Book of Mormon/Geography/New World/Great Lakes geography/Mound Builders

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Criticism

Critics claim that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon to explain local legends associated with the "Moundbuilders" of the Eastern United States.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), Chapter 3. ( Index of claims )
• Robert Silverberg, The Mound Builders (Ohio University Press, 1986), 68-73.
• Stephen Williams, Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991)

Response

Background

The presence of numerous burial mounds in the eastern United States was the source of great speculation to those that settled there. The construction of such mounds was not considered to be within the ability of the Native Americans, who were considered to be savages. It was assumed that such sophisticated constructions constituted evidence of a long lost, highly civilized society which had long since vanished. Some even postulated the existence of separate civilized and a savage societies, with the highly civilized group eventually being destroyed by the savage one. After years of research, however, it was concluded that the mounds had indeed been constructed by the ancestors of the Indians that continued to live in the area.

The Book of Mormon and the Mound Builders

When the Book of Mormon appeared, it was a natural assumption by many that the book was the story of the mysterious "Mound Builders." Joseph Smith himself initially believed that the presence of the mounds supported the story related in the Book of Mormon. In fact, as Zion's Camp passed through southern Illinois, Heber C. Kimball and several other participants claimed that Joseph identified a set of bones discovered in one of these mounds as "Zelph", a "white Lamanite." In a letter that Joseph wrote to Emma the day after this discovery, he stated:

The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity, and gazing upon a country the fertility, the splendour and the goodness so indescribable, all serves to pass away time unnoticed.^[1]

Joseph Smith's belief regarding Book of Mormon lands

At this point in time, Joseph clearly believed the region of the mounds to be part of Book of Mormon lands. The Book of Mormon itself, however, makes no mention of mounds.

In 1841, the Times and Seasons, of which Joseph was the editor at the time, commented on a popular book by John Lloyd Stephens called Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan. This book described amazing ruined cities that had been found in Central America. The Times and Seasons article stated:

It would not be a bad plan to compare Mr. Stephens' ruined cities with those in the Book of Mormon: Light cleaves to light and facts are supported by facts. The truth injures no one...." ^[2]

Joseph Smith himself, as editor of the Times and Seasons wrote and signed the following on July 15, 1842. Notice that he mentions both the mounds and his statement that the ruins in Guatemala support the Book of Mormon:

If men, in their researches into the history of this country, in noticing the mounds, fortifications, statues, architecture, implements of war, of husbandry, and ornaments of silver, brass, &c.-were to examine the Book of Mormon, their conjectures would be removed, and their opinions altered; uncertainty and doubt would be changed into certainty and facts; and they would find that those things that they are anxiously prying into were matters of history, unfolded in that book. They would find their conjectures were more than realized-that a great and a mighty people had inhabited this continent-that the arts sciences and religion, had prevailed to a very great extent, and that there was as great and mighty cities on this continent as on the continent of Asia. Babylon, Ninevah, nor any of the ruins of the Levant could boast of more perfect sculpture, better architectural designs, and more imperishable ruins, than what are found on this continent. Stephens and Catherwood's researches in Central America abundantly testify of this thing. The stupendous ruins, the elegant sculpture, and the magnificence of the ruins of Guatamala [Guatemala], and other cities, corroborate this statement, and show that a great and mighty people-men of great minds, clear intellect, bright genius, and comprehensive designs inhabited this continent. Their ruins speak of their greatness; the Book of Mormen [Mormon} unfolds their history.-ED. ^[3] (emphasis added)

Advanced ancestors of the American Indians?

One thing that critics do not consider is that if someone of that era were to attempt to write a book about a history of the North American Indians, he or she would not have written about advanced civilizations with advanced technology. The mysterious "Mound Builders" were not considered to be the ancestors of the current "savage" race that were inhabiting the land at that time.

Witnesses of the Book of Mormon though that there were going to be problems after the publication of the Book of Mormon.In a interview, David Whitmer said:

When we [the Witnesses] were first told to publish our statement, we felt sure that the people would not believe it, for the Book told of a people who were refined and dwelt in large cities; but the Lord told us that He would make it known to the people, and people should discover evidence of the truth of what is written in the Book.^[4]

Conclusion

This claim actually strengthens the theories and evidences of the Book of Mormon set in Mesoamerica because critics that make this argument would in no way be able to say that Joseph Smith somehow research about Mesoamerica.

Endnotes

1. [note] Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1984), p. 324.
2. [note] Times and Seasons Vol 3, No. 23, p. 927
3. [note] Interview with James H. Hart, Richmond, Mo., Aug. 21, 1883, as recorded in Hart's notebook, reprinted in Lyndon W. Cook, David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness (Orem, Utah: Grandin Book, 1991), p. 76.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

• Zelph

FAIR web site

1. FairMormon Topical Guide: Zelph FairMormon link
   
2. FairMormon Topical Guide: Archaeology and the Book of Mormon FairMormon link
   

External links

• Diane E. Wirth, "Review of Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory by Stephen Williams," FARMS Review of Books 4/1 (1992): 251–253. off-site
• John L. Sorenson, "Review of Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory by Stephen Williams," FARMS Review of Books 4/1 (1992): 254–257. off-site

Printed material

• David A. Palmer, In Search of Cumorah (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon, 1981),82 ISBN 0882907832