Posts
Daniel is continuing to write articles with his co-authors on interesting topics that didn't fit into the book or are the result of continuing research. These papers are available as multi-page, letter size formatted PDFs. You can download them for free and use them for your own non-profit educational purposes. The authors retain the copyright and are solely responsible for their content.
Indigenous Horses
With these few words, Nephi ignites a long-running modern controversy. The mere mention of horses in Ancient America has made the Book of Mormon a target for critics over the years. After all, everyone knows that horses were introduced to the Americas by the Spanish, right? Were we not all taught that in school? Our article on horses examines the apologetic claims and contains solid, non-controversial archaeological discoveries pertaining to the existence of horses on the American continent anciently.
Click here to download the PDF.
Metal Weapons and Tools
Critics have often pointed to the mention of metalworking in the Book of Mormon as anachronistic and proof of its modern invention. While it is true that archaeology in America has not yielded up much in the way of advanced metallurgy, the topic of metals in the Book of Mormon is a complex and perhaps poorly understood one. Many different cultures and time periods are encompassed in this book of scripture, and it is essential to look at each one separately. This article examines the history of steel artifacts from the Old World as well as the current (mis)understanding of Mesoamerican metallurgy. Some intriguing yet little-known artifacts are shown.
Click here to download the PDF.
Names and Mayan Glyphs
Many unique names appear in the Book of Mormon throughout the long histories of several cultures, however, we are only given a tiny selection from what must have been thousands of personal names. Some appear only within its pages and others have precedents from the Bible and other ancient documents. What was a common Nephite or Jaredite name? Did they adopt new local names from surrounding cultures in the New World? And most importantly, can any trace of these names be found in surviving records from ancient American peoples? In this article, Daniel looks at all unique Book of Mormon names to discover if there are any ties to Hebrew or Mayan, finding some interesting correlation to Mayan glyphs.
Click here to download the PDF.
Click here to download a comparison chart of all Book of Mormon names.
Plates of Gold
Many people would be surprised to learn that gold disks or plates with carved images and writing have been found in Mesoamerica. Perhaps even more surprising is that archaeologists have known this for a century and yet it is still not common knowledge outside of their discipline. This article delves into the history of enigmatic gold plates found in one of Mexico's most popular and visited sites. Known artifacts of important writing on metal plates from the Old World are shown and the issue of why more examples of this type have not been found in the Americas is discussed.
Click here to download the PDF.
Ancient Metal Plates
“...wherefore I did make plates of ore that I might engraven upon them the record of my people.” (1 Nephi 19:1)
In March of 2011, some intriguing artifacts were popping up in online news sites, blogs, and mailing lists. Ancient codices, purporting to be books made of leaves of lead and dating to the first century AD were creating excitement and controversy around the world. Unnamed ‘experts’ announced that the corrosion on the plates proved an ancient provenance, but mainstream scholars were skeptical from the outset. If these codices do turn out to be fakes, it should not be too discouraging. There are numerous non-controversial and widely-accepted examples of ancient writing on metal plates, some well known and others not as much.
Click here to download the PDF.
Directions in Mesoamerica
“...the Nephites possessing all the land northward, yea, even all the land which was northward of the land Bountiful, according to their pleasure." (Alma 50:11)
Book of Mormon geographical models rely heavily on directions as described in the text. How did ancient people think of this concept? We know that many, including the Maya, had four cardinal directions, but how did they calculate them? Are they the same as what we use now? Is north in the Book of Mormon exactly the same as ours today? Was it magnetic? Knowing how the Maya used directions and and what they meant may help to understand a Mesoamerican model.
