Continuing with the previous post
regarding the Hill Cumorah and the questions Mormon’s description raises as we
seek to locate the placement of that hill in the Land of Promise:
The problem of locating the hill
Cumorah lies in three very important facts:
1. The hill Cumorah was in the
Land of Cumorah, which contained a land of many waters, rivers and fountains (Mormon 6:4);
2. The Land of Many Waters was
“so far northward” (Alma 22:30) that it was beyond the Land of Desolation (Mormon
4:19-22), from which Mormon and his army had fled northward for quirt some time,
perhaps as many as 5 years (375-380 AD), continually marching before the
Lamanites (Mormon 6:1);
3. The Land Northward, home of
the Jaredites, contained somewhere in the neighborhood of at least 5 million,
and probably closer to 10 million people (Ether 15:2, 11-12, 14-15).
Thus, the Land Northward was not
a small area, and the Land of Many Waters was toward the northernmost parts,
and the Land of Cumorah was nearby. With this understanding, we might want to
suggest that 90 miles, or a total land of only about 100-120 miles north to
south (the distance from Provo to Fillmore [100], or from Los Angeles to San
Diego[120], or from Cedar City to Fillmore [106]) is not a very large area of
land, especially when it was narrow as the Land of Promise is described.
For those who want to place the
Book of Mormon hill Cumorah in upstate New York, you might want to consider
these three facts, and those outlined in the previous two posts. Just because
at some point in time over a 1400 year period, the records Joseph found were
deposited in the hill Cumorah, is the hill described so differently in the
scriptural record.
There is also another
consideration. The Jaredite final battle commenced at the hill the Jaredites
called Ramah, which was the same hill the Nephites called Cumorah (Ether
15:11). About this hill both sides gathered together for four years all the
Jaredites left on the land except Ether (Ether 15:12, 14). Here tens of
thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Jaredites died in battle
during seven days of horrific fighting leaving only 59 still alive (Ether
15:15-25). At this same site, we know that some 300,000 or more Nephites and
Lamanites died in battle. Yet, not a single artifact has been found—not
arrowheads, nothing in this area where farmers have plowed the land for a
century and more.
Certainly one would think that
something would have been found, but locals are adamant that nothing has ever
been found on their properties.
It is interesting that Joseph
Allen, David Palmer and V. Garth Norman, all Mesoamericanists, claims as their
hill Cumorah, the Hill Vigia, about 60 miles from the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec pass in southern Veracruz, an area referred to as a
tropical agricultural zone, often called “the Hawaii of Mexico.” This is his
hill Cumorah because, among other reasons, it is located in a
land of ample water and rich land to sustain the Nephite nation while preparing
for the final battle.
The hill Cerro Vigia (“Lookout Hill”)
in the Tuxtla Mountain Range. With its many peaks and
angles, it is doubtful that a few men standing anywhere on the mountain could
see the entire battlefield of dead warriors (Mormon 6:11)
The
interesting point is that Mormon and the Nephites were in this area for only a
very short time before the Lamanites reached it and the one-day battle took
place. It is not likely that forage and water were a major issue at this time.
He also claims his hill Vigia is located where Nephites could escape from the
final battles and flee into the land southward because of a secluded route
along the coast on the east base of the Tuxtla Mountains would be a natural
unobstructed escape route to the south.
An
interesting, and superfluous idea, since there were some 400,000 to 500,000
Lamanites in the area. While Mormon mentions a “few” who had escaped into the
south countries and a “few” who had defected. We don’t know how many a few are,
but it is unlikely they needed a secluded route. More likely, they escaped
before the fighting began as they saw the size of the Lamanite army approaching
that terrified the Nephites (Mormon 6:8). Besides, it is highly unlikely they
could have escaped once the fighting began—simply too many Lamanties looking to
kill every Nephite they could see.
