The Book of Mormon as an Authentic Ancient Codex from Mesoamerica: Initial Comments on John Sorenson's Mormon's Codex
by Jeff Lindsay
An
interesting development in Book of Mormon studies has been the recent
publication of Dr. John L. Sorenson's monumental work, Mormon's
Codex (Provo: Neal A. Maxwell Institute, 2013), which represents
a lifetime of investigation by this emeritus professor of
anthropology at BYU. I will have more to say about it in the near
future, but here's an initial review.
Sorenson's
work will be viewed by many as an attempt to prove and defend the
Book of Mormon using numerous random parallels and weak threads. This
view fails to grasp the value of exploring many dimensions of a
physical and cultural setting when trying to evaluate a fragmentary
record from an allegedly ancient source.
Sorenson's
work does directly support Book of Mormon plausibility, but it also
helps us to better understand the Book of Mormon and its peoples.
It
helps us understand the region they lived and the many dramatic as
well as subtle influences on their lives from the climate, the
landscape, the surrounding peoples, the cultural setting, the plants
and animals, the horticulture, the religions and languages, the
patterns of war, infrastructure and social economy, political
practices, and so on.
Sorenson
explores these in terms of what we scholars have learned about
Mesoamerica and what we can draw from the Book of Mormon text, and
then examines the correspondences and implications.
The
result is increased granularity and plausibility for the Book of
Mormon record, and more informed questions for the future and new
hypotheses to test. Along the way, some former objections to the Book
of Mormon are soundly shelved.
Those
wanting a quick and easy tool to defend the Book of Mormon will be
disappointed, at least initially, for Sorenson takes more than a
hundred pages just laying some foundation regarding ancient
Mesoamerica as well as the Book of Mormon, without providing any
jaw-dropping arguments to win over converts.
What
he does, though, is provide new ways of looking at the text, informed
by the skills of a professional anthropologist. During the 800 pages
of the text, he provides extensive evidence that the Book of Mormon
fits numerous aspects of ancient Mesoamerica, ranging from issues of
language, political society, practices of trade and war, the impact
of natural disasters, and so forth.
Some
of the most interesting New World evidences known to date for the
authenticity of the Book of Mormon can be found in this tome (see
also my Book
of Mormon Evidences
pages for further information).
Why
the Setting Matters
One
quickly learns from Sorenson how much physical geography affects a
society. The physical location of a place determines climate,
available raw materials, opportunities for agriculture and other
economic activities, and practical modes of transportation. It
shapes political boundaries and influences strategies and tactics for
warfare.
Geographical
barriers and isolating features like the terrain of the central
depression of Chiapas can allow a region to experience reduced
influence from other cultures in the area and develop its own ways
more easily. These factors play major roles in the story of a people,
even if those details are briefly mentioned or merely implied.
Mormons
limit their ability to fully grasp the Book of Mormon when they
dismiss its geographical setting as something unimportant. True, the
Church has no official position on geography, and it is certainly
secondary to the teachings about Christ, but the authors felt
physical details were important enough to riddle their text with
references to them.
It's
a gritty text, linked to physical details, not just theoretical
platitudes and lofty doctrine.
Book
of Mormon authors bothered to cite specific hills, valleys, rivers,
cities, and lands with names and real physical locations carefully
and accurately woven into the story. There are temples, thrones,
prisons, fortifications, markets, and social structures to match:
priests, kings, lawyers and judges, soldiers, and merchants.
In
some cases, these details matter a great deal and are part of the
message for our day.
Such
things are not the trappings of Native American life Joseph Smith
could have gleaned from his upstate New York environment, but they
are elements of authentic Mesoamerican culture in the only place that
offers hope of plausibly locating the places built into the text of
the Book of Mormon.
They
matter not just for validating or defending the text, but for better
understanding what happened, to whom, and why, sometimes with added
understanding in drawing lessons for our day and our lives.
Aligning
Details
The
reasons why Mesoamerica is clearly the most reasonable setting have
been discussed elsewhere and are again touched upon in Mormon's
Codex: the requirement for an ancient tradition of written
language, the existence of many elements of civilization found in the
Book of Mormon (armies, kings, temples, taxation, and complex social
structures), the narrow neck of land, and many other details with
major implications such as the apparent volcanism and seismic
activity described in the text.
