to Colorado. This was a vast area over 2 million square kilometers in extent. But, the entire membership of the Church in 1896 was only 241,000 and some of them were overseas. Latter-day Saints were spread very thinly over a large territory in strings of settlements set among large numbers of other people. Ultimately, the Latter-day Saints effectively controlled only the state of Utah (219,890 square kilometers) and over time even that society became increasingly pluralistic. The Nephites under Captain Moroni founded settlements from Judea on the west coast to Moroni on the east coast with Manti in the middle. On our map, greater Zarahemla ca. 60 BC had a surface area of 138,000 square kilometers, about the size of the state of Arkansas. Some idea of Nephite populations can be deduced from data in the article "Population Sizes & Casualty Counts." Ancient populations are notoriously difficult to estimate. See the article "Prophecy Fulfilled 010" for insights. Applying pessimistic demographic assumptions, the Nephites ca. 60 BC numbered at least 750,000. More optimistic assumptions could push that number to 1 - 2 million. 
Possible Strings of Nephite Settlements
The Nephites were spread very thinly Alma 58:32 across this large territory in strings of allied settlements set among large numbers of other people. Ultimately, they lacked the manpower to defend such a huge area and by ca. 34 BC the Nephites lost control of greater Zarahemla Helaman 4:5.

13. Sovereignty. The Nephites did not exercise exclusive sovereignty over their territory the way a modern state does. Nephites co-existed in their promised land with king-men Alma 62:6 and other dissenters Alma 8:17, Lamanites Helaman 5:16, Gadianton robbers Helaman 7:4, etc.  

14. Nephite capitals. The Nephites helped settle the land of first inheritance1 Nephi 18:23 and lived there until Lehi I died. They then founded their highland capital, Nephi, 2 Nephi 5:8 which they occupied from ca. 588 BC until ca. 200 BC. Mosiah I led the Nephites into lowland ZarahemlaOmni 1:13 where they joined with the numerically superior Mulekites. Zarahemla remained the Nephite capital until ca. 62 BC when an insurrection of king-men forced chief judge Parhoron (critical text orthography) to set up a government in exile across the Sidon in the land of GideonAlma 61:5. The following year, with the help of Captain Moroni, the Nephite government was restored to the city of ZarahemlaAlma 62:8. A Lamanite invasion ca. 34 BC forced the Nephites out of greater Zarahemla into land BountifulHelaman 4:6. The Nephites regained Zarahemla via military action by ca. 31 BC Helaman 4:10. Zarahemla was burned ca. AD 33 3 Nephi 8:8 and rebuilt within two decades 4 Nephi 1:8. The final war of Nephite extermination began ca. AD 322 in the lesser land of Zarahemla Mormon 1:10. From there the Nephites followed Mormon in a gradual retreat to AngolaMormon 2:4 followed by DavidMormon 2:5 and then Joshua by the west sea Mormon 2:6. From there they went into the land northward to the land of JashonMormon 2:16 and finally to ShemMormon 2:20. Shem was the northernmost Nephite capital, a fortified gathering place. From Shem the Nephites mounted a counter offensive resulting in a treaty Mormon 2:28 giving them temporary respite in the land northward. Mormon then focused Nephite effort on extraordinary fortifications in the city of Desolation Mormon 3:5. The Nephites were driven to the nearby city Teancum Mormon 4:3. They retook the city of Desolation briefly Mormon 4:8 only to lose Mormon 4:13, 14 and then regain Mormon 4:15 both Teancum and Desolation. The Lamanites with massive manpower drove the Nephites to Boaz Mormon 4:20 and then to Jordan Mormon 5:3. The Nephites made their last stand at hill Cumorah Mormon 6:2.
Plausible Nephite Capitals
The Nephites changed their capital 20 times in the 975 years from ca. 590 BC to AD 385. This is the story of a beleaguered minority forced from their homes frequently at sword-point.
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What is the Great and Abominable Church?

February 17, 2019, 8:52 am
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Nephi saw in vision a great and abominable church 1 Nephi 13:6. It goes by many names in scripture:
Babylon, Illustration (colorized) from Martin Luther's 1534 Translation of the Bible
The Kings of the Earth are Coming to do Business
No single institution is the great and abominable church. It is a global system of exploitation, survival of the fittest, the dog-eat-dog world where the law of the jungle rules, the strong oppress the weak, and Master Mahan murders to get gain Moses 5:29-31. Korihor described the system well Alma 30:17. This is why an angel taught Nephi the entire world can be divided into only two churches - the church of the Lamb of God and the church of the devil 1 Nephi 14:10. And what characteristic is diagnostic of the church of the Lamb of God? Love Moroni 7:48, John 13:35.
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    Light from Guatemala

    March 3, 2019, 5:59 pm
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    Javier Tovar and I spent February 14th and 15th, 2019, in Guatemala City and Antigua. We visited Elder Clate and Sister Carol Mask who are currently serving an oral history mission. We visited with Rolando Amado, a retired agronomist soon to earn a degree in anthropology. Both Elder Mask and Brother Amado are serious life-long students of the Book of Mormon. We got to spend time with Richard Hansen, director of the massive Mirador Basin project and one of the most renowned archaeologists alive today. We visited the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología and the Minerva Park relief map, both in Guatemala City. We were hoping to get to the Museo Popol Vuh but didn't make it. We did get to the former Museo Miraflores only to find it closed for massive remodeling. That museum was quite new and very impressive when I visited at the end of 2015. Someone is spending serious money to do an extensive makeover so soon after the original opening. Museo Miraflores is dedicated to the important early highland Maya site Kaminaljuyu (see the blog article "Kaminaljuyu").  The enlarged space will showcase recent finds at Kaminaljuyu where the ancient city underlies much of modern sprawling Guatemala City.
    Artist's Rendering of Expanded Museo Miraflores
    Note the Kaminaljuyu Mound to the Left
    Museo Miraflores is scheduled to re-open in 2020.

    Another important museum dedicated to the Mirador Basin will open in Antigua in 2020. BYU's Ray Matheny began excavating at El Mirador in 1978. What Richard Hansen and others have discovered at El Mirador, Nakbe, Tintal, and other massive sites in the basin has re-written early Maya history with potentially profound implications for the Book of Mormon.

    The venerable Museo Nacional opened in 1930.
    Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología
    Photo taken February 14, 2019 by Kirk Magleby
    Striking depictions of beards are included in the Museo Nacional collection.
    Bearded Figure with Arms Folded on Early Ceramic Vessel
    Photo taken February 14, 2019 by Javier Tovar
    DNA is a top Book of Mormon question around the world right now. Antis slam the Nephite text claiming Lehi's DNA has not been found. Naive Latter-day Saints misinterpret population genetics data in a misguided attempt to link Algonquins with Israelites. The Church's Gospel Topics Essay sheds light on a complex biological subject but doesn't definitively settle anything. People tend to be less than satisfied with the answer "We just don't know."

    Beards are a strong response to the DNA question. A heavily-bearded population once lived in Mesoamerica as attested by the thousands of beard depictions we see in ancient art and iconography. That population passed through one or more genetic bottleneck events like the mass die-offs at hill Ramah/Cumorah. By European contact in AD 1492, almost all surviving native Americans were beardless or capable of growing only scant facial hair.
    Bilbao Monument 1
    Drawing by Oswaldo Chinchilla
    Bilbao is an important archaeological site on the Pacific slope of Guatemala near Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, 60 air kilometers from Kaminaljuyu. It was occupied in pre-classic (Book of Mormon) times. Note that three of the five decapitated heads depicted on the monument above are bearded. Physiological characteristics often facilitate ethnic cleansing.
    Bearded Figurine from Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa
    Photo Taken by Peter Jacob
    The crude figurine above is in the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin.
    Kaminaljuyu Stela 10
    Photo taken February 14, 2019 by Javier Tovar
    Kaminaljuyu Stela 10 in the Museo Nacional dates to ca. 200 BC. Note the florid beard.

    A few years ago we were excited to receive reports of a stone box found in Hun Nal Ye Cave in Alta Verapaz. The box depicts scribes writing on codices and was fashioned to hold codices. The original is now on display in the Museo Nacional. 
    Stone Box from Cueva Hun Nal Ye, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
    Photo taken February 14, 2019 by Javier Tovar
     Thrones are mentioned several times in the Book of Mormon (Alma 60:7,11). A good example from Piedras Negras is on display in the Museo Nacional.
    Piedras Negras Throne
    Photo taken February 14, 2019 by Javier Tovar
    Ladders are mentioned in the text (Alma 62:21,23). Here is a good example from Bilbao near Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa. The original of this piece is in the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin
    Ladder on Stone Stela from the Pacific Slope of Guatemala
    Photo Taken by Martin Franken
    Guatemala has some of the most variegated topography on earth. Its highest point, Tajumulco Volcano, rises 4,220 meters (13,845 feet) and winter snow accumulates in the higher elevations. The famous concrete relief map in Minerva Park, completed in 1905, gives tourists an idea of this monumental landscape. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.
    Red Line Traces Proposed Narrow Strip of Wilderness from the
    Caribbean to the Pacific. Photo taken February 14, 2019 by Kirk Magleby
    Our narrow strip of wilderness runs in nearly a straight line from the East Sea (Caribbean) to the West Sea (Pacific) as described in Alma 22:27. Today we call this line of cliffs with east west rivers flowing at their base the Polochic Fault which is the tectonic boundary between the North American plate on the north and the Caribbean plate on the south. See the blog articles "The Narrow Strip of Wilderness" and "Ubiquitous Narrow Strip."

    Visiting with some of the Saints in Guatemala about the Book of Mormon, some interesting new insights emerged. 

    A. Mexico is a city, a state, and a country. 
    Google Maps Image of Mexico State Surrounding Mexico City
    Guatemala is a city, a department, and a country.
    Google Maps Image of Guatemala Department Surrounding Guatemala City
    In the Book of Mormon, Nephi is a city Alma 47:31, a lesser land Alma 47:20, and a continental-scale greater land Alma 50:8,11. Zarahemla is also a city 3 Nephi 9:3, a lesser land Alma 62:6, and a continental-scale greater land Alma 50:7, 11. This pattern is not common. You don't find the city of France in the Department of France in the nation of France. Ditto India, India, India or almost any other nation you can think of.

