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Xoc Chiapas
In 1968 the BYU New World Archaeological Foundation NWAF worked at the Olmec outlier site of Xoc SE of Ocosingo, Chiapas. The principal attraction of the site was a 2 meter high bas relief figure...
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New Apostles
Article updated September 6, 2015.The 185th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue on October 3, 2015. It is widely expected that three new...
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Capacity Temples
I was interested in Elder Hugo Montoya's story in the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference about a brother who was turned away from one of our temples because the facility had reached its...
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Casting Lots
Bill Hamblin and Dan Peterson just published a very good article in the Deseret News about the practice of casting lots in ancient Israel. We saw this weekend three new apostles called to take their...
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Jerry Grover's Translation of the "Caractors" Document
For a fascinating read on the bleeding edge of Book of Mormon studies, go to Jerry Grover's bookofmormoncaractorstranslation website and download his latest book as a PDF free of charge.Jerry Grover's...
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Zarahemla ca. 1955
1955 was a pivotal year in the search for Zarahemla. This is a timeline of selected events leading up to that year.1842 The official periodical of the Church, Times and Seasons, speculated on Book of...
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Norman on Santa Rosa
Mesoamerican archaeologist V. Garth Norman, who believes Zarahemla was in the general vicinity of Palenque, proffers his argument why Sorenson's Zarahemla/Santa Rosa correlation does not fit the text....
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Founding Civilizations
On April 2, 2014, Richard Hansen of the University of Utah gave the seventh Kislak Lecture at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. This is a prestigious lecture series. The fifth Kislak Lecture...
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Hansen and Coe
On Friday, October 16th, 2015, I attended lectures by Dr. Richard Hansen, University of Utah, and Dr. Michael Coe, Yale. The event was the first biannual Mesoamerican Talks Conference sponsored by the...
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Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan
Brian D. Stubbs' long-awaited book is now available. Entitled Exploring the Explanatory Power of Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan, this 436 page tour de force published by Jerry D. Grover, Jr. in...
View ArticleApologetics or Mormon Studies?
I attended a panel discussion at Utah Valley University on November 6, 2015 entitled "Faith, Reason, and the Critical Study of Mormon Apologetics." My notes:Moderator: Blair G. Van Dyke. PhD BYU 1997....
View ArticleDean's Tax
There was a time when a donor could give money to BYU and expect most of it would support some pet project. That doesn't happen much anymore. The university administration is anxious to build up their...
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Deuteronomy in the Book of Mormon
On November 18, 2015, I attended a lecture by Prof. David Rolph Seely entitled "Deuteronomy in the Book of Mormon" sponsored by BYU's Ancient Law Foundations Association (ALFA). This was an expanded...
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Mosquitia
The October 2015 National Geographic magazine contains an intriguing article entitled "Lure of the Lost City" by Douglas Preston with photographs by Dave Yoder. Airborne LIDAR remote sensing has...
View ArticleThanksgiving
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S. Two of our children, in from Minneapolis and Los Angeles, celebrated with us. We spent time with my mother-in-law who is feeling the effects of her 86 wonderful...
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Aztec Garrisons
The husband and wife team of Arlen F. and Diane Z. Chase of the University of Central Florida have spent much of their professional lives investigating the site of Caracol, Belize. In a 1998 paper...
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Great Western Trade Route
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,...
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Introducing Book of Mormon Central
A member of the Stanford LDS Institute faculty, Lynne Hilton Wilson, grew tired of seeing bright young Latter-day Saints leave the Church without ever seriously engaging the Book of Mormon. She...
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Norman's Clincher
While talking with Garth Norman recently he recounted the moment he realized the Usumacinta must be the Sidon. He first determined that Moroni on the east coast just north of the narrow strip of...
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Book of Mormon Lands Map January 2016
This is my best Book of Mormon Lands Map to date. It incorporates most of what I have learned since this journey began in August, 2011. I recently returned from 11 days in Guatemala where I...
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