So-Called Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Chariots or wheeled vehicles

Continuing with these posts regarding the critics’ claim of anachronisms in the Book of Mormon. Regarding the mention of chariots and wheeled vehicles, the critics write:

“Chariots depicted in a Mesopotamian relief circa 2500 B.C. Evidence of wheeled vehicles has not been found in the Americas. The Book of Mormon contains two accounts of chariots being used in the New World. Critics argue that there is no archaeological evidence to support the use of wheeled vehicles in Mesoamerica, especially since many parts of ancient Mesoamerica were not suitable for wheeled transport. Clark Wissler, the curator of Ethnography at the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, noted: "...we see that the prevailing mode of land transport in the New World was by human carrier. The wheel was unknown in pre-Columbian times." A comparison of the South American Inca civilization to Mesoamerican civilizations shows the same lack of wheeled vehicles. Although the Incas used a vast network of paved roads, these roads are so rough, steep, and narrow that they appear to be unsuitable for wheeled use. Bridges that the Inca people built, and even continue to use and maintain today in some remote areas, are straw-rope bridges so narrow (about 2–3 feet wide) that no wheeled vehicle can fit. Inca roads were used mainly by chaski message runners and llama caravans.”

One might wonder if the “Chariots depicted in a Mesopotamian relief circa 2500 B.C.,” had not been found, would critics question the use of chariots in the Old World? Certainly no chariots have been found of the hundreds used by the Egyptians charioteers who were drowned in the Red Sea, despite much effort to locate any fragments there.

As for Mesoamerica, the ancient builders of the stepped pyramids there built magnificent roads. At Cantona, near Vera Cruz, Mexico, a site has been uncovered disclosing a road network with over 500 cobblestone causeways, more than 3,000 individual patios, residences, 24 ball courts and an elaborate acropolis with multiple ceremonial buildings and temples. In the Andes of South America, an ancient roadway system covering 14,000 miles that connected important places of the once flourishing ancient cities there. These ancient Andean roads covered a variety of terrains, from flat areas running for a thousand miles, to stepped walkways to higher level areas, to rope bridges that connected lands separated by mountainous chasms. The unique construction and engineering lavished on these roads testifies to their importance to the ancient inhabitant of the area.

An ancient Andean road built in B.C. times. It is hard to imagine that this road was meant for foot traffic since it covers many miles in a remote mountain area. Also note that though it is in the mountains, it is still a flat, smooth road

The question never asked by critics and archaeologists, but one that should be asked, is why did these two ancient areas, Mesoameria and the Andes of South America, have such elaborate road systems? In South America, these were not jut pathways, or stairways, or rope bridges, but flat, level, paves roads that stretched for miles, smoothly criss-crossing back and forth up mountain sides to allow for wheeled movement of vehicles, like mountain roads of today. Some of these roads are broken and uneven today, after two thousand years of earthquakes and volcanic eruption in the Andea area, but still able to be utilized for foot traffic in the roughest area, and wheeled vehicles in the smoother areas.

An ancient switchback built like our roads today over mountains. It is hard to see that this was built for foot traffic.

After all, sidewalks of our day are not overly wide—many only about four-feet in width, and meant for foot traffic. However, the Peruvian roadway system was often over thirteen feet wide. Where the roads were packed earth, rather than paves, stone walls marked the side boundaries, and where the roads crossed swamps or marshland, they were elevated in stone causeways. Because of the varied terrain over which these roads crossed, there were several methods of construction. Obviously, not all the roads in the mountains were meant for wheeled vehicles with their stepped progression up steep paths. But in the flatter lands, and along the coast where several thousand miles of roadways were built, they are relatively smooth, even today, after thousands of years since they were constructed.

These mountain roads have no tambos, and were not later used by the Inca for runners to carry messages of special dishes to the Inka. These remote roads were part of a roadway system that connected important cities to each other over which people and wheeled vehicles could have moved.