    B. Some have proposed the site of Mixco Viejo, 30 kilometers NW of Kaminaljuyu, for the city of Nephi. The reconstructed site tourists visit today is post-classic, well after Book of Mormon times. Some archaeologists, though, have found a pre-classic (Book of Mormon time period) occupation layer. Terrain makes Mixco Viejo eminently defensible. Additional excavation in the future is unlikely because Instituto de Antropología e Historia (IDAEH) considers the site developed.

    C. An interesting candidate for head of Sidon Alma 22:27, 29 is Nacimiento del Rio San Juan on the outskirts of Aguacatán, Huehuetenango where the San Juan River literally bursts out of the side of a mountain.
    Nacimiento del Rio San Juan, Photo taken by Josué Goge
    The volume of water flowing from this fountainhead is unmatched by any other spring in Guatemala. 

    D. Alma 21:18 can be interpreted to mean the land of Ishmael was the land of both Lamoni's and Ammon's inheritance. Lamoni's relationship to the land of Ishmael is clear. He was king over the land of Ishmael Alma 17:21. If Ammon also had a relationship to the land of Ishmael, it could imply the Lehi-Nephi of Zeniff, Noah, and Limhi was later renamed Ishmael. I find this chain of events possible but doubtful based on the similar word pattern in Alma 21:17 where "their sins" and "their fathers" refers to Lamanites in general.

    E. Alma 51:20 says the king-men had multiple towers in multiple cities. Guatemalans envision a scene like this from iconic Tikal when reading this passage.
    Tikal Temples I, II, III, and V Surrounded by Jungle 
    F. Latter-day Saint scholars through the years have commented on the seven ancestral caves/boats/tribes tradition prevalent in many parts of Mesoamerica. One example is Diane Wirth's "Revisiting the Seven Lineages of the Book of Mormon and the Seven Tribes of Mesoamerica" in BYU Studies Quarterly 52:4 (2013). Seven founding lineages are mentioned in Jacob 1:13, 4 Nephi 1:37-38, Mormon 1:8, and D&C 3:17-18. Seven founding lineages are part of the highland Maya tradition recounted in Quichean literature such as Popol Vuh and Annals of the Cakchiquels. Guatemalans also point to Bilbao Monument 21 as a possible iconographic representation of the seven founding lineages coming to the Pacific coast of Guatemala in a boat with three faces shown left of the tassel in the lower right-hand corner of the carving and four faces shown on the right.
    Bilbao Monument 21 Drawing by Oswaldo Chinchilla
    The two most powerful Quichean groups in highland Guatemala today are the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel. Both believe their forefathers came to Guatemala in ocean-going vessels and both talk of seven founding lineages divided into progenitor groups of four and three. The Kaqchikel believe they descend from the four and the K'iche' from the three. Other possible correlations between Kaqchikel ethnohistory and the Book of Mormon are in the blog article "Kaqchikel Chronicles." Other possible correlations between K'iche' ethnohistory and the Book of Mormon are in the blog article "Titulo de Totonicapan."

    In addition to its possible depiction of the pan-Mesoamerican tradition of seven ancestral lineages, Bilbao Monument 21 shows several faces attached like fruit to a vine. This is another example of the fascinating theme we explored in the article "Anthropomorphic Trees." Some Latter-day Saint Mesoamericanists (such as John E. Clark) consider images of humans growing/flowering like trees powerful evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon Alma 32:28-41, 33:1.

    G. Rolando Amado showed us an Egyptian-style figurine head he found in a farmer's field near the port city of Ocos. His children and grand-children played with it over the years and the pharaonic beard broke off. We did not get a photo. This artifact should be date-tested like the Roman figurine head described in the article "Roman Figurine Head in Ancient Mexico."
    Ocos and Other Places Mentioned in this Article
    with Possible Book of Mormon Connections
    --
    The main reason we went to Guatemala was to attend a conference in Antigua entitled "3,000 Years of Maya Knowledge" keynoted by Richard Hansen.
    Archaeology Conference February 15, 2019 
    These are my notes from the conference with editorial markers numbered 1 to 41 where data may have Book of Mormon relevance.

    Edwin Roman is a native Guatemalan with a PhD from UT Austin.
    Javier Tovar and Edwin Roman in Antigua, Guatemala
    Photo Taken February 15, 2019 by Kirk Magleby
    His dissertation was on Teotihuacan influence in the Peten. He has worked at many Guatemalan sites, particularly El Zotz with Stephen Houston.

    Roman: In the lowlands, water is scarce and ancient public works for water management are extensive. Ca. 5,000 BC maize agriculture came into Guatemala from Mexico. El Zotz in the Buenavista Valley was on the route from Tikal to the San Pedro River. The Laguna El Palmar was an ancient lake in the area. Sites were built around the lake shore. The PACUNAM LiDAR Initiative (PLI) revolutionized our understanding of this area. See the articles "LiDAR" and "Ground-Truthed LiDAR." LiDAR identifies structures. 1 Pre-classic structures have conical rooflines while classic buildings have flatter roofs. Most classic structures are built atop pre-classic precursors on the interior of the pyramid.

    2 El Palmar dates to 800 BC. Gran Cival dates to 1,100 BC and features an E Group (structures oriented astronomically eastward to the rising sun). 3 Seven sites in the pre-classic Buenavista Valley including El Zotz and Naranjo had E Groups. There is so much order evident in the architecture that the ancient Maya must have had standard units of measurement 4. Consensus has not yet emerged on the absolute value of any standard units. Triadic groups appear in the late pre-classic following the pattern we see at Holmul, Uaxactun, and Tikal. 5 Roads appear in the late pre-classic, as well as extensive residential areas. Then about 6 AD 200 many sites declined in an event known as the pre-classic collapse. Populations fell, emigrants left the area, there were droughts, and territorial conflicts began to disturb this formerly tranquil region. This time of instability followed the AD 150 collapse of gigantic El Mirador about 60 air kilometers to the north. Tikal and Yaxha apparently did not suffer a pre-classic collapse.

    Water management features called "aguadas" appear in the early classic. El Zotz at apogee probably had 5,000 permanent residents. In the early classic we see 7 defensive walls and terraces and the cult of 8 divine kingship. Then on 9 January 16, AD 378 Sihyaj K'ahk' came on the scene from Teotihuacan and nothing was ever the same again. Eight sites including Bejucal, El Zotz, and Tikal have inscriptions mentioning Sihyaj K'ahk' (born of fire) by name. In the early classic, following the Teotihuacan "entrada," we see a kind of Pax Tikalense reminiscent of the period prior to the collapse of El Mirador. Ux Yop Huun was an important god in this period. Masks appear on buildings. Canals are built. Cave communities appear. Cacao cultivation is important. Large-scale defensive structures are erected. 10 One defensive wall was 6 meters (19 feet) high. The tallest defensive wall found to date was 7.6 meters (25 feet) high. Near El Zotz, LiDAR has identified a veritable 11 fortress, the largest defensive structure known in the Peten. Thomas G. Garrison named it "La Cuernavilla."
    La Cuernavilla Fortress, 2.4 Kilometers Long
    LiDAR Image from PACUNAM/Thomas Garrison
    By 12 AD 500 there are wars and shifting alliances. Shark teeth appear in El Zotz, obviously traded into the area from distant shores. By AD 600 tombs are built with murals adorning the walls. 13 Commerce is more limited than it was before. Teotihuacan in Central Mexico has collapsed. By now, El Zotz has an emblem glyph and the red polychrome pottery diagnostic of the site is abundant. Ca. AD 800 is the classic Maya collapse, a period of drought and warfare.

    Cesar Castañeda was supposed to present, but he was unable to attend, so Edwin Roman gave another presentation about Teotihuacan influence in the Peten, the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Ancient Teotihuacan influence was discovered at Kaminaljuyu and along the Pacific coast of Guatemala (Balberta, Montana) in 1950. David Stuart made epigraphic advances reading Mayan and now we know that the "entrada" of Teotihuacan is part of the 14 historical record. In AD 378 Teotihuacan conquered the Maya in the Peten. We see tripod vases, stucco decor on vases, and the Maya name Sihyaj K'ahk'. He was never a king of a single city state, but he was a military conqueror and the first person we know of given the title kaloomte' (emperor).  Naysayers said this conquest was 15 logistically impossible because Teotihuacan is 1,000 air kilometers distant from Tikal. They said there was 16 little material evidence of a Teotihuacan presence. And they said Sihyaj K'ahk' must have been 17 merely a diplomatic envoy. We now know all these attempts at minimization were wrong. We find green obsidian from Pachuca (Pachuqia) at Altun Ha. Caracol has cremated burials and green obsidian by AD 330.

    Teotihuacan itself rose to prominence between 18 100 BC and the time of Christ. Many of the early settlers of Teotihuacan came from the 19 south. At AD 300 the great Pyramid of the Sun was built without any prior structure underneath and the Avenue of the Dead was constructed. Teotihuacan was a cosmopolitan society with people from Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, and the Maya world. The Tetitla murals are in a Maya-like style. And, just three years ago, the murals at the Plaza de las Columnas were discovered. These murals, which date to AD 300 - 330, have clearly Maya iconography and symbolism. In the Ciudadela we find jade, feathers, and conch shells which are all important Maya symbols. Ca. AD 300 Teotihuacan underwent a 20 revolution. The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent was burned. The Teotihuacan empire was all about 21 trade and control of resources rather than political subjugation. In the Pyramid of the Moon, Maya-style burials were found with jade ornaments. Tikal had a vase in Teotihuacan style made with clay from Central Mexico. The Aztecs reached the Soconusco, 800 - 900 air kilometers distant from Tenochtitlan.

