Daniel's 'misleading' presentation

Daniel's online presentation from the last BMAF conference has been getting a lot of attention, not all of it positive. There are many theories about where Book of Mormon events took place. Mesoamerica is the location eventually chosen after years of study by most LDS archaeologists and scholars on the subject, but not everyone agrees. Recently, we were forwarded a newsletter from the Nephi Project, a group that has picked Peru as the site of Book of Mormon lands. In a feature article entitled "Metals in Mesoamerica: a Misleading Book of Mormon Defense," George Potter took Daniel to task for faulty scholarship and unwarranted conclusions based on an open letter the BMAF sent out, in which Daniel further clarified some of the salient points from his presentation. Apparently, after ten years of writing articles for the Nephi Project, only Daniel's presentation was so misleading that George needed to set the record straight and respond to it in an open letter published on his site and e-mailed to subscribers. Click here to read his article on the Nephi Project website. The link is at the bottom of their page. 

What follows in san-serif type is a summary of that article.

At first the metal artifacts shown in Johnson's slides from Mesoamerica might seem impressive; however, the slides fail to explain that these artifacts are, without exception, from civilizations that existed long after the plates of the Book of Mormon were buried by Moroni. The only hint that the artifacts are not associated with Book of Mormon people is Slide #31 which notes: "Stela H at Copán, site of the earliest gold artifacts in Mesoamerica, dating to 730 AD."

Suggesting that the metal articles that have been discovered in Mesoamerica-all of which date to post-Book-of-Mormon times-are evidence for the Book of Mormon is nonsense. The Book of Mormon clearly states that the Jaredite and Nephite civilizations had advanced metallurgical technologies (Ether 10:23; Hel. 6:9… Further, archaeologists now believe that Central Americans did not discover how to work metals but that the technology was introduced to them from Peru long after the Book of Mormon period

Apparently I was not the only reader who understood the fallacy of Johnson's presentation. The Book of Mormon Archaeology Foundation's follow-up newsletter BMAF: 66 (Metals and Gold Plates in Mesoamerica controversy) notes that:
 

"We have received feedback that some have used Brother Johnson's material to bolster their Book of Mormon proposals in Panama and Peru."
 

In response, the foundation published an "open letter" from Johnson in which he wishes "to clarify the points I [he] was trying to make with my [his] presentation at the BMAF conference last year."
 

So misleading were Johnson's clarifications that I found myself compelled to respond to his open letter. Daniel's open-letter clarifications are in black font. 
 

DJ- Mesoamerica (specifically the Guatemalan highlands) contains all the necessary ores for the metals mentioned in the Book of Mormon.   
 

GP- Yes, however currently there is no evidence that anyone in Mesoamerica was smelting gold before the 8th century A.D. To imply that 8th-century smelting had something to do with the Book of Mormon Jaredites and Nephites-who both wrote on gold plates-is a historical misrepresentation akin to saying that the Romans invented the airplane or silicon chip.
 

DJ- Metals were apparently mainly used by the Nephites (as opposed to the Lamanites) and may not have been used as much or as late as we have supposed. The main component of Nephite armor appears to have been thick clothing. This agrees with the archaeological record and Spanish accounts of the Mesoamerican conquest.
 

GP- The notion that the later Nephites did not work metals is a personal supposition that is not supported by the text of the Book of Mormon. The latter part of his clarification is simply inconsistent with the description of Nephite armor and weapons. Only on one occasion does the Book of Mormon describe the Nephite armor being made of cloth, which is a better description of Inca armor than the linen armor of the Aztecs. The Incas' thick cloth armor was adopted by the Spanish.
 

DJ- The last mention of Nephite steel is in 400 B.C., and the last mention of iron is in 150 B.C. These metals are never mentioned among or used by the Lamanites. Incidentally, biblical Hebrew does not distinguish between iron and steel. All the Hebrew words in the Bible refer to pure metals, not to their alloys.
 

GP- There have been hundreds of Book of Mormon period Mayan excavations, yet none of them have provided evidence of iron, copper, silver or gold usage in Central America! On the other hand, the only known mining of iron in the Americas during Book of Mormon times has been discovered in Nazca, Peru.
 

DJ- Book of Mormon weapons for most of the record can all be deadly effective without being made of metal, including weapons the Spanish called 'swords.' There are numerous eyewitness accounts of this.
 

GP- Johnson seems to suggest that the metal weapons described in the Book of Mormon were not actually metal! More than support for the Book of Mormon, this seems to be more of an excuse for why no evidence of Book of Mormon period metal weapons has been excavated north of Panama.
 

