The Danger of Theorizing – Part III – Major Cities

As stated in the last post, a friend sent me info from a website of “the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum” in which 16 scriptural points were listed as having to exist for any site claiming to be the Land of Promise in the Book of Mormon to be considered. Last post we discussed point 14 and its inaccuracy.

“(3) High Civilizations with Kings and Priests and City-States with scribes as important officers and evidence of many major cities surrounding the Narrow strip of mountainous wilderness. No other theory can show this fact.”

First of all, there is no mention of a mountainous wildnerness. This strip of wilderness mentioned in Alma 22:27 only states that it lies between the Land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla. Since “wilderness” literally means “a tract of unoccupied land,” it can mean any topography so long as it is not permanently inhabited.

Thus, we must eliminate that requirement.

Second, there is no mention or suggestion of city-states in the scriptural record. In the Land of Nephi, we know that there were sub-kings (Lamaoni) and an overall king (Lamoni’s father), which might qualify for a city-state, but in the Land of Zarahemla and the Land of Bountiful, there is no such suggestion.

There is no mention of a king or city-state leader, or any leaders other than judges, after the time of king Mosiah II, and at no time during Mosiah I, Benjamin, or Mosiah II, is there any mention of a city-state arrangement. Only a mention of cities and their lands, which also included other cities within those lands.

King Zeniff, King Noah and King Limhi, were not in the Land of Zarahemla, but in the Land of Nephi temporarily, and the Lamanites never considered them a separate city state, but a vassal of the Lamanites. Nor can we say that scribes as important officers are mentioned.

As for cities surrounding the area of the strip of wilderness separating the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla, we only know that the Lamanite occupied areas high up in the highlands, with the city of Lehi-Nephi (city of Nephi), Shemlon and Shilom probably being the closest one to the Land of Zarahemla. Trying to place specific cities in specific areas other than the City of Nephi and the City of Zarahemla and the city of Bountiful, is extremely hazardous with the bare information provided in the scriptures.

As for the most ancient civilization in the Western Hemisphere, archaeologists claim it is the city of Caral, 170-acre settlement in the arid Supe Valley 120 miles north of Lima and just inland from the coast. Not only is it the most ancient city in the Americas, it predated the Inca by 4000 years, and was flourishing a century before the pyramids of Gizeh. It has six stepped pyramdis, the tallest is 4 stories tall with a base of 500 feet It also has many other small platforms, two sunken circular plazas and diverse architectural features including densely packed residences.

Civilization in South America has the largest ancient regisgter, spanning fro 4,500 years from Norte Chico to the Inca Empire. Caral’s date is by carbondating reed and woven carrying bags that were found on the site. These bags were used to carry the stones used for the construction of the pyramids.
The town itself had a population of approximately 3000 people. But there are 17 other sites in the area, which allows for a possible total population of 20,000 people in the valley. An even older city has been recently uncovered in the same general area north of Lima referred to as Sechin Bajo, considered to be 500 years older than Caral.

(See next post, “The Danger of Theorizing – Part III” for the remainder of these points)