    Among military scientists, it is conventional wisdom that a soldier carrying a 50 pound pack can march 22 30 kilometers (20 miles) in one day. That limits things such as the area around its capital a city state could reasonably defend. Teotihuacan controlled 2 sites in the 23 Tuxtlas: Matacapan and Tres Zapotes. Teotihuacan is mentioned on an inscription from Palenque Temple V. Teotihuacan is mentioned on El Peru - Waka' Stela 15 8 days before Sihyaj K'ahk's fateful arrival in Tikal. Teotihuacan also shows up on Naachtun Stela 24 a few days before the Tikal conquest. Stucco and volcanic ash on pottery are Teotihuacan markers. After the Teotihuacan entrada there are evidences of a general peace between La Sufricaya, Holmul, El Zapote, Tikal, Uaxactun, Rio Azul, El Zotz, and Bejucal. Architecture becomes more grandiose. There is conformity, a single ceramic tradition. Dynasties form. Stela, altar complexes proliferate. 24 Glyphs became homogeneous, standardized. The peace evaporated ca. AD 530 when Teotihuacan was burned.

    Matilde Ivivc, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. Indigenous healers were 25 herbalists. In many cases locals had better treatments for diseases than the Spaniards did. That is one reason Phillip V ordered the Florentine Codex written, to preserve native medicinal knowledge.

    Tomas Barrientos, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. PLI was the largest LiDAR survey ever flown - over 2,000 square kilometers. LiDAR is the most revolutionary technology for archaeology in tropical forests since Carbon 14 dating was perfected in 1946. Technology began with the camera lucida used by Frederick Catherwood. It then progressed to the photographic camera and aerial photography. The Carnegie Institution employed Charles Lindbergh to take aerial photographs of the Maya area. It was Lindbergh who discovered Calakmul in 1930. Technology progressed to include satellite imagery, GPS, and data bases of Maya inscriptions. Now we have 3D scanners for accurate imagery of a single carved monument and LiDAR for large scale mapping. 26 It was 1955 at Tikal before we knew the Maya built true cities with permanent populations rather than just ceremonial centers hosting seasonal pilgrimages. Tikal was the first Maya city with a complete map. It took 6 years of tedious work to complete. The PLI rendered a much better map of Tikal in 6 months. 27 Canals managed water. Terraced fields improved agricultural yields.

    The La Corona/El Achiotal survey showed 3,629 structures for an average density of 29 structures per square kilometer. Naachtun was 28 densest at 89 structures per square kilometer. El Peru - Waka' was next with 84 structures per square kilometer. The central Maya lowlands encompass 23,000 square kilometers. 25% of Maya structures are non-residential. Residents per house mound (family size) averaged 4 - 5.6. There are 95,000 square kilometers in the southern Maya lowlands. This means 2.7 million structures and 11 million inhabitants ca. AD 800. This is the math behind the numbers that so surprised the world when National Geographic reported them in February, 2018.

    The 29 Kaanul empire ca. AD 690 stretched from Coba to Quirigua and from Palenque to the Caribbean. The Snake Kings ruled over 10 million people.
    White Shows Kaanul Empire at Apogee ca. AD 690
    Between AD 807 and AD 936 there were 8 major droughts in the southern Maya lowlands. This factored into the classic Maya collapse. Rather than focus on their failure at the end, though, we should focus on their 1,000 to 1,200 years of success. 30 The Maya were well-organized and they achieved sustainable productivity in a harsh environment. 31 They organized themselves in dozens of allied city states.

    Josephine Thompson, Foundation for Archaeological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES).
    The Mirador/Calakmul Basin is 6,407 square kilometers. 10,000 square kilometers is ideal for a protected wilderness area. LiDAR surveys of the Mirador/Calakmul Basin were flown in 2018. Images are just now becoming available. Josephine had various LiDAR images posted outside the room for all to see.
    LiDAR Image of One Section of the Causeway from Tintal to El Mirador 
    The new LiDAR surveys show 32 250 kilometers of sacbes (ancient highways) in part of the Mirador Basin. The longest discovered so far is a 25 kilometer causeway between Tintal and El Mirador. As a point of comparison, the Great Wall of China is 21,000 kilometers long. Josephine walked the causeway from Tintal to El Mirador. It took her 9 hours. She sees touristic potential. Wakna has the largest E Group in the world. The El Mirador archaeology program needs to raise $12,250,000 in the next five years or about $2.45 million per year. The project employs 400 people.

    Edgar Suyuc, FARES. El Mirador was discovered in the 1930's via aerial photography. In 1962 Ian Graham (1923 - 2017) drew the first site map. From 1979 - 1983 Ray Matheny (BYU) and Bruce Dahlin (1941 - 2011) (Catholic University) worked at the site. 33 Richard Hansen has been in charge since 1987 and work at El Mirador has flourished under his direction. The 34 largest structures in Mesoamerica were Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan; Cholula; Templo Mayor, Tenochtitlan; El Tigre, El Mirador; Structure 1, Nakbe; Catzin, Tintal; Henequen, Tintal; Structure 2, Calakmul; Temple IV, Tikal; and the Great Pyramid, Toniná. All of them are dwarfed by La Danta. There is a causeway from the center of El Mirador to La Danta and another to Nakbe. La Danta is 72 meters high. It was 78 meters high at apogee. It is the tallest ancient structure in the New World and the largest ancient structure in antiquity. La Danta is east of the center of El Mirador. It was an E Group. It was built in 200 BC with large blocks of dressed stone. It featured a ceremonial pool of water. Lithics, ceramics, and figurines have been recovered from the excavation. La Danta required 15 million man days to construct.

    Richard Hansen, University of Utah.
    Latter-day Saint Archaeologists Richard Hansen and Javier Tovar
    Photo Taken February 15, 2019 by Kirk Magleby
    The Mirador/Calakmul Basin has a fault line to the west. The pyramids contain the greatest volume of building material of any structures in the ancient world. They are the tallest in the Americas. Tigre has a triadic pattern with 3 summits. This pattern was in place by 300 BC. El Mirador was abandoned AD 150.  35 A battle was fought on the steps of La Danta between AD 300 - 400. 100 locals were killed by Teotihuacanos. The obsidian points used in the battle came from Pachuca. Human blood stains some of the points. DNA extraction is being attempted. 36 A royal throne has been discovered along with pools of water. The stucco frieze at El Tigre shows 37 Hunahpu (one of the hero twins from the Popol Vuh) with a beard.
    Bearded Hunahpu Swimming, El Tigre, El Mirador, Peten
    Photo Taken January 2, 2016 by Kirk Magleby
    The El Mirador excavations have uncovered walls and ceramics. The Museo Mirador will open in Antigua in 2020. Early LiDAR initiatives in Mesoamerica included Izapa in 2013, Dzibanche, and Caracol. The current Mirador Basin LiDAR survey began in March, 2018 just after the PLI debuted. There was a plane crash. The pilot and technician both died. This tragedy slowed things down for a time, but work resumed and rendered LiDAR images are just now becoming available. Causeways up to 50 meters wide 38 radiate out from El Mirador east to La Danta, SE to Chacte, SSE to Nakbe, SW to Tintal, etc. To date 250 lineal kilometers of causeways have been discovered in the basin. They form a dendritic (branch and node) network. BYU soil scientist Richard Terry discovered systems of 39 meat production on an industrial scale. The ancient Maya were raising dogs and turtles for food. The largest Maya city was El Mirador. The second largest was Tintal. It had a ball court. Nakbe was larger than Tikal and it was built between 1,000 and 400 BC. Wakna was the first 40 state in the Americas. Maya society in the Mirador basin depended on 41 cotton, cacao, beans, and corn as staples. El Mirador flourished from 1,000 BC to AD 150. It was then re-occupied from AD 300 - 800. It participated in both the pre-classic and classic Maya collapses.

