Problems With Joseph Allen’s Map and Matching Points – Part III

Continuing from the last post with additional comments from Joseph Allen regarding his Mesoamerican model for the Book of Mormon Land of Promise:   
   Allen states that “For relevancy purposes, no criterion among the five [earlier points in the last two posts] is associated with any specific geographic location in Mesoamerica. That is, contrary to the procedures followed by some Book of Mormon scholars, no one should attempt to identify proposed geographic sites, such as the river Sidon or the hill Cumorah, and then force Mormon’s map to fit those proposed sites. On the other hand, based on the fact that Mesoamerica is the New World setting for the Book of Mormon, we can then look at Mesoamerica’s geography, topography, mountains, wilderness areas, rivers and other bodies of water, valleys and hills, lowlands, highlands, other elevations, distances, archaeological sites, and so forth to determine whether they individually and collectively fit Mormon’s map as found in the Book of Mormon. Thus, Book of Mormon scholars who identify specific geographic locations in the Book of Mormon and then try to find a New World match for those locations get the cart before the horse. They should first apply the criteria to find the New World setting and then look for specific locations in that setting.” 
   While this sounds like an excellent idea, it is too bad that Allen doesn’t follow his own advice. He followed the standard beliefs first proposed by John L. Sorenson at BYU, and promoted by FARMS, now the Neal A. Maxwell Institute there. In all, these people have been converted to Mesoamerica as the Book of Mormon Land of Promise setting from very early times. 

According to Mormon's numerous descriptions, the Land of Promise was oriented north and south
   In fact, Allen’s studies at BYU had, as he states: “an emphasis in Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon,” long before he began his writing about Mesoamerica, and spent some time living in Mexico and Guatemala. It seems doubtful this would have violated his own criteria: “Book of Mormon scholars who identify specific geographic locations in the Book of Mormon and then try to find a New World match for those locations get the cart before the horse. They should first apply the criteria to find the New World setting and then look for specific locations in that setting.”
    In his writing he follows that statement with the following comments he tells us are based entirely upon the five points he stated earlier:
1. Mesoamerica is the New World setting for the Book of Mormon.
2. The narrow neck of land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
3. The land northward is the territory to the west and northward of Tehuantepec
4. The land southward is the territory to the east and southward of Tehuantepec. 
5. The Jaredite civilization is equated with the Olmec civilization, whose territory was west of, northward of, and adjacent to the top of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
    So let’s see how accurate his statements are according to the scriptural record.
    1. Mesoamerica is the New World setting for the Book of Mormon. This is a typical conclusion of Mesoamericanists, however, it does not match most of Mormon's descriptions, and in part, does not have any of the following: 1) Does not have four seas (Helaman 3:8); 2) Does not have a narrow neck that can be crossed in a day and a half (Alma 22:32); 3) Does not have highly skilled craftsmen working with precious metals before 600 to 900 A.D. (Ether 10:23; 2 Nephi 5:15); 4) Does not have two unknown animals as important beasts of burden (Ether 9:19); 5) Does not have two important unknown grains (Mosiah 9:9); 6) Does not have a natural cure for fever (Alma 46:40), and on and on and on (see the book Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica for a list of all 65 points that need matching with the scriptural record).
    2. The narrow neck of land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This is another area Mesoamericanists simply turn their intelligence off when discussing. This Isthmus is 144 miles across. There is no way a normal Nephite could cross that distance in a day and a half—to do so would require a person covering about 95 miles in a day, and 54 miles the next before noon. While some special marathon runner or Zuni Indian (as Sorenson states) might make that, it is not a distance a normal Nephite could ever have achieved. Typically, 1.5 miles an hour is the normal extended distance a person can cover—that is about 18 miles a day, walking for 12 straight hours without stopping for rest, to eat, etc. So if the Nephites were basically in much better condition than a person of today, we’ll say 20 miles a day, and 30 miles in a day and a half. At that pace, it would take a little over seven days at that difficult pace to cross Tehuantepec in Mesoamerica.
    3. The land northward is the territory to the west and northward of Tehuantepec. Being west does not qualify for a northward direction! Reno, Nevada, is south of  of Salt Lake City, but no one would ever think of it being anything but west! Mesoamerica runs east and west. Central America runs northward and southward, but that is not the land area Mesoamerican Theorists claim—only Mesoamerica, about Mexico City to western Honduras.

This map shows about all of the Land Northward, and all of the Land Southward in the Mesoamerican model, yet no one would think of it running northward or southward—just east and west, contrary to Mormon's descriptions
    4. The land southward is the territory to the east and southward of Tehuantepec. Again, being east does not qualify for a southward direction! Denver is south of Salt Lake City, but no one would ever think of it being anything but east! Directions cannot be manipulated—they are an exact factor, and northward is toward the north and southward is toward the south.
    5. The Jaredite civilization is equated with the Olmec civilization, whose territory was west of, northward of, and adjacent to the top of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Not so on two counts: First, the Jaredite civilization was to the north of the narrow neck of land, and to the north of Bountiful, “Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful” (Alma 22:31). Second, the Olmec’s initial city, La Venta, and the one most often associated with their culture, is actually located in the Land Southward in the Mesoamerican model (east of their narrow neck of land).

The green line is the area of their narrow neck of land, and the area of La Venta, the initial Olmec location, is located on the wrong side (in their Land Southward), thus making their model inconsistent with the scriptural record
    As an example, if someone were truly to use the scriptural record as the basis for searching for the Land of Promise, they would start with Nephi, his ship, and where it would have been taken on the currents while “being driven forth before the wind” (1 Nephi 18:8-9). There is nothing more basic than that. And if one were to do that, beginning along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, two things would immediately become apparent: 1) They could not have reached Central America, and 2) They would have landed along the Chilean coast of South America.
    We might, therefore say of Allen’s point: “That is, contrary to the procedures followed by some Book of Mormon scholars, no one should attempt to identify proposed geographic sites, such as the river Sidon or the hill Cumorah, and then force Mormon’s map to fit those proposed sites,” that no one should start with Mesoamerica (or anywhere else) and try to fit Mormon’s map into that area. Instead, one should take a voyage to the Land of Promise on Nephi’s ship, then once landed, identify the things Nephi speaks of, as well as Mormon and others. Forget locations of rivers, cities, etc., and concentrate on the descriptive things in the scriptural record—there are several of them, including gold, silver, animals, grains, plants, etc.