These
broad issues force us to consider Mesoamerica as the most reasonable
candidate for the setting of the Book of Mormon, but if so, can the
details of the text correspond in any degree with the details of
Mesoamerica? This is the issue tackled by Mormon's Codex.
Literally
hundreds of "correspondences" between Mesoamerica and the
Book of Mormon are identified that create a powerful case that the
Book of Mormon really does have its origins in Mesoamerica, so much
so that scholars would be wise to reconsider the Book of Mormon as
the most extensive surviving document from the ancient New World, a
precious ancient codex that can teach us much outside of its
spiritual message.
One
can accuse Sorenson of "parallelomania," straining to find
parallels that really aren't significant. Parallelomania is often
seen in attempts to find plagiarism in the Book of Mormon.
Sometimes
seemingly impressive parallels can be piled up that, upon closer
inspection, are contrived and can be simply due to chance or
situations that naturally involve common phenomena.
For
example, in a written description of war in texts from Joseph Smith's
day, one should not be surprised to find descriptions of battles,
prisoners taken, casualties suffered, defenses built, weapons stored,
and so forth. These are common to war.
It
is in the uncommon details where we can see elements that may be
meaningful parallels. Chance can always account for some intriguing
finds, so we must be careful not to make too much of any one factor.
What
makes Sorenson's work so interesting is the abundance of intricate
correspondences coupled with insights from the proposed physical
setting that repeatedly enhance our understanding of the text.
I
was continually intrigued with the way Sorensen extracts and examines
numerous social and physical details from the text of the Book of
Mormon and from modern knowledge regarding Mesoamerica.
His
analysis based on his proposed setting helps to fill in missing
details in the Book of Mormon, adding to our understanding of Book of
Mormon peoples while also challenging lazy assumptions and
stereotypes we sometimes import into the text.
A
Mix of Broad and Narrow Details
The
relationship between the Olmecs and later Mesoamerican peoples is one
of the broad issues that fit the Book of Mormon remarkably well, with
the rise and fall of the Jaredites and the subsequent remnants of
Jaredite culture found in the Book of Mormon corresponding well in
numerous ways with Mesoamerica.
It's
an area that challenges unwarranted assumptions we have long made
about the destruction of the Jaredites.
A
more informed approach must recognize, however, that in the midst of
the civil war and chaos that ended the Jaredites in the Book of
Mormon, that many people would have fled and survived.
Since
the Book of Mormon itself provides abundant internal evidences of an
ongoing Jaredite tradition, with Jaredite names like Corihor/Korihor
(Ether 7, 13, & 14 and Alma 30) and Nehor (Ether 7:9 and Alma 1)
cropping up among the Nephites, generally associated with dissenters
who had not fully bought into Nephite traditions.
The
remnants of Jaredite society among Nephites and Lamanites fit in well
with the ways Olmec culture continued to influence Mesoamerica after
their fall.
The
rise and fall of the Olmecs has many parallels that can relate to the
record we have of the Jaredites, and the rise of Mesoamerican
cultures after the Jaredites can also accommodate the information we
have regarding the Nephites and Lamanites, with numerous parallels
that we can extract from the limited information we have today.
Even
the final destruction of the Nephites in the widespread warfare (ca.
A.D. 350) toward the end of the Nephite record coincides remarkably
well with the Early Classic depopulation in the Central Depression of
Chiapas that Sorensen documents in Chapter 25.
What
I found especially in Mormon's Codex were the specific details
of individual sites fit with the Book of Mormon.
For
example, Sorenson proposes a Mesoamerican archaeological site known
as Santa Rosa as the city of Zarahemla. The archaeology of that
region can accommodate the text effectively.
Santa
Rosa was a small chiefdom in the 3rd Century B.C. with evidence
of Olmec influence in its past, similar to what we might expect if it
had been occupied by the Mulekites that had taken on the Olmec
influence of their region when they arrived.
From
75 B.C. to 50 A.D., Santa Rosa saw a huge burst of activity, reaching
its peak of socioeconomic activity at the time Zarahemla was
experiencing its peak under the reign of judges. "Like the
Central Depression [of Chiapas] as a whole, Santa Rosa was abandoned
from about A.D. 350, very near to when the Nephites at last fled from
the land of Zarahemla" (p. 586).