    Book of Mormon commentary on the 41 points.
    1. The Book of Mormon took place between ca. 2,500 BC and ca. AD 421. In Mesoamerican terminology, this is the pre-classic and early classic eras. The fact that many of the ancient structures discovered in the Guatemalan Peten date to the pre-classic means they could potentially correlate with the Book of Mormon.
    2. El Palmar and Gran Cival date to Jaredite times.
    3. Mesoamericans in Book of Mormon times were astute observers of astronomical phenomena. Ditto the Nephites Helaman 12:15.
    4. Mesoamericans in Book of Mormon times used standard units of measurement. Ditto the Nephites Alma 11:5-19, Helaman 4:7.
    5. Mesoamericans in Book of Mormon times built roads. Ditto the Nephites 3 Nephi 8:13.
    6. Many Mesoamerican sites collapsed ca. AD 200. Former peace gave way to territorial conflicts. This is precisely the time period when the peace following the Savior's visit began to fade as old ethnic and political divisions re-surfaced, eventually leading to conflict 4 Nephi 1:20, 26.
    7. Mesoamericans were erecting defensive walls in the early classic. Ditto the Nephites Mormon 2:4.
    8. Mesoamerican kingship was a well-established institution in Book of Mormon times. The Nephites had no end of trouble with dissenters who wanted to be kings Alma 47:8, 51:5.
    9. January 16, AD 378 was the day Teotihuacan militarily overthrew Tikal. Mormon at this time was leading the Nephites northward toward their final battle at hill Ramah/Cumorah Mormon 5:5.
    10. Mesoamericans built high defensive walls. Ditto the Nephites Alma 49:4.
    11. Mesoamericans built forts protected by walls and moats. Ditto the Nephites Alma 49:18.
    12. Mesoamericans ca. AD 500 experienced nearly constant war. Moroni described precisely this condition Mormon 8:8 just a few decades earlier.
    13. Long-distance trade declined when Teotihuacan collapsed. Teotihuacan may be the Gadianton capital established far into the land northward 3 Nephi 7:12. The Gadiantons were traders 4 Nephi 1:46.
    14. Mesoamericans recorded military actions in their histories. Ditto the Nephites Alma 43:3.
    15. The Book of Mormon is gradually being vindicated as authentic ancient history just as the Maya accounts of the Teotihuacan "entrada" were.
    16. Critics claim there is little material evidence for the Book of Mormon just as they did with the Teotihuacan "entrada."
    17. Critics claim Mormon wasn't really a historical military general just like they did with his contemporary, Sihyaj K'ahk'.
    18. Teotihuacan was on the rise shortly after 100 BC. Nephites were migrating into the land northward in large numbers at about this time Alma 63:4.
    19. Teotihuacan included many settlers from the south. Many people migrated northward from Zarahemla just as Teotihuacan was on the rise Helaman 3:3.
    20. Teotihuacan saw revolutionary changes ca. AD 300. Ditto the Nephites and Lamanites 4 Nephi 1:42-46.
    21. Teotihuacan was a commercial empire with a military component. Ditto the Gadiantons 3 Nephi 3:7-8.
    22. 30 kilometers is a typical day's march for a foot soldier. That is probably on the high end of what we would expect for a Nephite Helaman 4:7 since the term "a Nephite" in the text is always used in an ordinary rather than elite sense Alma 55:32. See the article "Land Southward Travel Times" for context.
    23. Prior to AD 378 Teotihuacan controlled Matacapan and Tres Zapotes in the Tuxtlas. Hill Ramah/Cumorah may be in the Tuxtlas and the Teotihuacan presence there could explain some things in the text such as the dual treaty in Mormon 2:8.
    24. Mayan glyphs underwent a process of standardization. Ditto Lamanite writing Mosiah 24:6-7.
    25. Mesoamericans cured diseases with herbs. Ditto the Nephites Alma 46:40.
    26. The Book of Mormon describes true cities Helaman 3:9. For over 100 years after Stephens and Catherwood introduced Maya civilization to the western world, archaeologists doubted the Maya built true cities. Finally, in 1955, enough work was done outside the ceremonial center that archaeologists realized Tikal was a true city.
    27. Mesoamericans built large scale public works. Ditto the Nephites Alma 53:3-4.
    28. The Book of Mormon describes high population densities Mormon 1:7. Science has now caught up. High population densities are attested in the Peten.
    29. The Book of Mormon describes absolute population numbers some have found hard to believe Ether 15:2. Science has now caught up. A single polity in ancient Mexico and Guatemala ruled over 10 million people.
    30. The Maya were well-organized. Ditto the Nephites 3 Nephi 6:11.
    31. The Maya lived in allied city-states. Ditto the Nephites Alma 50:14, 25.
    32. Mesoamericans in Book of Mormon times built many kilometers of highways. Ditto the Nephites Helaman 7:10.
    33. Richard Hansen is one of the world's great archaeologists. He is also a returned missionary (Bolivia) who loves the Book of Mormon, although he does not discuss it in professional settings.
    34. Mesoamericans built large structures. Ditto the Nephites Mosiah 11:12.
    35. Between AD 300 - 400, Teotihuacanos initiated a battle at El Mirador. In that same time period, Teotihuacanos may have participated in a much larger battle at hill Ramah/Cumorah Mormon 2:27,  8:9.
    36. The Book of Mormon mentions kings with thrones Ether 10:6. Royal thrones are attested at El Mirador in Book of Mormon times.
    37. The Book of Mormon describes populations that would have been bearded. Beards are attested in Mesoamerican art and iconography in Book of Mormon times. By European contact, the ability to grow a beard had largely disappeared from the native American gene pool.
    38. The Book of Mormon describes networks of roads linking cities and towns 3 Nephi 6:8. The Mirador Basin in Book of Mormon times had a dendritic network of roads linking cities.
    39. The Book of Mormon describes animal husbandry 3 Nephi 3:13. Science has now caught up. Domesticated meat production is attested in the Mirador Basin in Book of Mormon times.
    40. Mesoamerica had state level societies in Book of Mormon times. The Book of Mormon describes societies that advanced to state level Helaman 3:13-15,  7:22. See the article "State Level Societies."
    41. The Book of Mormon mentions corn Mosiah 7:22 and cloth Helaman 6:13. Maize and cotton were Mesoamerican agricultural staples.
    Kirk Magleby volunteers as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central which builds enduring faith in Jesus Christ by making the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible in English and Spanish.
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      Great New Book from Elder Callister

      March 7, 2019, 2:09 pm
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      General Sunday School President Elder Tad R. Callister of the Seventy is well-known among Latter-day Saints as an author and engaging speaker.
      Elder Callister from ChurchofJesusChrist.org
      His titles The Infinite Atonement (2000),

      The Inevitable Apostasy and the Promised Restoration (2006),

      and The Blueprint of Christ's Church (2015)

      have been well received. Now, Elder Callister has turned his talented pen (or more likely, keyboard) toward the Book of Mormon. His latest book is entitled A Case for the Book of Mormon. It is published by Deseret Book and appeared on store shelves March 4, 2019.

      This handsome 262 page book should become a classic in Latter-day Saint letters. It strikes a wonderful balance between certitude and polemic, spiritual and intellectual, doctrinal and narrative. Elder Callister had a 34 year career as a tax attorney and logical precision is evident on every page. Some of my favorite parts were his personal stories from the mission field and from his many years in Church service. And, of course, since I volunteer as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central, I was thrilled to see Book of Mormon Central and members of our staff (Jack Welch, Matt Roper, Neal Rappleye) mentioned or referenced over 40 times.

      Congratulations to Elder Callister for a significant new contribution to Book of Mormon studies. I didn't just read this book. I devoured it in about six hours and highly recommend it.
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      Olmec Iron

      March 18, 2019, 8:30 am
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      The Book of Mormon mentions iron in a mineralogical context five times:
      2 Nephi 5:15 work in all mannner of iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, precious ores ca. 590 BC
      Jarom 1:8 exceedingly rich in gold, silver, precious things, iron, copper, brass, steel ca. 400 BC
      Mosiah 11:3, 8 gold, silver, ziff, copper, brass, iron, precious things ca. 150 BC
      Ether 10:23 work in all manner of ore, gold, silver, iron, brass, copper ca. 1,100 BC

      Iron is implied when steel is mentioned in an extractive mineralogical context in Jaredite times:
      Ether 7:9 molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel ca. 2,000 BC

      Steel is carburized or quenched and tempered iron. Iron was known anciently from meteoric sources. King Tut's famous steel dagger on display in the Cairo Museum was pounded from meteoric iron.
      Steel Dagger from King Tut's Tomb ca. 1323 BC
      Photo by Daniela Cornelli
      Meteoric iron is rare on the surface of the earth. High grade iron ores such as hematite and magnetite are much more abundant and are mined commercially today. We have known about polished Olmec hematite mirrors for decades.
      Olmec Polished Hematite Mirror from Guerrero
      Photo by Linda Schele
      This is a similar example.
      Olmec Polished Hematite Mirror from Guerrero
      Photo by Linda Schele
      Both mirrors are dated prior to 400 BC, the traditional date associated with the Olmec collapse.

      We also know that another form of iron ore, ilmenite (a principal modern source of titanium), was worked at industrial scale at the first Olmec capital, San Lorenzo. Ann Cyphers Guillén found 8 tons of it at a workshop in the SE sector of the San Lorenzo plateau.
      Perforated, Polished Ilmenite Artifacts from San Lorenzo
      Photo by Ann Cyphers Guillén
      This photo is in Ann Cyphers Guillén, "San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán," in Los Olmecas en Mesoamérica, edited by John E. Clark, (Mexico City: Citibank/Mexico, 1994). The ilmenite  was imported from Chiapas and Oaxaca. Similar concentrations of worked ilmenite pieces were found in Plumajillo and Amatal, Chiapas.
      Sites with Worked Ilmenite Iron Ore
      The perforations were made with a drill, likely using fine sand as an abrasive. The San Lorenzo workshop dates from ca. 1,100 BC. Several of the San Lorenzo artifacts were analyzed by BYU geologists. The report is Steven E. Jones, Samuel T. Jones, and David E. Jones, "Archaeometry Applied to Olmec Iron-Ore Beads,"BYU Studies 37:4 (1997-98).  The iron artifacts could have been used as jewelry, chain mail armor, or miniature tools (a typical bead is 3 centimeters long) if fitted with a wooden haft.
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      Mesoamerican Speech Gesture

      March 22, 2019, 1:26 am
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      In Mosiah 12:2 Abinadi recounts his divine mandate to prophesy against King Noah and his wicked priests. What was the first thing the Lord instructed Abinadi to do? Open his mouth? Speak certain words? Cry with a loud voice? No. The first thing Abinadi was told to do was stretch forth his hand.

      Alma 10:25 tells us what Amulek did when things began to get heated as he preached in Ammonihah. Amulek stretched forth his hand and then cried the mightier to his angry audience.

      Alma did the same thing. He stretched forth his hand toward the people of Ammonihah just before he energetically called them to repentance Alma 13:21.

      About eight years later Alma was preaching to the Zoramites on hill Onidah in Antionum. A spokesman for the lower class arose and recounted the persecutions he and his friends had suffered. Alma turned toward these humble people, but before he said anything to them, he stretched forth his handAlma 32:7.

      Samuel the Lamanite prophesied to the Nephites atop a wall surrounding the city of Zarahemla. But what did he do before speaking to the hostile crowd? He stretched forth his handHelaman 13:4.

      In the most dramatic moment in the text, the risen Lord descended from heaven and appeared to the Nephites assembled at the temple in land Bountiful. Before speaking, he stretched forth his hand3 Nephi 11:9.

      After instructing his twelve disciples, the Savior again addressed the multitude, but before speaking he stretched forth his hand3 Nephi 12:1.

      Seven of the most iconic discourses in the text were preceded by a hand gesture. What is going on?

      Abinadi, Amulek, Alma, Samuel the Lamanite, and the resurrected Savior were all speaking in Mesoamerica where important people and deities stretched forth their hand to give a major speech. The Book of Mormon authors faithfully recorded an ancient Mesoamerican cultural practice that anthropologists have only recently recognized. These examples are in approximate chronological order.
      Unprovenanced Olmec Plaque
      This Olmec image is dated ca. 1,000 BC. "That the Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples highlighted some kinds of speech as more important, more authoritative, than others is made evident by a convention in which an extended index finger secured emphasis." Stephen Houston, David Stuart, and Karl Taube, The Memory of Bones: Body, Being, and Experience among the Classic Maya (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006) p. 250, fig 7.29.a.

