Brent K.S. Woodfill and Chloe Andrieu published an article in the September 2012 journal
Ancient Mesoamerica entitled "Tikal's Early Classic Domination of the Great Western Trade Route: Ceramic, Lithic, and Iconographic Evidence." They describe a well-known trail that led from the Pacific coast of Chiapas up to Kaminaljuyu on the continental divide, then down the Motagua drainage, up over the Sierra de las Minas, through the Salama Valley and around the Cahabon River to modern Coban, then down to Cancuen on the Pasion, through Dos Pilas near the head of the Usumacinta, then down the Usumacinta past Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, down the San Pedro to Moral-Reforma, then down the Usumacinta and Palizada to Aguacatal on the western edge of Laguna de los Terminos, and finally along the western coast of Campeche.
![]() |
| Great Western Trade Route with Tikal Extension |
The Tikal extension went through Seibal and around Lake Peten Itza to Tikal on the continental divide between the San Pedro and Belizean drainages.
Many Book of Mormon scholars believe Kaminaljuyu was the city of Nephi. Following the Great Western Trade Route from Kaminaljuyu to Moral-Reforma takes you right to our land of Gideon across the Sidon from our lesser land of Zarahemla.
![]() |
| Trade Route Linking Proposed Nephi and Zarahemla |
Archaeologists believe the Great Western Trade Route was used in late pre-classic times and well-established by the early classic period ca. AD 250. This corresponds nicely with our current understanding of Book of Mormon geo-political history.