DJ- My main suggestion is that any Nephite metal item can be traced directly back to Nephi and was not shared with other groups. The use of metal tools and items may have been discarded as Nephites moved away from their sources of ore and adapted to more indigenous ways. The only metal items we absolutely know of at the end of Nephite history are the plates and other unique items in Moroni's possession.
 

GP- Alma wrote in circa 90 B.C. "And now, because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceedingly rich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need-an abundance of flocks and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and precious things, and abundance of silk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely cloth" (Alma 1:29). …It should also be noted, that since the Book of Mormon defined the Nephite weapons as being made of metal, it would seem practical that in later periods the authors would not have had to use the precious space on the gold plates to repeatedly tell the reader that they were "still made of iron." It would be more logical that if the Nephites had changed to "wooden" weapons, a later author would note this fact.
 

p.s. Mormon (3 Ne. 5:10-11) and Moroni (Mormon 2:18; 8:1) wrote on plates. If the Nephites moved away from their source of metal, where did the last Nephite prophets obtain the metal for their plates.

DJ- The practice of writing on metal plates appears to be mainly an Old World practice, one that Nephi brought with him and passed on to specific record keepers. That said, the main feature of my presentation was Mayan gold plates from the cenote at Chichen Itza that had hieroglyphic writing on them. As far as I know, there is no other artifact of this kind from the Americas that is not extremely controversial (at the very least).
 

GP- The Mayan gold plate is interesting; however, it is of no relevance to the Book of Mormon since it is from a later era and is in a language not related to Hebrew or Egyptian.
 

DJ- While there are no serious claims linking Olmec, Epi-Olmec, or Mayan glyphs to Hebrew or Reformed Egyptian, Mesoamerica is the only ancient American setting that has extensive written languages. I am not aware of any written language (other than the quipu, which is not really writing) from the Andean region.
 

GP- When the Spanish arrived in Peru, they were told by the Incas that their ancestors had once had a written language like the Spanish, but that it was lost. This is consistent with Jacob's prophecy (Jacob 4:1-4).

It is obvious that George Potter and the Nephi Project have picked their area and look for supporting evidence there; he is merely propping up his own theory. Rod Meldrum and Wayne May have picked North America and look for evidence there, such as it is. LDS scholars and archaeologists, however, have picked Mesoamerica, believing that the weight of evidence leads there. Maybe this isn't the place; all models, including the Andean region, have their strengths and weaknesses, some more than others. Peru has some similarities with the Book of Mormon in terms of metallurgy and animals, but it fails in terms of geography. Daniel merely presented his opinions and gave supporting evidence. Unless disagreeing with George is inherently misleading, Daniel didn't do anything of the kind. Many scholars including Richard Bushman, Richard Hauck, and Diane Wirth have said positive things about his presentation, stressing its accurate information. Even esteemed LDS archaeologist John Sorenson, who was not too impressed with our book, wrote to Daniel, "What you have written on metal and plates in relation to the Book of Mormon indeed contains information of value. I am glad whenever correct and valid information is drawn to the attention of the Latter-day Saints. I encourage you to continue your related studies."

Instead of an open letter, Daniel wrote to George to address these issues directly. That letter has been adapted into the final response below.
 
Click here to read the text of the original open letter sent out by the BMAF.
Click here to download George Potter's full article.
Click here to read Daniel's response to it.

Responses to Daniel's online presentation

We have been receiving some interesting response to Daniel's online presentation on metals and gold plates he gave at last year's BMAF conference. Richard Hauck, an LDS archaeologist who has presented at BMAF conferences and written about Book of Mormon geography, wrote Daniel to get some more information about the mineralogical maps he used to locate sites of ore in the Guatemalan Highlands. Dr. Hauck has been actively excavating ancient sites in Guatemala and is currently working at sites in the Salamá Valley, which he believes is a better candidate for the Land of Nephi than the currently-accepted location of Kaminaljuyú. Click here to read about Dr. Hauck and his work.

Daniel was also contacted by others who were interested in some of the slides from his presentation. Pat Simiskey and Doug Kiester asked questions and also shared information suggesting that they placed Book of Mormon events farther south in Central America, around modern-day Panama. You can look at maps based on this theory at a site they sent called Where was Mormon? It's a new take on the events and locations described in the scripture. Currently, we side with the BMAF in placing these areas in Mesoamerica, but we are always open to new ideas that have some good scholarship behind them. What do you think?

