Where Are The Ruins of Cities and Roads, the Forts and Fortresses? – Part III

As stated in the last post: Continuing with the subject of the Malay Peninsula Theory as a site for the Land of Promise, we come to the ancient records and ruins found in Malaysia. Despite Ralph Olsen claiming “The civilization dates to the proper time period, and has had chariots, iron, silk, etc.,” we do not find any such indication of civilization of any accomplishments from 2200 B.C. onward, or 600 B.C. onward. In fact, the archaeological record of the Malay Peninsula is very sparse regarding such development as described in the Book of Mormon:

For any site anywhere on the planet to match the Book of Mormon Land of Promise, that site must have ruins of a period equating to the Jaredites (2200 B.C. to about 600 B.C.), and the Nephites (600 B.C. to 400 A.D.)

As for Malaya, historians write about the Bujang Valley archaeological site in the Lembab Bujang, sometimes referred to as the Ancient Wonder of Kedah. It is a rich historical site covering an area of about 250 square milesin the Merbok basin, bounded by Bukit Coras (Chroas Hill) and Gunung Jerai. To the west is the Malacca (Melaka) Strait and south Sungai Muda (Muda River). Considered one of the oldest archaeological sites in Malay, it is dated to the 4th Century A.D. This is, without question, a Hindu and Buddhist site, with over 50 temples (or chandis) so far excavated. These artifacts, dating to the 4th Century A.D. include pottery shards, stone statues of Hindu icons, inscribedc stone tables, metal tools, Song and Ming Dynasties ceramic wares, ornaments, beads and semi precious stones.

Kedah was the transit port for traders (awaiting the monsoon winds) traveling through the Melaka straits. Kedah Peak was used as a navigational beacon for these traders, and the settlement grew into a kingdom from this trade route. Most structures are believed to be of wooden pillars, thus the remains found here are mainly foundations of the chandi structures. While the earliest date is the 4th Century A.D., the area flourished in the 7th Century A.D. and was eventually replaced by the Malacca kingdom in the 11th Century A.D. This Hindu-Budha temple dates to around the 8th to 10th Century A.D.

Kota Gelanggi is one of the oldest pre-Islamic Malay Kingdoms of South East Asia’s Malay Peninsula. The oldest archaeological site in Malay, and the first capital of the ancient Malay Empire of Srivijaya, dates to around 650 A.D. to 900 A.D. It is located in the dense jungles of the southern Malaysian state of Johor at Darul Takzim.

Ptolemy, the Greek geographer, wrote about Golden Chersonese, trade with ancient India and China in the 1st Century A.D. Austronesians, from Oceania, were trading Clove and Camphor from the forests of Indonesia, including clove from the Moluccas and northern Sumatra as early as the 4th Century A.D. Artwork, ceramic, and Budha statuettes, around the 5th Century A.D. and as early as the 1st Century A.D., the Chola of southeast India were trading all around the western Indonesian area, including Malay and Sumatra.

One could hardly justify all this trade and movement of various cultures into and through the Malay Peninsula during the time of the latter-half of the Nephite Period from the scriptural period. And prior to this time, there are no buildings, roads, or other signs of the Jaredite and early Nephit Periods whatsoever in the Malay area. So where are the remnants of the buildings mentioned in Mosiah 8:8 and 2 Nephi 5:15? Where are the roads? Where are the remanants of two fantastically advanced cultures in the B.C. era?

The red arrows point to the only early settlements in the Malay Peninsula, and only on the coast--the inland areas were impenetratable jungle--and the earliest dates of settlement are about the first century B.C.

No. Indonesia, specifically the Malay Peninsula, in no way qualifies for the Land of Promise. It is foolhardy to suggest it does!