According to the Mesoamerican model
for the Land of Promise, the Hill Cumorah is about 60 miles beyond the narrow
neck of land, but 250 miles from their Land of Many Waters. While Mesoamerica
runs east and west, Sorenson and others claim the Nephite “north” was really
eastward as this map shows. In any event, they have placed Cumorah nowhere near
the Land of Many Waters, which Mormon describes as part of the Land of Cumorah
(Mormon 6:4)
But
the problem is the distance. Of course, every Mesoamericanist wants to restrict
the distance between the narrow neck of land and the hill Cumorah, but the
scriptural record does not suggest that. After all, north of the narrow neck
was the Land of Desolation, “it being so far northward that it came into the
land which had been peopled and been destroyed” (Alma 22:30), referred to as
the Land of Many Waters, within which was the Land of Cumorah and the hill
Cumorah (Mormon 6:4). There is no suggestion here that this was a short
distance. The term “so far northward” does not suggest a short distance.
In
addition, Vigia is about 2400 feet high, and Mesoamericanists claim a person
could reach the top in three to four hours; however, after the day’s battle,
Mormon was so severly wounded, the Lamanites left him be and continued on past
(thousands of Lamanites passed by the spot where Mormon lay). We are not told
how he escaped to the hill, and of course others could have carried him, but
for a severly wounded man to get up a 2400 foot hill is not very likely. It
would seem that an appropriate elevation for the hill Cumorah would be about
1000 foot, ten times higher than the hill Cumorah in upstate New York, yet
nowhere near as high as Vigia in Mesoamerica.
The Cerro Vigia area, about six miles
from Tres Zapotes, and forty miles from the sea, was continuously occupied from
1000 B.C. to 900 A.D., and there is no evidence that there was a depopulation
at any time around 385 A.D. when nearly 500,000 people died at Cumorah. Top two
images are differentr view of Vigia, and the bottom is a drawing of two major
hills within the mountain range, neither of which matches Mormon’s description
Another
point Norman, et all, make is that Vigia was in an area of major civilization
occupation during Jaredite times, and a heartland of Olmec civilization with
extensive ruins during Nephite times, with subsequent cultures that qualify for
Mulekites, and the later Nephite civilization. The point about this is that
Mormon would not have chosen a populated area in which to make his final
battle, nor could some 500,000 to 600,000 combined forces move about and fight
in a populated area or one with numerous ruined buildings. Nor is a populated
area listed, shown or suggested during the final Jaredite battles. After all,
both Jaredite armies pitched their tents in this area (Mormon 6:4). Depending on
how large were the tents and how many men per tent, or the size of the family
per tent, one might get the idea that this tentscape covered a very large area
around the hill Cumorah, leaving little room for this area to be previously
occupied with buildings, etc.
Top, the Tuxtla Mountain Range in the Veracruz region of which Vigia is part. Bottom, the Andes Mountain Range in South America. Which would Samuel the Lamanite suggest were mountains "whose height is great"?
In
addition, Vigia is considered to be located in a region of volcanic and
earthquake activity that characterized nearby land Bountiful. The Tuxtla
Mountains are a volcanic range that was active in Book of Mormon times. It
could also be pointed out that the range of the Andes for more than a thousand
miles south of Panama is a continuous range of volcanoes, with the majority
located in the area of Ecuador (the Land Northward) and have been and are
active since they were formed.
Once
again, we have to recognize that almost any location can be chosen for the Book
of Mormon Land of Promise and its various highlighted areas, such as the hill
Cumorah, if one picks and chooses those points they wish to use to suggest and
prove their model location; however, the point to all of this, and all our
blogs, is for any location of any area described by Mormon in the scriptural
record, then one must use all of the
criteria of description, not just those parts they wish to use.
As has been said by
others, this is not a cafeteria list—you can’t pick and choose. However, all Mesoamericanists and Great Lakes/Heartland, Central and
North American theorists do this. They ignore those scriptural references that disagree
with their points of view. So we continue to publish what those scriptural
references are an show where they are not used and do not support these
numerous and erroneous views of those who place the Land of Promise in areas not supported by Mormon's many descriptions and other the scriptural references.
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