So-Called Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Cattle and Cows

Continuing with the so-called anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, critics write:

“There are six references to cattle made in the Book of Mormon, including verbiage suggesting they were domesticated. There is no evidence that Old World cattle (members of the genus Bos) inhabited the New World prior to European contact in the 16th century AD. Further, there is currently no archeological evidence of American bison having been domesticated. It is widely accepted that the only large mammal to be domesticated in the Americas was the llama and that no species of goats, deer, or sheep were domesticated before the arrival of the Europeans to the continent.”

As in all cases when critics start comparing the scriptural record of the Book of Mormon with the sectarian knowledge of history and events, they neglect to understand the environment and conditions in which the Jaredites and Nephites lived, and the very nature of the surviving Lamanites.

As has been pointed out in earlier posts, the Lamanites were described in their earliest days as “they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat” (Enos 1:20). Other references to this could be cited, but the point is, the Lamanites were not inclined in any way to follow along with the domestication of flora or fauna in the Land of Promise.

The only reason Jaredite crops and animals continued was because of the limited time frame between when the Jaredites were wiped out and when the Nephites (and Mulekites) arrived in the land. The same is not true between the annihilation of the Nephites and the arrival of the Spaniards. For nearly a thousand years, the Lamanites were warring among themselves, one group (tribe) fighting another. Not until about 1440 A.D., when the Inca achieved total dominance in the Andean area, do we find a grain growing people—the Inca grew the two grains, Quinoa and Kiwichi super grains, that are more vital than corn, wheat or barley. No doubt these were the two grains Joseph Smith translated as sheum and neas.

As for cattle—foraging bovines, unlike bison, are dependent upon winter sources for food. They depend on being fed by man. Since the Nephites were all killed in 385-400 A.D., there were none to take care of the domesticated cattle and cows left behind. In addition, since the Lamanites were at constant war, it is most likely they had little time to hunt far afield for game and the first animals to fall to their appetites would be all the domesticated, easy-to-catch, animals of the Nephites.

It should be noted that in the 18th century America, farmers slaughtered most of their livestock at the beginning of winter because they could not grow enough food to feed their animals through the winter months. This simply was because seed was sown by hand and fields were difficult to ready for planting. However, in 1701, Jethro Tull invented a seed drill, which sowed seed in straight lines, and also invented a horse-drawn hoe which hoed the land and destroyed the weed between rows of crops. Thus, cattle were kept alive during the winter since enough grain could be grown and stored for their use.

With the voracious appetites of the constantly warring Lamanites, it is understandable that many species of animals would have been hunted down and killed, beginning with the easiest and most available—the Nephite domesticated cattle and cows.

On the other hand, critics say, “Mormon apologists argue the following to deal with this anachronism: Some Mormon apologists believe that the term "cattle," as used in the Book of Mormon is more general and does not exclusively mean members of the genus Bos. Thus, they claim the term "cattle" may refer to mountain goats, llamas, or the ancestor of the American bison of the sub family Bovinae.

But once again, the apologists get it wrong as they always do when they try to explain away what they perceive as uncomfortable statements from the scriptural record. Joseph Smith was a farmer, and as such, knew about animals. Crops and animals were the staples of the Smith family daily life. He grew up planting and harvesting, and taking care of animals as well as using them. He knew what a horse, cow, steer, goat, deer, etc., were. He did not know, on the other hand, what a llama or an alpaca was, therefore he simply used the original words cureloms and cumoms when translating.

Usually, when critics make such uninformed comments as shown above and in recent posts, the opposite is true—why would we expect cattle and cows to survive over a thousand years where there were no farmers or herdsmen to care for them?