They also mentioned the idea that the stick of Joseph as referred to in Ezekiel chapter 37 is not specifically the Book of Mormon. Most members familiar with that verse have historically interpreted the stick of Judah to be the Bible and the stick of Joseph to be the Book of Mormon. Pat's claim is that this is no longer an official interpretation of the Church. Since the Old Testament was last year's topic in Gospel Doctrine classes, Daniel immediately recognized some inaccurate information here. Part of that lesson included a quote from Elder Packer at a General Conference in 1982, in which he stated that because of the Book of Mormon, Ezekiel's prophecy was now fulfilled. But because Hebrew prophecy may have many levels of meaning and fulfillment, their points are worth considering. Pat pointed to a quote from LDS scholar Daniel H. Ludlow to support this position  Here is the quote:

We as Latter-day Saints refer to the Book of Mormon as “the stick of Joseph,” but at best the Book of Mormon is an abridgment of the book of Joseph. The book of Joseph would be primarily the brass plates of Laban and the large plates of Nephi. Mormon testified on at least two occasions in the Book of Mormon that he did not write one-hundredth part in his record those things that were written on the large plates of Nephi. Even then, approximately two-thirds of the plates—at least according to Orson Pratt—were sealed. The Prophet Joseph Smith did not translate a single word from those portions, so certainly the Book of Mormon is not a complete book.

So there is more here to consider. Is there more yet to come to light in this "stick of Joseph?"

End of the year news

Greetings and happy holidays from all of us! To keep you updated on what we have been doing since our last post, here is the latest. The Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum has linked to Daniel's online version of the presentation he gave at their annual conference this October. That page can be found here. The landing page with this link also links to many interesting articles addressing other related topics such as critiques of North American geographical models, pre-1830 historical sources relating to Ancient America, and even an analysis of the claim that Book of Mormon events took place in Malaysia. This landing page can be found by clicking here. Some good answers to many questions currently being asked about the Book of Mormon are in these articles.

In other news, at the conference Daniel met Steve Thomas, who has been working on a documentary about evidences for the Book of Mormon, entitled Another Witness: A Case for the Book of Mormon. Steve really enjoyed Daniel's presentation, especially the section mentioning Edward Thompson, who found many gold plates and disks in the sacrificial cenote at Chichén Itzá. Wanting to include this information and photos in his documentary, Steve recently flew out to California to film an interview with Daniel in his home for inclusion in the final documentary. They had a good time and talked about many issues relating to finds of ancient writings on metal plates, both in the Americas and in the Eastern hemisphere. We will keep you posted on how this project develops and if the film comes to completion.

View the Metals and Gold Plates presentation online

Daniel's presentation on metals and gold plates in Mesoamerica that he gave at the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum's conference last month is now online. All the images and video from his PowerPoint presentation have been converted into a website. In addition, each slide is accompanied by audio of his explanations, taken from video shot during the conference. If you weren't able to attend, here is a great way to see and hear all that Daniel shared with the attendees. Aside from a few technical difficulties, you haven't missed a thing!

Click here to watch the presentation. Let us know if you have any questions or comments about what Daniel shared. We are always happy to engage in discussions.

Back from the conference

Daniel and Derek attended the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum's annual conference, held this year at the Sheraton in downtown Salt Lake City. This was a big event, with over 270 people in attendance. Richard Bushman, acclaimed historian and expert on Joseph Smith's history, was the keynote speaker. He spoke about the importance of gold plates in LDS history, even mentioning some items that Daniel had in his presentation.

Daniel was the second speaker, using up every minute and then some of his allotted hour. He was only able to answer a few questions posed to him afterward, as he needed to clear the stage for other presentations, but his table out in the hall was flooded with attendees who were waiting in line to ask additional questions and buy a copy of our book. Derek and Daniel had their hands full just taking money and handing out copies. They sold out of the stock they had on hand, so Daniel had to direct others wanting a copy to buy them online or from bookstores. It's hard to predict the number that will be sold at these events; usually there are some left over.

Currently, Daniel is working on creating a website based on his presentation, using his PowerPoint files as visuals and audio from his talk at the conference. That link will be posted as soon as it is up. Stay tuned for that notice.

Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum's conference

It's still over a month away, but we wanted to announce that Daniel will be a presenter at this year's BMAF conference. The event will be held on Saturday 23 October in downtown Salt Lake City. Other speakers include renowned historian Richard Bushman and geneticist Ugo Perego. We don't quite know how this happened, but Daniel will be speaking as well. Years of bugging the conference organizers must have paid off.

His presentation is entitled Metals and Gold Plates in Mesoamerica. Much of the information has been shared on this blog and on the BMAF website, but there will be some new material presented as well. If you will be in town, we invite you to attend. Derek should be there and our book will be on sale. This conference has a number of very prestigious speakers (and Daniel), so it should be a good one.

Click here for a PDF of the flyer.