Insights from Mesoamerica: Review of An LDS Guide to the Yucatán
by Jeff Lindsay
An
LDS Guide to the Yucatán
by Daniel Johnson, Jared Cooper, and Derek Gasser (Springville, UT:
Cedar Fort, 2012) is probably my top recommendation for an
intelligent, fun, and beautiful LDS book that you will want to own
and give to others. It is available as a
PDF directly from Cedar Fort (just $9.99),
or for Kindle
via Amazon. “Intelligent, fun, and beautiful” are
compliments I don’t give easily and rarely give all at once,
unless, of course, I am talking about my wife. Speaking of my wife,
we read this book together during some of our recent travels in
China, which have increased our interest in the ancient world and our
respect for those who undertake adventure in foreign lands more
challenging than our little corner of paradise here.
We
both found An
LDS Guide to the Yucatán
to be enlightening and entertaining. We loved the many sidebars with
tangential information on Book of Mormon topics and evidences and on
practical travel tips and experiences. We also loved the photography
that brings many beautiful Mayan sites to life. I especially
appreciated the caution and restraint generally exercised by the
authors as they refrained from leaping to extreme conclusions,
recognized weaknesses and problems in some pro-Book of Mormon
positions, acknowledged alternate explanations, and let the reader
know when they were offering speculation or tentative suggestions in
applying Mesoamerican finds and legends to Book of Mormon topics.
Finally,
what I like about this book is the on-site, real-world experience the
authors have with their subject matter. It is one thing to discuss
what others have written about a site in Mesoamerica. It is another
to have been there and examined the terrain and the ruins in detail,
to have spoken with its curators and to have witnessed what the state
of excavation actually is. There is both a great deal of homework
coupled with hands-on investigation behind this book, yet it is
presented in a highly readable form with great attention to layout
and aesthetics. It’s truly a pleasure to read, to view, and to
digest.
This
book is a follow-up to an earlier book based on travels in
Mesoamerica, An
LDS Guide to Mesoamerica
(Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2008) which dealt with related Book of
Mormon topics based on travels in the adjoining regions of Guatemala,
Mexico, and Honduras. Some material on the Yucatan was meant to be
included in that volume, but could not be for space considerations.
This new volume includes significant added information based on
further travels and study. I’m glad they waited for this second
book.
The
authors caught my attention in the opening pages with their
discussion of a prophecy from TheBook
of Chilam Balam,
a book with origins in the Yucatan Peninsula. He presents the
following tidbit in the context of answering the question, “Why
Go to the Yucatan?”--or rather, why should fans of the Book of
Mormon care about the Yucatan?
The
Yucatán is also a great introduction to traveling in
Mesoamerica because of the safety and ease of traveling around there.
That is why it is such a popular tourist destination. There are also
intriguing bits of history to consider. One that is of interest these
days is the Book of Chilam Balam. Local variants of this collection
of writings and prophecies by the ‘Jaguar Priest’ were
kept in towns throughout the Yucatán Peninsula. Written early
during the Spanish conquest, they draw upon older hieroglyphic texts
which contain cyclical prophecies, each lasting a katun, a
period of years in the Maya calendar lasting almost 20 years. In the
early 1500s, the original prophet, or chilam, for whom the collection
is named, lived in Maní and predicted the coming of bearded
men from the east bringing a new religion. It is believed that he had
in mind the return of Quetzalcoatl and his white-robed priests,3
but ironically, the Spanish arrived right on schedule, bringing
Catholicism. His words seemed to foretell the event: “A new day
shall dawn in the north, in the west ... . Our lord comes, Itzá.
Our elder brother comes, ... . Receive your guests, the bearded men,
the men of the east, the bearers of the sign of God, lord. Good
indeed is the word of God that comes to us. The day of our
regeneration comes ... . The First Tree of the World is restored; it
is displayed to the world. This is the sign of Hunab-ku (the true and
living God) on high. Worship it, Itzá ... . They will correct
their ways who receive him in their hearts ... .”4
But
what is not often remembered is what the Chilam Balam said of these
newcomers: “Behold, when they come, there is no truth in the
words of the foreigners to the land.” He ends his prophecy by
asking, “Who will be the prophet, who will be the priest who
shall interpret truly the word of the book?”5
Who,
indeed?
My
guard was up, though, since intriguing passages of this nature of are
often misquoted, taken out of context, or sometimes completely
mangled as internet rumors become promoted to faith-promoting
stories. But as with so much in this book, the authors have done
their homework and have shown care and caution in what they present.
The citation has been accurately made from The
Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel.
You can read about this Mayan book in the Wikipedia article at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilam_Balam
by Ralph L. Roys. You can download
the book for free at ForgottenBooks.org
and verify the citations from pages 116 and 117.