      La Venta Altar 3, Photo by Linda Schele
      La Venta monuments date ca. 600 BC. La Venta may be where the Mulekites landed. Note the heavily bearded figure on the right. Both individuals have hands stretched forth in a speech gesture. Similar depictions are on Tres Zapotes Stela D and La Venta Altars 4 and 7.
      Izapa Stela 5 Left-Hand Ground Level Scene, V. Garth Norman
      This scene depicts a bearded old man wearing a conical hat tending a flaming incense burner. His left hand is stretched out in a speech gesture. Izapa Stela 5 is generally dated ca. 300 BC. Izapa may be the land of the Lehite's first inheritance on the west coast of the greater land of Nephi.
      Izapa Stela 5 Right-Hand Ground Level Scene, V. Garth Norman
      This scene depicts a younger man with an elaborate headdress holding a stylus or perforator in his left hand. A speech scroll comes out of his mouth and his right hand is extended in a speech gesture.
      Kaminaljuyu (KJ) Monument 65 Front
      This image of KJ Monument 65 was produced by a high definition 3D laser scan reported in Travis F. Doering and Lori D. Collins, "Revisiting Kaminaljuyu Monument 65 in Three-Dimensional High Definition" in Julia Guernsey, John E. Clark, and Barbara Arroyo, editors, The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2010). All three enthroned rulers have stretched out their hands in a speech gesture.

      The back side of the stone has another example of an elite personage with hand outstretched in a speech gesture.
      KJ Monument 65 Back
      Kaminaljuyu underlies the northwest part of modern Guatemala City. It may be the city of Nephi. See the blog article "Kaminaljuyu." Monument 65, discovered in 1983, dates to ca. 150 BC, very close to the time Abinadi was in King Noah's court. For insight into the meaning of the objects displayed between these KJ figure's noses and lips, see the blog article "Partake of the Fruit."

      San Bartolo is a Guatemalan site with spectacular murals that date ca. 100 BC.
      San Bartolo West Wall Drawing by Heather Hurst
      This scene depicts two enthroned gods flanking a dancer. Both gods have stretched forth their hands in a speech gesture. "As in the case of the San Bartolo gods, they both site cross-legged and point with their extended index fingers, a convention for discourse that is present from Olmec times to the sixteenth century." Karl A. Taube, William A. Saturno, David Stuart, and Heather Hurst, The Murals of San Bartolo, El Petén, Guatemala, Part 2: The West Wall (Bernardsville, NC: Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, 2010) p. 75.
      Teotihuacan Plano Relief Vessel, Drawing by Karl Taube
      This image dates ca. AD 250. "Two of the figures appear to be presenting decorated cloth, and another emits a large speech scroll while gesturing with his extended index finger. From the late Preclassic to late Postclassic periods, this hand gesture denotes speech in Maya art." Karl A. Taube, "Tetitla and the Maya Presence at Teotihuacan" in Geoffrey E. Braswell, editor, The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003) p. 283.
      Dresden Codex p. 9b
      The Dresden Codex was painted ca. AD 1,300. It is probably a copy of an earlier manuscript. Itzamna, the right-hand figure, is shown talking to the maize god. Several other figures in the Dresden Codex are also depicted with hands extended in a speech gesture.

      A speech gesture is attested in the New Testament with Paul before Agrippa Acts 26:1. Moses performed miracles by stretching forth his hand Exodus 9:22, 10:12, 14:21. David Michael Calabro, formerly with the Maxwell Institute, wrote his dissertation at the University of Chicago on various ritual hand gestures in the ancient near east. Human hands are ubiquitous. But, the consistent correlation of authoritative speech with a hand gesture in both the Book of Mormon and Mesoamerican iconography supports the idea of a cultural connection.
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      Church Membership Growth

      April 6, 2019, 3:52 pm
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      As part of the 189th Annual General Conference today, the Church released its statistical report for December 31, 2018. As of year end, total Church membership stood at 16,313,735 which is an increase of 195,566 over 2017 when membership was 16,118,169. This is a growth rate of 1.21%, the lowest it has been since 1937 when the great depression was ravaging the global economy. Here is a chart showing Church growth since 1975 with significant developments in certain years.
      Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Membership
      Year     Membership   Increase    % Growth   Developments 
      1975     3,572,202      162,215     4.76%         Microsoft
      1976     3,742,749      170,547     4.77%         Apple
      1977     3,969,220      226,471     6.05%
      1978     4,166,854      197,634     4.98%         Revelation on the Priesthood
      1979     4,404,121      237,267     5.69%         FARMS                
      1980     4,639,822      235,701     5.35% 
      1981     4,920,449      280,627     6.05%          IBM PC
      1982     5,162,619      242,170     4.92%          Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP)
      1983     5,351,724      189,105     3.66%          AOL
      1984     5,641,054      289,330     5.41%   
      1985     5,919,483      278,429     4.94%   
      1986     6,166,974      247,491     4.18%   
      1987     6,394,314      227,340     3.69%   
      1988     6,721,210      326,896     5.11%          Ezra Taft Benson “Flood the Earth”
      1989     7,308,444      587,234     8.74%          Email
      1990     7,761,179      452,735     6.19%          HTTP, HTML, WWW, Browser 
      1991     8,089,848      328,669     4.23%   
      1992     8,404,087      314,239     3.88%   
      1993     8,689,168      285,081     3.39%   
      1994     9,024,368      335,200     3.86%           Yahoo, Amazon
      1995     9,338,859      314,491     3.48%           Proclamation on the Family, EBay
      1996     9,692,441      353,582     3.79%   
      1997     10,071,783    379,342     3.91%           Netflix, FAIRMormon    
      1998     10,354,241    282,458     2.80%           Google, PayPal 
      1999     10,752,986    398,745     3.85%   
      2000     11,068,861    315,875     2.94%   
      2001     11,394,522    325,661     2.94%            Wikipedia
      2002     11,721,548    327,026     2.87%             LinkedIn, BYU acquired FARMS 
      2003     11,985,254    263,706     2.25%
      2004     12,275,822    290,568     2.42%            Facebook         
      2005     12,560,869    285,047     2.32%            YouTube             
      2006     12,868,606    307,737     2.45%            Twitter
      2007     13,193,999    325,393     2.53%   
      2008     13,508,509    314,510     2.38%   
      2009     13,824,854    316,345     2.34%   
      2010     14,131,467    306,613     2.22%             Pinterest, Instagram
      2011     14,441,346    309,879     2.19%             The Book of Mormon Musical
      2012     14,782,473    341,127     2.31%             Interpreter Foundation
      2013     15,082,028    299,555     2.03%
      2014     15,372,337    290,309     1.92%
      2015     15,634,199    261,862     1.70%
      2016     15,882,417    248,218     1.59%             Book of Mormon Central
      2017     16,118,169    235,752     1.48%             BMC en Español
      2018     16,313,735    195,566     1.21%

      This is what the Church growth rate looks like as a graph. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.
      Church Membership Growth Rates 1975 - 2018
      Three things are immediately apparent from this graph:
      1. Something important happened in 1989 when the Church grew by 8.74%.
      2. The long-term trend is unsettling. All is not well in Zion.
      3. Growth has steadily slowed since 2000.
      What happened in 1989? In October, 1988 General Conference, Pres. Ezra Taft Benson gave his memorable talk about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. The Saints responded. Missionaries had boxes of books to give investigators with our photographs and testimonies pasted inside the front cover. The Book of Mormon is what happened in 1989. It is the divine tool uniquely designed by God to gather Israel in the last days. In 1989, we as a Church helped the Book of Mormon accomplish its intended purpose.

      What has happened since 2000? The Internet has come to dominate popular culture. This creates several challenges for the Church:
      1. The Internet is a network that empowers individuals and diminishes the influence of hierarchies. The Church, the Kingdom of God on earth, is the ultimate hierarchy. Our prophet, Pres. Russell Marion Nelson Sr., receives revelation directly from God. It doesn't get any more hierarchical than that.
      2. Transparency is the coin of the realm in the Internet age. The Church, a Kingdom that is partly divine and partly human, struggles with transparency as indeed it must. Some things are sacred and pearls should not be cast before swine.
      3. Trust in institutions is diminishing. How do people make buying decisions? They look for five stars from a neighbor on Amazon rather than reading the manufacturer's slick and glossy brochure.
      4. You don't sell much stuff knocking on doors anymore. We need innovative new systems to keep our missionaries productive.
      5. Social media is hard to manage. In the old days, the Church could air Home Front spots on prime time TV or take out an ad in Reader's Digest and get our message out. Nowadays, each of the myriad content distribution channels has different protocols and audience expectations.
      6. Search engines only identify "relevance," not truth. Search results on many subjects are more likely to be faith-destroying than faith-affirming.
      7. Anti-Mormons troll Church content online. The Church can post a terrific video on YouTube and haters within hours will post multiple low-budget videos contradicting the Church's position. After a member or investigator finishes watching the Church's polished production, YouTube's algorithm will suggest the attack videos.
      8. Authenticity can outperform professionalism. The Church generally projects a clean-cut, classy image. Crude, unkempt reality content often gets more views, likes, and shares.
      9. Humor rules. Most Church content is not very entertaining.
      10. Diversity and tolerance are considered ultimate virtues. Obedience to eternal truth is often spun as old-fashioned if not discriminatory.
      Is the Church true? Yes. Is the Book of Mormon the most divine object most of us will ever hold in our mortal hands? Yes. Will the Savior return in glory and clean up this mess? Yes. Are we gathering Israel on both sides of the veil and preparing the world for the Second Coming? Yes. Will the Church figure out this online technology thing? Yes. "The mill of the gods grinds slowly, but it grinds exceedingly fine."

      I took several members of the Book of Mormon Central staff to Google Headquarters in March, 2018. Visiting with a number of Latter-day Saint Googlers, we learned that two of the Apostles had been in Mountain View a few months before us. After learning that Google has eight products used by more than a billion customers (Search, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Android, Chrome, Play Store, Drive) Elder Bednar reportedly said that we in the Church need to raise our sights and increase our expectations.

      Of the 16,313,735 baptized members of record on December 31, 2018, how many attend Church on a given Sunday? About 30% according to Matt Martinich who publishes the LDS Church Growth blog. That would be about 4.9 million people in the pews which is likely a reasonable proxy for the number who make the Book of Mormon an important part of their daily life. The United Nations estimates there are 7.7 billion humans on the planet in April, 2019. The Book of Mormon went on sale to the public on March 26, 1830 in Palmyra, NY. After 189 years, the Book of Mormon has achieved a market penetration rate of .000636, less than 1/15 of 1%, about 6 people out of every 10,000.