Analysis
of the terrain around Santa Rosa helps shed light on troop movements
and crop destruction from battles near Zarahemla, and helps to
readily explain how travelers sent from the City of Nephi seeking for
Zarahemla could have missed it and wandered into the land northward
instead (see pp. 581-594).
The
two key centers of cultural development in southern Mesoamerica in
the Central Depression of Chiapas and in the Valley of Guatemala in
the first century B.C. correspond well with the land of Zarahemla
(Nephites) and the land of Nephi (Lamanites) in the Book of Mormon
(see p. 602-604), with detailed correspondences on many fronts.
In
the field of warfare, for example, the correspondences are especially
interesting since just a few decades ago, there was a huge gap
between expert opinion about Mesoamerica and the record of warfare in
the Book of Mormon.
The
Mayans were viewed as having been peaceful for many centuries, quite
unlike the constant warfare in the Book of Mormon text. But recent
scholarship has completely reversed that view, showing that
Mesoamerica was a scene of armed conflict from Olmec times and
beyond, consistent with the Book of Mormon record (p. 606-7).
Understanding
Mesoamerican warfare helps us recognize, for example, that Onidah,
the "place of arms" mentioned in Alma 47:5 where rebellious
Lamanite soldiers fled, was likely an obsidian outcropping used to
produce the dominant weapons in the area, near the Lamanite heartland
in the land of Nephi.
Remarkably,
we now know that for the people of Chiapas, the vital mineral
obsidian mostly came from El Chayal, a big volcanic outcrop near
Guatemala City, the prime candidate for the city of Lehi-Nephi (which
became a Lamanite capital after it was abandoned by the Zeniffites;
see Alma 22:1), where the archaeological site known as Kaminaljuyu is
largely covered by the modern city.
El
Chayal qualifies well as Onidah in the Book of Mormon (p. 608).
Further, lines of confrontation between Mayan groups and
Mixe-Zoqueans in the region, as identified by modern scholars, also
may correspond with Nephite and Lamanite boundaries in the Book of
Mormon (p. 609).
Many
other specific locations are discussed in depth. The results to me
were somewhat overwhelming, usually interesting, and occasionally
quite surprising. Dr. Sorenson has put a great deal of thought into
his proposals, and while some sections are speculative and one of
several possibilities, some of his proposals are difficult to
dismiss.
Society
Sorenson
explores numerous social issues, including the role of secret
societies in Mesoamerica. He finds parallels with merchant guilds
among the Aztecs and others in Mesoamerica. There were also predatory
secrecy-based groups in other forms (e.g., the nahualistas)
that could correspond with Book of Mormon descriptions. (See pp.
274-277.)
Natural
Disasters
One
of the most impressive series of correspondences is the large number
of natural disasters that struck parts of Mesoamerica around 50 A.D.,
including volcanic activity and associated fires that can be seen in
geological and archaeological records.
These
disasters may account for some of the dramatic changes in Mesoamerica
at that time, including large shifts in population and also major
shifts in economics and religion.
The
changes included an abandonment of many long-standing cultic
practices, offering an abundance of correspondences with the record
at the climax of the Book of Mormon beginning around 3 Nephi 8 and
beyond, when there was great destruction followed by the visit of the
Resurrected Messiah, ushering in widespread changes that persisted
for many decades before the region fell into widespread apostasy and
warfare again, culminating in the destruction of Nephite society.
Arch
Support for the Book of Mormon?
As
an example of the many fields of knowledge touched upon in Mormon's
Codex, Sorenson also considers evidence related to architecture.
In Chapter 16, he states:
Friar
Torquemada observed, “It is also worth noting the division of
this [Aztec] temple; because we find that it has an interior room,
like that of Solomon, in Jerusalem, in which the room was not entered
by anyone but the priests.”
Moreover,
the floor plans of various Mexican temples are shown with “two
[nonstructural] pillars at the entrance, at Tenayuca, Malinalco,
Tepoztlan, Tetitla, Palenque, Yaxchilan, [and] Piedras Negras,”
and in Late Pre-Classic Oaxaca.
Since
the temple in the city of Nephi was specifically patterned after the
first Israelite temple (2 Nephi 5:16), it would have incorporated the
two-pillar feature discussed by, for example, Meyers. It could have
in turn modeled the feature for subsequent Mesoamerican temples.
Another
architectural feature of note might or might not have been
incorporated in temples: the true arch. For years it was assumed that
Mesoamericans lacked knowledge of the true (keystone) arch.