The
book takes you step-by-step through a trip into the Yucatan. The
sites covered are Ek Balam, Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Loltun Cave, Kabah,
Xpujil, Calakmul, Becan, and Coba. There is also an appendix
that discusses the Mayan site of Cancuén
(not to be confused with the resort of Cancún). For each site,
the primary text discusses the history and significance of the site,
accompanied with some great photography, while sidebars provide
information on how they traveled there and on some specific Book of
Mormon topics such as horses, metals, elephants, fortifications,
warfare, the honeybee, Quetzalcoatl, and gold plates. Gold plates?
Yes, the section on metals has some interesting material not widely
known to Latter-day Saints. Here is an excerpt from page 49:
Notwithstanding
the popular belief that the Maya did not have metal, most museums
will have a small display of copper and bronze objects in their
Mesoamerican section. We were fortunate enough to have been granted a
research visit at the Peabody Museum at Harvard in April of 2007.
During this visit, we saw and handled blades and knives of various
sizes and configurations from their collections in storage. Some are
rough and green with age, but some are still smooth and without
copper’s green corrosion, indicative of an alloy like bronze.
We also saw large copper spearheads, something we had not known of
before and did not expect. Surprisingly, included in this collection
are some iron blades and implements, which we saw as well. They are
pre-Columbian and were found in mounds in Costa Rica. See the chapter
on Kabah for more information.
Those
who still assert that the Maya had no metal implements must not have
visited many museums or read Landa’s description of metal
blades and tools. While they did primarily use stone and obsidian as
cutting blades, it is certain that they had weapons and tools of
metal as well. Just how common these were will probably remain
unanswered, as the damp climate of Mesoamerica is not conducive to
the preservation of metals.
Later
some highly interesting material is presented under the header,
“Plates of Gold?” They discuss the dredging of an ancient
Mayan cenote (water hole) by Edward Thompson, who roughly a century
ago found numerous artifacts that he shipped to the Peabody Museum at
Harvard, unbeknownst to Mexican authorities.
Because
of Thompson’s work, the Peabody Museum has perhaps the best
collection of Mesoamerican artifacts outside of the region. However,
because of space and financial issues, most of these objects are not
on display, but rather archived in the museum’s immense storage
facilities. Thompson found carved jade, wooden objects, tools, gold
ornaments, copper axes, other obscure metal items, and of course,
human remains. Many people know about some of these artifacts, but
very few know about the gold plates and sheets he found. Many of them
are decorated with images of warfare and sacrifice, showing bearded
Toltecs. Some have Mayan hieroglyphics carved around the edges. The
gold came from as far away as Panama, and it is possible that it was
brought to Chichén as blank plates to be engraved by the local
Maya. They date to the ninth century AD.
These
gold plates are quite remarkable. The detail is astounding, with
precise and tiny designs. After inspecting them up close, it is our
opinion that very precise and delicate metal tools would be necessary
to do such work. The gold itself is very thin, but quite strong and
stiff. Most had been crumpled up into balls, either on purpose or by
the action of centuries of mud and water, so they have been carefully
opened and flattened out as much as possible. Scholars refer to them
as disks and believe they are pictured worn or carried by the Toltecs
on the murals of the Temple of the Jaguar. For them, they were
important symbols of authority and represented portals into the next
world and a means of obtaining revelation and prophecy.
Other gold objects we saw at the museum are small, rectangular
sheets, some flat and some curved. Most of these are plain, but some
have designs carved into them….
Are
these plates directly linked to the Book of Mormon? Obviously not,
but they do show that such technology and skills existed by around
400 years after the end of the record. Needless to say, the existence
of such artifacts was not even imagined in Joseph Smith’s time.
Now, as then, people scoff at the idea of writings on plates of gold
in ancient America. However, we suspect that if more people knew of
what has been kept in the Peabody for almost a century, the laughter
would be less loud.
Provocative
as these aforementioned metal items are, it is obvious that they are
not old enough to be directly related to Book of Mormon events. We
must admit that metallurgy does not appear to have been an integral
part of the Maya culture until late in their history, and then,
perhaps only to a limited extent. The Yucatán Peninsula does
not even have the necessary ores for metalworking, so these weapons,
tools, and ceremonial items had to be brought in from other lands,
probably through trade. (pages 51-53)
The
authors not only provide photos of some of these finds, but identify
the item numbers at the Peabody Museum and give a URL for the museum.
The most interesting gold plate is item number 10-71-20/C10049. At
the Peabody Museum Collections Online site at
http://pmem.unix.fas.harvard.edu:8080/peabody/,
simply enter the item number in the search box and you will be
presented with the following photo of a pre-Columbian gold plate from
Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula, with a small amount of
additional information:
This
delicate gold plate contains Mayan glyphs and, though dated too late
to directly fit into Book of Mormon timelines, still should be of
some interest to Book of Mormon enthusiasts, especially in light of
increasingly antiquated objections made to the Book of Mormon based
on questions
involving metals and writing on gold plates.
The authors recognize the limitations of these finds and may even
error in understating the significance of the finds. But restraint
and caution is a virtue in these matters.