      The bad news is we probably could have done better. The good news is we did pretty well in 1989 by following Pres. Benson's recipe given in the October, 1988 General Conference talk mentioned above. Pres. Benson asked us to produce:
      • videos
      • reading programs
      • translations into many languages
      • articles
      • broadcasts
      • lectures and symposiums
      • classes
      • talks
      • books
      • insights
      • electronic media
      • conversion stories
      • recordings
      • displays
      • film, drama, literature, music, and paintings
      He  also asked us to:
      • read daily
      • make the Book of Mormon more central in our work
      • arouse mankind's interest
      • answer the great questions
      • abide by its precepts
      FARMS was doing pretty much everything on the prophet's list in the 1988 - 1989 time frame. And, Book of Mormon Central is doing pretty much everything on the list today, albeit at a modest scale.

      In order to learn how highly effective organizations scale in 2019, I took Zander Sturgill and Daniel Smith from Book of Mormon Central with me to Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 in San Diego in February. The good news is some of the most talented digital marketers on earth are faithful Latter-day Saints who in their heart of hearts want to use their skills someday to help build the Kingdom. The additional good news is religious content has many characteristics compatible with modern distribution technologies.

      The ideal mix for the Church in 2019 is to produce 50% of its own online content, with 30% user generated content coming from members, and the other 20% from trusted independent voices such as Book of Mormon Central. The actual numbers right now are closer to 90% coming from the official Church, 8% from members, and 2% from trusted independent organizations. The ideal is achievable with increased donor support. The Church, its members, and those of us in supporting organizations are getting more adept at the modern media landscape every day.
      Official Church Social Media Channels
      Every one of the 15 living prophets, seers, and revelators has a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account and the Church just created a public Facebook Group (a gutsy move, frankly. I do not envy the moderators). The Church has many YouTube channels. Here is how the Church's primary YouTube channel compares with a handful of others and with Book of Mormon Central:
      Name                                                            Subscribers   Views
      Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints   855,293         310,717,388
      The Bible Project                                         1,285,111           96,637,678
      Vatican News                                                  223,177           38,208,070
      Life.Church                                                     146,684           13,109,264
      United Methodist Videos                                    9,356             2,512,833
      Seventh Day Adventist Church                         21,751            1,910,035
      Lakewood (largest US Megachurch)                60,624             1,491,423
      --
      Book of Mormon Central (3 channels)             23,290             2,582,301

      With Pres. Nelson's extraordinary leadership, can Church membership growth numbers come roaring back to the levels they were during Pres. Benson's era? Yes, if we help the Book of Mormon accomplish its intended purpose.
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      Moral Relativism

      April 15, 2019, 7:22 am
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      There was a demonstration at BYU on Friday, April 13, 2019, protesting the uneven way honor code violations are enforced.
      BYU Protest, Daily Herald Photo by Evan Cobb
      While serving as Bishop of the BYU 172nd Married Student Ward, I conducted many ecclesiastical endorsement interviews that included discussions about the honor code. On a few occasions, I had to work directly with the BYU Honor Code Office, and once I attended the training they offered to Bishops. I do not envy the BYU staffers tasked with enforcing this basic set of behavioral rules. If all the allegations brought forward by BYU students last week are factual, then there have been serious lapses and policy violations on the part of the honor code enforcement team. On the other hand, according to the young people I work with at Book of Moron Central, there is a growing sentiment, even among BYU students, that there simply should be no rules at all in today's hyper-tolerant, non-judgmental culture. The Church's April 4, 2019 policy change relaxing some rules for members in gay marriages and children of LGBT couples emboldened the BYU students to agitate for changes in the honor code via public social action.

      I entered BYU as a freshman in the fall of 1971. Men could not wear excessively long hair or beards, and women could wear dress pants but not jeans. By 1981 the no jeans rule for women was gone. BYU has tinkered with its dress and grooming standards over the years, but the honor code provisions about the Word of Wisdom, honesty, and chastity have been constants helping maintain the clean-cut, wholesome image the university is renowned for.
      BYU Engineering Students
      In 2019, do personal behavior standards still apply? Should they apply? President Nelson said yes in his worldwide training remarks to Church leaders on Thursday, April 4, 2019, two days before the start of the 189th Annual General Conference. The prophet said:
      • Members of the Church need "to become stronger in a spiritually darkened world."
      • "Our members are standing like a rock in a moving river."
      • "Fortify our people - the adversary is an incorrigible insomniac. He never sleeps."
      • The "Book of Mormon comes to our rescue" referencing Moroni 7:14-19:
        • Do not judge that which is evil to be of God.
        • Do not judge that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
        • It is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil.
        • The way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
        • The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.
        • Every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent by the power and gift of Christ.
        • Ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
        • Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil.
        • After this manner doth the devil work.
        • He persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
        • Ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ.
        • See that ye do not judge wrongfully.
        • With that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
        • Search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil.
        • If ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.
      Good and evil exist and are as relevant today as they ever were. Some deeply-ingrained attitudes are cultural artifacts, not moral absolutes. The Book of Mormon offers clear and precise direction to distinguish eternal truths from passing fads. 2 Nephi 26:29-33 is unambiguous.
      • There shall be no priestcrafts.
      • Have charity, which charity is love, D&C 59:6.
      • Do not murder, 6th of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:6.
      • Do not lie, 9th of the 10 commandments.
      • Do not steal, 8th of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:6.
      • Do not take the name of the Lord God in vain, 3rd of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:5.
      • Do not envy, 10th of the 10 commandments.
      • Have no malice.
      • Do not contend one with another.
      • Do not commit whoredoms, 7th of the 10 commandments, D&C 59:6.
      • Black and white are equal (no racism).
      • Bond and free are equal (no elitism).
      • Male and female are equal (no sexism).
      • Heathen, Jew, and Gentile are equal (no religious discrimination).
      Racism is a cultural artifact that thankfully is going away in contemporary society. In my youth, people talked about miscegenation in negative terms. You hardly hear that word anymore. In the course of my service in the Church, I have referred dozens of people to Edward Kimball's tremendous article about his father's revelation on priesthood.

      Elitism is a cultural artifact whose influence is being mitigated by the Internet. BYU Pathway Worldwide, for instance, makes world-class education accessible to most humans on the planet.

      Sexism is a diminishing cultural artifact. The first time I flew with a female co-pilot in the cockpit, Delta Airlines announced this paradigm-shifting advance over the intercom and we passengers erupted in the seat-belts-fastened equivalent of a standing ovation. This does not mean we should expect female Apostles. The Savior's precedent in the New Testament, 3 Nephi, and the Restoration has males holding priesthood keys.

      Religious monopoly is a cultural artifact. Each March, the largest celebration of the Holi Festival in the Western Hemisphere is at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah where thousands of BYU and UVU students gather to throw colored powder at each other and eat Indian food.
      Spanish Fork Holi Festival, Photo from Utah.com
      Most of these young people will be in Sacrament Meeting the following Sabbath.

      So far, so good. The BYU students on the lawn between the Wilkinson Center and the Law School are pretty much in sync with the Book of Mormon on racism, elitism, sexism, and religious exclusivity. The modern cultural rejection of the law of chastity, though, is plainly contrary to eternal truth revealed in the Book of Mormon.

      John W. (Jack) Welch is my primary source for the idea that the Book of Mormon is our handbook of instructions for living in the 21st Century.

      Kirk Magleby volunteers as Book of Mormon Central's Executive Director. Book of Mormon Central builds enduring faith in Jesus Christ by making the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the entire world. We currently publish in English and Spanish.
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      Usumacinta Olmec

      April 16, 2019, 11:44 pm
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      For years, people have talked about the Olmec "heartland" as a western Gulf Coast phenomenon anchored by the three major sites of San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes which all took their turn as the capital city. Archaeologists referred to Olmec sites outside this relatively small area as the "hinterland."
      Traditional Olmec Heartland in Orange
      In 2006, V. Garth Norman and I visited Pomona in Tabasco on the western bank of the Usumacinta.
      Pomona Relative to the Traditional Olmec Heartland
      Pomona is generally considered a Classic Maya site, but we saw this monument on display in the INAH site museum.
      Olmec Iconography on Display in Pomona
      Photo by Kirk Magleby, September, 2006
      This photo does not do the monument justice. It is Olmec, about as Olmec as you get. Seeing this carving started me on a quest to map known Olmec sites. Until today, my map looked like this.
      148 Sites with Olmec Influence, 52 of which are in the Heartland
      Olmec influence reached into every part of Mesoamerica, but the culture core was still in the heartland, or so we thought.

      The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology just concluded in Albuquerque, NM. My friend, Richard Terry, presented two papers at the conference on the soil chemistry of sites in Belize and Utah. Richard sent me abstracts of two papers presented by the dynamic team of Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan, both from the University of Arizona. I wrote blog articles entitled "Takeshi Inomata" and "75 BC" describing some of their ground-breaking work at Ceibal and Aguateca. Inomata finished his Sabbatical year at Dumbarton Oaks (a research center in Washington, DC affiliated with Harvard University) and is now back in the field. What he and his team have found will re-write history and could have profound implications for the Book of Mormon.