Over
the years, reported finds have demonstrated the contrary, but only
very recently has a comprehensive survey of those cases definitely
shown that the principle was widely known, though little used.
Hohmann
now states unequivocally that “the principle of the true arch
was already known amongst the Maya in the preclassic period.”
He adds that the principle was also used at Monte Albán by
around ad 600 and still later at Chichen Itza. The arch was, of
course, widely known in some Old World centers much earlier.
If
the concept was not imported by transoceanic migrants, we would have
to accept the somewhat questionable idea that it was invented
independently on opposite sides of the earth.
In
light of the extensive evidence of cross-oceanic voyaging presented
in chapter 9, it is more plausible that knowledge of this
architectural feature was imported to Mesoamerica, whether by a group
reported in the Book of Mormon or by others.
The
arch principle may or may not have been used in Nephite sacred
buildings in this hemisphere (it was not used in Solomon’s
temple), but the probability that the keystone arch came to
Mesoamerica from the Old World supports the Nephite record’s
historical assertion about the Near Eastern origin of the founders of
its tradition. (p. 327)
These
architectural details are issues I had not previously considered.
While the Book of Mormon does not require true arches in the
Americas, the presence of the arch is relevant to the debate over Old
World influences in the Americas, and especially in Mesoamerican
civilizations.
Transoceanic
Diffusion: Plants, Animals, Disease, Cultural Practices,
Architecture, and More
One
of Sorenson's strengths is his vast body of knowledge regarding
evidences for ancient contact between the New and Old Words.
Primarily
in Chapter 9, "Transoceanic Voyages," and also in Chapter
12, "Human Biology," he provides conclusive evidence that
there were episodes of transoceanic contact between the Old and New
World before Columbus, consistent with general Book of Mormon claims.
He delves into several topics with rich examples and references,
especially for plants and diseases.
One
of the most interesting discussions, in my opinion, involves the
hookworm (pp. 159-160). The hookworm points to ancient human
contact via oceanic crossing, not wandering along the Bering Strait,
because the life cycle of the parasite requires warm soil.
A
people moving through the Bering Straight would become hookworm free
by the time they reached the Americas. The pre-Columbian presence of
this southeast Asian parasite in a Peruvian mummy dating to A.D. 900
and in much older Brazilian remains (ca. 5000 BC) seems to require
one or more ancient transoceanic voyages by human hosts from the Old
World to the Americas.
This
is one of an abundance of evidences Sorenson provides for ancient
transoceanic contact between the Old and New Worlds. It is not
central to his thesis relating to the Book of Mormon, but is
supporting evidence for the plausibility of the kind of migrations
described by the Book of Mormon.
Future
Work
Sorenson
repeatedly explains how little is known about many key regions and
specific sites, many of which have not had extensive digs. Some, of
course, cannot be explored adequately because they may be covered by
modern cities or, in some cases, by lava flows.
Others
are in difficult terrain, often coupled with political and security
risks, making exploration difficult and dangerous. But we hope much
further exploration will take place.
Sorenson
offers many hints about regions in need of more research, and even
offers what may be taken as tentative predictions of some things to
look for.
For
example, Laguna Mecoacan is identified as a good candidate for the
City of Moroni (Alma 50:13) which would sink into "the depths of
sea" (3 Nephi 9:4), possibly into the lagoon. This would be an
intriguing find, though the city was probably small, having been
built primarily for defensive purposes in a war. But finding a sunken
city there dating to around 50 A.D. would be interesting.
A
more important place to investigate might be the candidate Sorenson
offers for the Nephite city of Bountiful. He feels it should be at
the mouth of the Tonala River, about six miles downstream from La
Venta.
The
modern community of Tonala is built over a large archaeological site
overlooking the mouth of the river. There is a large pyramid there,
and it is in its debris where the town's cemetery is located.
Sorenson
states that as far as he known no trained archaeologist has even
visited the region, much less conducted detailed investigation. If
future work there shows that it was inhabited during the Late
Pre-Classic era, corresponding with the Book of Mormon description,
this could be another interesting correspondence.
Much
remains to be understood and future exploration and research is
sorely needed. But what we do know does provide an abundance of
evidences and insights that can be of great value to students of the
Book of Mormon. I highly recommend this complex and, yes, heavy
volume.
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.