That
restraint weakens slightly in discussing the issue of horses in the
Book of Mormon, where the authors feel that multiple finds of
possible pre-Columbian horse remains in the Yucatan and elsewhere in
the Americans show that ancient horses in the Americas were not
completely extinct in at least early Book of Mormon times, resulting
in no need to consider the possibility of other species being meant
by the term “horse”:
The
hard evidence of pre-Columbian horses means that we should not be too
apologetic about their appearance in the Book of Mormon, nor do we
have to go to extraordinary lengths to explain them. There are still
some controversial elements in the scriptural record that we may
never be able to explain, but the existence of horses in Ancient
America is not one of them. The case is closed on that subject. When
Nephite record keepers wrote about horses, they apparently meant
horses just as we would understand them. (p. 78)
That
may be too strong a position, in my opinion. The multiple finds
recited can still be viewed as scant evidence that may leave room to
wonder about human error or other anomalies, and further finds or
analysis may be needed before the case is anywhere near “closed.”
The
“defense of the Book of Mormon” elements are only a
portion of the book, and those not interested in those issues may
still enjoy the bulk of the material just for better appreciating the
ancient Mayan world and the fascinating experiences of exploring the
Yucatan. For me, the mix of Book of Mormon insights, historical
insights, photography, and travel experiences made it a constantly
interesting and enjoyable book, and one that I intended to share with
others as a gift.
The
book leaves many questions unanswered, which I think is actually an
important lesson from this work. Many times the authors indicate how
little has actually been excavated at key sites, how little work is
now being done, and how little has been preserved from ancient times,
meaning that what we now know is rather incomplete and subject to
change. They also bring out several examples of established wisdom
from the past having been overthrown by new findings in recent years.
For those whose testimonies were weakened by pronouncements about the
ridiculousness of ancient writing on metal plates, the impossibility
of ancient horses in the Americas, or many other critiques of the
Book of Mormon based on the sorely limited knowledge of apparent
experts, this volume might also be helpful in several ways, if only
to open the door to further patience and more thorough study.
While
the documentation is excellent and the authors have done a great deal
of homework in addition physically inspecting the sites in this book,
they are not professional archeologists, anthropologists, or
linguists specializing in Mayan studies. There is some fascinating
material discussing Mayan glyphs and their meaning, as well as their
ability to express some Book of Mormon names, but one wonders what
qualifies the authors to delve into speculative possibilities with
the Mayan language. A discussion of Mayan glyphs and Book of Mormon
names in an appendix left me wondering if that material should have
been included and if it might be far too speculative or whether it
has any merit, something I cannot say since I know nothing about
Mayan or other Mesoamerican languages. The ability to express random
names with the phonetic units of Mayan is not necessarily meaningful
nor even a worthwhile exercise on its own.
One
of my frustrations about the book is that the authors are not really
introduced in the text and the reader is left wondering who these
three people are and why they are collaborating for this book. From
their blog (http://ldsguide.blogspot.com/),
it is clear that the lead author, Daniel, has made multiple trips to
Mesoamerica and has led many others to the region on tours. While it
is that kind of experience among the authors that adds so much flavor
and value to the book, it is not the same as the experience of
someone who has been doing the excavating and has years of
archaeological scholarship under their belt. That is not to take away
from what has been achieved here in this work, but to remind the
reader to approach it with reasonable expectations and the ability to
exercise the same kind of caution that the authors generally
exercise. If I were a Mesoamerican scholar, I might have numerous
issues to challenge and bones to pick (an easy assumption, since
studies in Mesoamerica seem to be characterized by a great deal of
controversy among the professionals), but given that I am not, it is
harder for me to identify gaps in the analysis and discussion from
the book. While there is further homework that I need to do, I can
still say that I greatly appreciate what these Mesoamerican
enthusiasts have provided for the rest of us. Indeed, both my wife
and I are much more interested in actually visiting the region now
and viewing some of the sites that the authors have brought to life.
I
congratulate the authors, Daniel Johnson, Jared Cooper, and
Derek Gasser, for an enjoyable and original contribution,
including some gems from Mesoamerica that have been overlooked
before. Kudos also to Cedar Fort for another outstanding volume that
should appeal to many Latter-day Saints and those interested in
better understanding LDS topics.
Jeff Lindsay has been defending the Church on the Internet since 1994, when he launched his
LDSFAQ website under JeffLindsay.com. He has also long been blogging about LDS matters on
the blog Mormanity (mormanity.blogspot.com). Jeff is a longtime resident of Appleton,
Wisconsin, who recently moved to Shanghai, China, with his wife, Kendra.
He works for an Asian corporation as head of intellectual property. Jeff and Kendra are the parents of 4 boys, 3 married and the the youngest on a mission.
He is a former innovation and IP consultant, a former professor, and former Corporate Patent
Strategist and Senior Research Fellow for a multinational corporation.
Jeff Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins and Mukund Karanjikar are authors of the book Conquering
Innovation Fatigue (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and is a registered US
patent agent. He has more than 100 granted US patents and is author of numerous publications.
Jeff's hobbies include photography, amateur magic, writing, and Mandarin Chinese.