      Since 2017, Inomata and Triadan have been excavating a massive Olmec site they named Aguada Fénix at the great bend of the San Pedro river in Balancán Municipality, Tabasco. This is near the large Maya trading site, Moral Reforma.
      Aguada Fénix on the San Pedro
      What we know about this site after two seasons of work:
      • It is the largest of 15 newly-discovered middle Preclassic sites in the area.
      • These 15 sites are so standardized in their layout they constitute the "Middle Formative Usumacinta" (MFU) pattern.  
      • Dates are coming in from 1,000 BC to 800 BC.
      • It had an E Group.
      • It is so large it may have been the Olmec capital after the collapse of San Lorenzo and before the rise of La Venta.
      • It had cultural ties with Ceibal, 185 air kilometers to the SE. 
      Stay tuned. These 15 new sites headed by Aguada Fénix may force a re-evaluation of what constituted the Olmec heartland and may demonstrate a much closer connection between the Olmec and the early Maya than we have heretofore realized. They may also force us to re-think the proposed boundaries of the land northward during Jaredite times.
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      Komkom Vase

      April 28, 2019, 11:11 pm
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      A shattered royal drinking vessel discovered in 2015 at Baking Pot, Belize bears a long Mayan inscription that originally consisted of 202 glyph blocks, about 60% of which are extant after reconstruction.
      Komkom Vase Dedicated AD 812 
      Baking Pot is on the Belize River.
      Baking Pot, Belize in Context
      A critical text of this important inscription was recently published - Christophe Helmke, Julie A. Hoggarth, Jaime J. Awe, A Reading of the Komkom Vase Discovered at Baking Pot, Belize (San Francisco: Precolumbia Mesoweb Press, 2018) 144 pp. Helmke is at the University of Copenhagen, Hoggarth at Baylor, and Awe at Northern Arizona. The fact that they published a critical text only 3 years after the vase's discovery is a credit to the authors and a result of the remarkable worldwide collaboration among contemporary Mayanists.

      The vessel was owned by the king of Komkom, an unidentified site probably on the Belize River and allied with the more powerful Naranjo to the west. The text was copied from an earlier historical record, almost certainly painted on bark paper. The text on Naranjo Stela 12, dedicated AD 800, ultimately derives from that same earlier historical source. Naranjo Stela 12 and the Komkom vase describe the same military engagements with Yaxha and Tikal, but from the different perspectives of Naranjo and its junior partner, Komkom. The military action took place between February and September, AD 799.

      The Komkom vase text has a number of interesting similarities with the much earlier Book of Mormon.
      • Komkom p. 22 The vase text has calendrical, historical narrative, and parentage components. The Book of Mormon establishes chronology, recites historical narrative, and declares lineage relationships Alma 63:15-17.
      • Komkom p. 30 cites our friend, Kerry Hull of the BYU religion faculty, because the vase text uses the elegant poetic form difrasismo or "diphrastic kenning" where dual extremes imply a larger whole. Hull has pointed out several examples of this poetic form in the Nephite record including 2 Nephi 10:16, 2 Nephi 26:33, and Alma 11:44. Komkom p. 39 says difrasismo has endured virtually unchanged as a poetic form in Mayan literature for two millenia.
      • Komkom p. 32 describes the title "five headdresses" applied to elite women. The phrase is known from inscriptions at half a dozen Maya sites.
        This is Linda Schele's drawing of the Palace Tablet, Palenque.
        K'inich K'an Joy Chitam Flanked by his Parents
        All three figures wear elaborate headdresses. Lady Tz'akbu Ajaw to the right is wearing at least three headdresses. K'inich Janaab Pakal to the left is holding a headdress.

        These are Linda Schele's drawings of various headdresses:
        Headdresses from Palenque, Machaquila, Yaxchilan, and Piedras Negras
        The Book of Mormon calls tall headdresses "high heads." 2 Nephi 28:14 talks about prideful people who wear stiff necks and high heads. Jacob 2:13 explicitly says prideful people wear stiff necks and high heads because they can afford costly apparel. Some Mesoamerican headdresses were so heavy and cumbersome the wearers used a back rack with a vertical pole or lattice to hold everything up. Back racks with vertical support may be the "stiff necks" Nephi and Jacob refer to.
        • Komkom p. 34 analyzes the linguistics of the title "eastern 28 chief" attested from the sites of Dos Pilas, Machaquila, Ixkun, Naranjo, and Caracol. All of these sites where the term has been found (now including Baking Pot) are in the central (Usumacinta) or eastern (Maya Mountains) sector of the Maya world. This is precisely where many Book of Mormon modelers place "the east wilderness" mentioned in Alma chapters 25 and 50 and "the east by the seashore" in Alma 22:29. The "eastern 28" part of the Maya title is likely a late Classic regional grouping of polities.
        This  map shows sites where the title "eastern 28 chief" is found, the Maya Mountains in brown overlay, and plausible correlates for the Book of Mormon "east."
        Sites where "East" is Attested with Possible Book of Mormon Correlates
        The blockbuster discovery that the Book of Mormon "east sea" may now be corroborated in ancient Mayan inscriptions is discussed in the 2016 article "Smoking Gun." More information about the region the Maya considered "the east" is in the 2018 article "Maya Place Names." Alexandre Tokovinine, author of the very important 2013 monograph Place and Identity in Classic Maya Narratives and world's leading expert on Maya toponyms, really likes the new Helmke, Hoggarth, Awe, Komkom Vase book per his favorable Amazon review.
        • Komkom p. 36-37 The Mayan verb ch'ahb describes a devotional act such as fasting or doing penance. The meaning "let blood" originally proposed in Linda Schele's era is no longer considered viable. The Book of Mormon mentions fasting in a devotional context dozens of times, e.g. Alma 45:1, Helaman 3:35.
        • Komkom p. 41 describes a military campaign in AD 696 where enemy structures were set ablaze. The Book of Mormon describes a military campaign ca. AD 379 where villages and towns were burned with fire Mormon 5:5. Komkom p. 56 describes another burning of an opponent's home town in a martial context. Komkom pp. 70, 75 mention yet others. 
        • Komkom p. 42-43 cites Mayan texts that describe Motul de San Jose and Yaxha as being west of Naranjo and the Baking Pot area as east of it.
        This map shows the four sites generally in a west-east alignment.
        Motul & Yaxha West of Naranjo, Baking Pot East of It
        The late Classic Maya used a system of solar-based directional cardinality similar to our own. Their meaning of "west" and "east" nearly matched our modern usage of those terms.

        • Komkom p. 50 says particular forests had names in the Maya world. The Book of Mormon has a named forest Mosiah 18:30.
        • Komkom p. 51 talks about a conquering army scattering the bones of an enemy king. The Book of Mormon mentions scattered bones Omni 1:22.
        • Komkom p. 52 mentions the construction of paved roads in AD 588. The Book of Mormon describes the construction of paved roads ca. AD 29 3 Nephi 6:8. Komkom p. 62 talks about "four-breadth roadways," a term found also at Naranjo and Caracol. Maya highway widths were classified by standard units of measure. The Book of Mormon implies different sized roadways when it mentions both "roads" and "highways" in a single verse 3 Nephi 6:8.
        • Komkom p. 52 cites the phrase "it is set in order" which recalls the wording of Alma 8:1 where Alma "established the order" of the church in Gideon.
        • Komkom p. 52 says the sociopolitical relationship between the site of Naranjo and some of its neighbors was stable for 220 years. The Book of Mormon describes similar periods of stability Jarom 1:5.
        • Komkom p. 53 describes the Mayan word for "bee."Ether 2:3 describes the Jaredite word for "honey bee."
        • KomKom p. 55 note 18 says the term "large waters" used throughout Mesoamerica refers to a river. This may have significant implications for Book of Mormon geography. The terms "waters of Sidon" and "river Sidon" are used interchangeably in the text Alma 43:40. Alma baptized in the waters of Sidon Alma 4:4 just like his father had baptized in the waters of Mormon Mosiah 25:18. The waters of Mormon may be a river just like the waters of Sidon are a river. Ditto the waters of Sebus Alma 19:20-21 and the waters of Ripliancum which are explicitly called "large"Ether 15:8.
        • Komkom p. 58 says the sites of Yaxha (Yaxa'), Mopan (Monpaan), Motul (Mutu'l), and Laguna la Blanca (Sakha') carry names that have remained largely unchanged since late Classic times. It is well known in historical linguistic circles that toponyms are remarkably resistant to change. This gives us hope that more Book of Mormon toponyms (in addition to "east sea" and "the east" discussed above) may be found as Maya decipherment advances.
        • Komkom p. 62 describes a regal title translated as "he of nine lands." The most prominent political organization mentioned in the Nephite text is "land" and some rulers had dominion over multiple lands Alma 22:1.
        • Komkom p. 64 outlines a chiastic structure. The Book of Mormon contains dozens of chiastic structures such as Mosiah 5:10-12.
        • Komkom p. 65 discusses deity impersonation where a human donned regalia and acted like a particular god. The Mayan phrase for this behavior is rendered "it is his/her image in the state of being like a god." Alma alluded to this practice when he asked his followers in the city of Zarahemla if they had received the image of God engraved in their countenance Alma 5:14,19.
        • Komkom p. 66 talks about a captured king who was killed with a torch. In the Book of Mormon, King Noah suffered death by fire Mosiah 19:20.
        • Komkom p. 71 tells about a king who ascended a mountain to evade military pressure. The Book of Mormon tells a similar story about Lehonti atop Mount Antipas Alma 47:10. Komkom p. 86 discusses the idea of people fleeing and taking refuge in an elevated place. This is exactly what happened when Mosiah 1 led the Nephites from the land of Nephi down to the land of Zarahemla. The large group took temporary refuge en route on the hill north of Shilom Mosiah 11:13.
        • Komko, p. 73 describes a practice of giving a youth a different name after he matured and began to fulfill his destined role in society. The name for this practice is paranomasia and Matthew Bowen has found it throughout the Book of Mormon. See his "Name as Key-Word, Collected Essays on Onomastic Wordplay."
        • Komkom p. 74 discusses the Mayan adverb uhtiiy which means "it happened." The Book of Mormon variant is the ubiquitous "It came to pass" e.g. Alma 47:2-3.
        • Komkom p. 76 says the ancient Maya measured distance by a day's walk. The Book of Mormon measured distance by a day's journey Alma 8:6.
        • Komkom p. 82 says many localities mentioned in ancient Mayan texts cannot be identified on the modern map. It should not surprise us that many localities mentioned in the Book of Mormon have not yet been identified on the modern map.
        • Komkom p. 84 talks about historical annals, in other words, records kept year by year. Large parts of the Book of Mormon such as Helaman 11:21-24 come from historical annals.
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        The River

        May 29, 2019, 10:30 pm
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        The Book of Mormon mentions only one river, the Sidon, by name, and it is referenced more than 25 times (e.g. Alma 3:3). Almost all references call it "the river Sidon" (e.g. Alma 6:7). There is one reference, though, where Mormon called the Sidon simply "the river" (Alma 43:52). All of these conditions (uniquely named, frequently mentioned, generically named), point to a singular river that dominated its landscape. Most contemporary Book of Mormon modelers (myself included) correlate the Sidon with the mighty Usumacinta, the largest river in Mesoamerica.
        Main Channel of the Chixoy, Salinas, and Usumacinta
        Now we have confirmation that the Chontal Maya also called the Usumacinta simply "the river." Ronald L. Canter, "Rivers Among the Ruins: The Usumacinta" in PARI Journal, Vol. VII, No. 3, Winter 2007.

