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It is claimed that the description of the Liahona as a "compass" is anachronistic because the magnetic compass was not known in 600 B.C.
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tagBelieving it was called a compass because it pointed the direction for Lehi to travel is a natural interpretation by the modern reader.
In every case, it is clear that, at least in Jacobean England, the word was regularly treated as meaning either a round object, or something which moved in a curved fashion.
Further evidence of the archaic meaning of the word comes from a study of the rather lengthy listing for the word in the Oxford English Dictionary. It includes definition 5.b.:
If critics insist on reading this as a "mariner's compass," even this may not be as anachronistic as they have assumed.
Naturally-occurring magnetic ore was being mined by the 7th century B.C., and its magnetic properties were first discussed by the early philosopher Thales of Miletos around 600 B.C.[2]
Non-LDS astronomer John Carlson reported finding a Olmec hematite artifact in Mesoamerica, which was radio-dated to 1600 to 1000 B.C. If Carlson is right, this usage "predates the Chinese discovery of the geomagnetic lodestone compass by more than a millennium."[3] Other researchers have suggested the metal is simply part of an ornament,[4] though Mesoamericanist Michael Coe has suggested the use of such ores as floating compasses.[5] Such examples demonstrate how a single find can radically alter what archaeology tells us is "impossible" with regard to the Book of Mormon text.
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