An LDS Guide to Mesoamerica: April 2010

About Us

DANIEL JOHNSON has had a lifelong interest in ancient cultures, especially from the Americas. His first trip to Mesoamerica was in 1999. Since then he has led friends on excursions to Central America and has given firesides about traveling there. He served a mission in the Buenos Aires North and Mendoza Argentina missions. He works as an assistant professor at the University of North Georgia.

JARED COOPER has been fascinated with the history of Mesoamerica all his life. He served a mission in the New York Utica Mission. He works as a finance specialist at Fireman's Fund.

DEREK GASSER has had a lifelong love of traveling and photography. He has traveled to over 60 countries and spent time volunteering in hospitals in both Africa and Asia. He served a mission in the Philippines Cebu Mission. He works in hospital administration and construction.

02 April 2010

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.