        This is the third geographic reference in the Nephite text where we have a precise correlate in Mayan. The other two are the "east sea" (see the blog article "Smoking Gun") and "the east" (see the blog article "Maya Place Names"). 
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        PreColumbian Honey Bees

        June 2, 2019, 9:27 pm
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        We previously noted evidence that beekeeping and honey production were important economic activities in ancient Mesoamerica. See the articles "Titulo de Totonicapan" and "Komkom Vase". A scholarly article recently came to our attention that shows images of ancient Maya beehives and provides interesting details about Mesoamerican beekeeping.

        Jaroslaw Zralka (Jagiellonian University, Kraków), Laura Sotelo (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Christophe Helmke (University of Copenhagen), and Wieslaw Koszkul (Jagiellonian University, Kraków) wrote "The discovery of a beehive and the identification of apiaries among the ancient Maya" published in Latin American Antiquity 29(3) (June, 2018) pp. 514-531. The page numbers that follow are from this article.

        514 A ceramic beehive was discovered in a dedicatory cache at Nakum, Peten, Guatemala by Polish archaeologists who worked the site from 2006 - 2016. The artifact dates to the late Preclassic (ca. 100 BC - AD 250/300).
        Nakum, Guatemala in Context
        515 Nakum was first settled in the middle Preclassic 1,000 - 700 BC.

        518 A photo of the beehive fashioned in pottery to look like a hollow log with ceramic end caps made to look like mud plaster and a single bee hole.
        Ancient Maya Beehive from Nakum
        Now in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Guatemala City

        520 Cozumel Island was an important center of native American beekeeping and honey production at European conquest. This censer figurine from Cozumel shows a bee-like "diving god" holding honeycomb cells in his hands. Two beehives similar to the Nakum example flank the sides of the censer.
        Post-classic Figurine, Drawing by Christophe Helmke
        Now in Museo Palacio Cantón, Mérida
         Another figurine, also from Cozumel, shows a deity wearing a miniature beehive as a necklace.
        Post-Classic Figurine, Drawing by Christophe Helmke
        Now in National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
        520 The article illustrates another ancient Maya iconographic portrayal of a cylindrical beehive.

        521 kaab was one of the variant names for "bee" in Mayan languages.

        521 Species of stingless bees endemic to the New World include Geotrigona acapulconis, Melipona beecheii, Partamona bilineata, and Tetragonisca angustula. All 4 species were domesticated by the ancient Maya and other Mesoamericans.

        521 Ceramic jars and bottle gourds were also used as beehives in ancient Mexico and Guatemala.

        522 There is evidence of large-scale intensive farming of stingless bees in the Yucatan Peninsula in precolumbian times.

        524 Diego de Landa (1524 - 1579) and Tomás López Medel (1520 - 1582) both described the extensive honey industry that existed among the ancient Maya at European contact.

        524 The Madrid Codex discusses beekeeping on pp. 103 - 112. This section is often called the "Beekeeping Almanac."

        525 Maya deities associated with beekeeping according to the Madrid Codex include Itzamnaj, Cháak, and Yax Báalam. Goddess I is depicted as a beekeeper.

        525 The Mayan difrasismos or diphrastic kennings uk'-we'"drink-eat" meaning "feasting" and yax-k'an"green-yellow" or "unripe-ripe" meaning "abundance" are associated with bees and honey. This may be significant. The Book of Mormon associates honey with feasting 2 Nephi 17:22, 2 Nephi 26:25 in the sense of a land flowing with milk and honey. Honey is explicitly associated with the abundance of land Bountiful 1 Nephi 17:5 which in the Spanish edition of the Book of Mormon is called "Abundancia."
        Difrasismo for Abundance, Madrid Codex, p. 110 Middle Register
        526 The Madrid Codex, generally dated ca. AD 1450, depicts many bees with cylindrical beehives that resemble the Nakum example.
        Bee Image from Madrid Codex, p. 103
        527 In Mayan languages, the same word means "bee" and "honey." The Book of Mormon explicitly uses the term "honey bee"Ether 2:3.

        Bees, honey, and beekeeping are mentioned in the Book of Mormon in both Jaredite and Nephite contexts. Bees, honey, and beekeeping are now attested archaeologically in the Peten at Nakum during Nephite times. Nakum was originally settled in the Jaredite era.
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        Las Vegas Odds

        June 4, 2019, 1:01 am
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        The father/son team of Bruce and Brian Dale, both PhD engineers, published a sensational 110 page article in Interpreter on May 3, 2019 that uses Bayesian statistical analysis to demonstrate a) the Book of Mormon is historical and b) it is set in ancient Mesoamerica.

        Dad.
        Bruce Dale, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, Michigan State
        Son.
        Brian Dale, BioMedical Engineer, Siemens
        Article.
        Joseph Smith: The World's Greatest Guesser - Highly Recommended
        The Dales analyzed 137 statements of fact from Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston, The Maya (Ninth Edition), Thames & Hudson (2015), a gold standard reference work on ancient Mesoamerica.
        Current, Authoritative Scholarly Source
        They compared and contrasted these 137 statements of fact with corresponding statements of fact in the Book of Mormon.
        Nephite Text - An Ancient American Codex
        They found 131 points of agreement and 6 points of disagreement between The Maya and the Book of Mormon. Running the math, this works out to odds of billions upon billions to one that the Book of Mormon peoples shared common political, cultural/social, religious, military/warfare, physical/geographical, and technological/miscellaneous characteristics with the ancient Maya.

        The smart folks at Interpreter (Dan Peterson, Allen Wyatt, Brant Gardner) anticipated a blockbuster, so they kept this article in peer review for over a year where it was polished by both Mesoamericanists and statisticians. When the provocative piece was finally published a month ago, reactions were fast and furious. Anti-Mormons masquerading behind pen names went ballistic trying to do damage control. Hyper skeptical cultural Mormons went nuts trying to invent counter explanations. True believers like me cheered loudly and long to see our favorite book so convincingly vindicated. The Dales managed the comment parade with aplomb. What is not to like about a genuine intellectual free-for-all with eternal salvific overtones?

        And the comments, 300+ and counting, just keep comping. This is the most heavily commented article Interpreter has ever published. A response has just been posted (agrees with the conclusion, disagrees with the statistical methodology). This is a terrific article that will have a lasting impact on Book of Mormon studies. At 110 pages with appendices, footnotes, logic, and math, it is not for the faint of heart, but it is well worth the effort.
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        Many Waters

        June 5, 2019, 3:18 pm
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        I had Jeffrey A. Faulkner from Phoenix in my office today. His study of the Nephite text convinces him the phrase "many waters" means salt water ocean. I took a look at the term "waters" back in 2014 in the article entitled "OED on Waters." Jeff's interpretation is certainly within the pale of possibilities.
        National Geographic Photo of an Ocean Wave
        "Many waters" is one of the few terms actually defined in the text itself. 1 Nephi 17:5 is explicit. Irreantum or many waters refers to the sea.

        1 Nephi 13:10, 12-13, 29 is equally explicit. The term "many waters" in these verses refers to the Atlantic Ocean which separates Europe from the Americas.

        1 Nephi 14:11-12 is unmistakable. The great and abominable church is a global institution whose dominion extends from sea to sea. "Many waters" in this context means the world's salt water oceans. See the blog article "What is the Great and Abominable Church?" for insights into this nexus of evil.

        Ether 2:6 is clear. Jaredites crossed "many waters" in barges which were sometimes submerged beneath the waves of the sea Ether 6:7.

        The term "many waters" occurs 11 times in the text. The 9 instances described above all refer to one or more salt water oceans. What does that imply for the other two instances? The text of the Book of Mormon is so consistent in its usage patterns Royal Skousen coined the term "systematic phraseology" to describe this orderly repetition. The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), Editor's Preface p. xlv. Every time we see the phrase "many waters" in the text it likely refers to a salt water ocean. This means we should look for hill Ramah/Cumorah seaside.

        Mosiah 8:8 says the land of Cumorah was located "among many waters" and Mormon 6:4 says Cumorah was a "land of many waters..." That probably means Cumorah had a salt water coastline. The fact that Ablom by the seashore is due east of hill Ramah/Cumorah Ether 9:3 strengthens this marine interpretation.

        In 2016 and 2017, Warren Aston spent months in Mexico and Guatemala on multiple trips looking at many of the candidates that have been seriously proposed for hill Ramah/Cumorah. After looking carefully at more than half a dozen hills, he narrowed the list to two: Cerro Vigía and Cerro San Martín Pajapan, both in southern Veracruz. In my mind, Pajapan is the stronger candidate. See the article Ramah/Cumorah. If the "many waters" phrase in Mormon 6:4 really does refer to the open ocean, then Pajapan is almost certainly hill Cumorah.
        The Summit of San Martín Pajapan is 7 Air Kilometers from Salt Water
        The NE slopes of Pajapan are ancient volcanic lava flows that extend right to the water's edge. The red arrow in the image below points to one of these lava flows jutting into the ocean.
        Lava Flow from Eye Distance of 13 KM. Flowing Streams in Yellow
         And here is what that lava flow looks from just offshore.
        Ancient Lava Flow with San Martín Pajapan in the Background
        Photo by Kirk Magleby, February, 2017 
        The Olmec considered this particular hill the site of earth's original creation. According to Linda Schele, Complex C (The Great Pyramid) at La Venta was built as a model of San Martín Pajapan. San Martín Pajapan Monument 1, now in Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, was set atop the hill ca. 1,000 BC (the article "Linguistic Cumorah" includes a photo). This particular hill is clearly among and in a land of many sea waters.
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