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.

Back from Idaho book events

Daniel is back home from book signings and firesides in Idaho. There were some unexpected moments along the way, but everything turned out well. Daniel learned the dangers of crossing time zones, faulty old water pipes, misleading speed limit signs near small towns, and sudden storms that can blow trees over on your vehicle.

The first event was at Crowley's Quad. This was a small but very nice bookstore at the Magic Valley Mall in Twin Falls. Richard Crowley is the owner and he is very friendly. Daniel had a table near the entrance and was able to meet customers and sign books. He actually sold all of our books that were left in the store. Truth be told, they had been selling well before the book signing event and there were only two left by the time Daniel arrived. But that's a good thing, right?

That evening, Daniel gave a fireside at Doug Christensen's home. Doug is a principal member of the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum and had offered to invite his friends, some of whom came to the book signing. Daniel wishes to thank Doug and his lovely wife for the use of their beautiful home. Even though it was a surprisingly stormy night, participation was good and all enjoyed refreshments of coconut cream pie afterward.

The event in Burley was planned for the next morning, but a broken water main flooded the store on the previous day and it had to be closed down, canceling the book signing and fireside on Saturday morning. But Daniel stayed in contact with the owner, and a new event was quickly organized later in the week when Daniel was passing through on his way to Utah. The Book Plaza in Burley is a very interesting store, with the outside decorated to look like a castle. It has a nice, tree-lined grassy field next to it and the store had set up booths and displays outside. Daniel had a table out here to meet customers and sign their books. As a special surprise, Derek happened to be in the area traveling for work and was able to stop by as well. They both had a good time and we recommend these stores if you happen to be going through Idaho.

Stay tuned for more events and news this fall.

Book events this month

It has been a while, but some book-related events are planned for June. Near the end of the month, Daniel will be in Idaho to promote the book. On Friday the 25th, he will be at The Quad bookstore in Magic Valley Mall in Twin Falls, signing books from 3:00 to 5:00 that afternoon. He will also be giving a fireside at a private residence that evening.

On Saturday the 26th, Daniel will be doing a book signing at The Book Plaza in Burley for 2 hours, starting at ll:00. At 1:00 that afternoon, he will give a fireside at the store. For those of you in Idaho, we invite you to come by, get a book signed, and talk with Daniel.

Click here for info on the Twin Falls event.
Click here for info on the Burley event.

New article on gold plates

The blog has been quiet lately, but there are things going on in the background. Book signings and firesides are being planned for this summer and later in the year. Based on accounts from our publisher and our own efforts, we estimate that over 1300 copies of our book have been sold. Overall, that's a pretty good number for a book like this from a small publisher and market. But we would always like to do more, so check it out if you haven't done so yet.

In the meantime, Daniel has written a new paper on gold plates. This is an exciting topic and one that is at the heart of the Book of Mormon. There is interesting evidence for writing on gold plates from Mesoamerica that isn't discussed much. Read the paper to find out more and see how examples of ancient writing on metal plates from the Old World may relate. The BMAF has published this paper on their site and has asked Daniel to prepare a presentation from it. More news on that will be available as it develops.

The photo below is a fragment of a gold plate found in the well at Chichén Itzá. It has carvings and Mayan hieroglyphs around the edge. Daniel and Jared were able to see it and other artifacts in the archives of the Peabody Museum at Harvard during a research visit a few years ago. Read more in Daniel's paper on gold plates.

Click here to read the article online at the BMAF website.
Click here to download a formatted, multi-page PDF of the article.