The interesting thing about scholarly
work, study and research is that sometimes information is right in front of you
for a very long time and you don’t even see it until one day, for some reason,
especially when not even looking for it, someone turns on a light bulb and
there it is, plain and simple!
Wallah!
Today was one of those days!
There are lists all over the
internet, in history books, college anthropology classes and numerous studies
showing the same thing—but sadly overlooked for a long time.
Take, for instance, the
development of South America. In its connection with the Land of Promise, one
problem stands out in the minds of so many to which we are constantly reminded by
letter, criticism, and inquiry, and that is most of the continent having been
underwater, at least that portion to the east of the present-day Andes—a point most people simply cannot accept.
In a continent so large today,
one might think that development of its lands and peoples would be somewhat
similar and constant, however, just the opposite is true. In the world of
Anthropology and Archaeology, to those who believe in a north to south movement
of people in the Western Hemisphere as a result of ancients crossing the
so-called Beringa Land Bridge, any development of South America would have had
to follow that of central and north America; however, that is not what is
found in the ground. When the connection between Central and South America
occurred, separating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and caused the creation of
the Gulf Stream, again, development from north to south should have been the
result; however, that is not what happened.
Man did not slowly filter his
way from the north, through Mexico, Central America and into South America. The
reality is, the ruins, dating and finds of the Western Hemsipher show that development
first took place in Chile/Peru and slowly worked its way northward.
While that has been known for
some time, and studies after studies bear out this northward development, what was not
recognized, is not only was there no movement from the east to the west, or
west to the east, there was only movement up the western coastal area from
Chile/Argentina to Peru (into Bolivia) to Ecuador, Colombia and then into Central
America, with a major distribution of people and expertise in what is now
called Mesoamerica.
But again, that is not the
interesting part, other than to show Mesoamericanists that their Land of Promie
model was a “late Jane” in this development, with almost all “concrete”
(real, solid, tangible, definite—such as buildings) evidence dating to the first century B.C. The interesting part is
that there is no development anywhere in South America except along the coastal
areas of Chile through Colombia, then across into Venezuela.
Let’s go back over that again!
There was no settlements of
people recorded or found anywhere in the eastern part of South America! That
is, from the Andes Mountains eastward, there is no evidence that any peoples or
cultures existed there until A.D. times.
Archaeologists have Periods
broken down by dates, beginning with Period I (?BC to 9500 BC) through Period
VI (2500 BC to 1500/1800 BC, a grouping of six periods involving the Preceramic
Cultures. In this time period, the only settlements of peoples and cultures
were found in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru (26 cultures overall, 4 in Ecuador, 1
in Colombia, and 21 in Peru, including western Bolivia) with one culture in central Argentine/Chile.
The next phase is the Ceramic
Cultures, ranging through Six Periods: Initial (1800/1500 BC to 900 BC), Early Horizon,
Early Intermediate, Middle Horizon, Late Intermediate, and Late Horizon, the
latter between 1476 and 1534 AD.
For the sake of this point, we
will sub-divide the Ceramic Cultures into two Periods: period I—Initial to Early
Intermediate (1800/1500 BC to 600 AD), and Period II—Middle Horizon to Late Horizon
(600 AD to 1534 AD).
The important part of this
latter division is that in the first or Period I, all development, like in the Preceramic Cultures periods, are found
only along the west of the Andes,
i.e., Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru (and one in central Argentina).
Not until after 600 A.D. do we
find a culture showing up east of the Andes—in Brazil (Marajoara culture). Now
east of the Andes is what was underwater until at least 34 A.D. when
“Mountains, whose height is great” rose up out of valleys throughout the Land
of Promise (Helaman 14:23).
Stated differently, there was
absolutely no cultural development anywhere in South America as recorded in
actual (concrete) “in the ground” evidence or finds until after 600 A.D.
Now why would that be the case?
Before a single culture rose in
the lands east of the Andes on the entire continent of South America, the
fantastic buildings of Sacsayhuaman had been standing for at least a thousand
years—and the Inca, the last of the indigenous peoples of the Andes, had no
idea who had built the city, or that of Tihuanaco, Ollantaytambo, or numerous
other such cities that were then on the decline.
So, 550 years after the waters
receded on the east, after the mountains whose height is great rose up, settlements
of an indigenous people began to appear in along that part of the continent
that had been underwater.
215 years after the last Nephite
took breath at Cumorah, a settlememnt and culture rose in what was the land
underwater, submerged beneath the sea at the time of Lehi.
Isn’t it interesting, that what
would be expected to find in South America if the continent had always been
intact as so many people claim, does not
exist as discussed above. And what one would expect to find in South
America, east of the Andes, if that part of the continent had been underwater
until at least 34 A.D., is exactly what is found.
The important point here is that
when we following the scriptural record and what is written within it, we find
the answers we seek.
1. Nephi’s ship took him on a
course verified by winds and currents to 30º South Latitude in Chile;
2. What Nephi describes as
finding at the point of landing where they first pitched their tents is
exactly what is found at this area of Coquimbo Bay and La Serena in South
America;
3. When that entire area turns
out to be an “island” as Jacob describes and Nephi writes down, we actually
find a portion of a continent that was above water when the rest was not, forming an island;
4. When Nephi traveled northward
“for many days” to escape his older brothers and settled in an area they called
the Land of Nephi, we can see that area by the description of Sacsayhuaman on the
hill overlooking the valley, and the tower base described by the early Spanish
conquerors along with the written description of the tower in Mosiah;
It is unbelievable that so many
people want to champion an area not consistent with the scriptural record and
completely ignore an area that matches the entire scriptural record.
To that we have John L. Sorenson
to thank, as well as M. Wells Jakeman, and many others, even Hugh Nibley. How
sad it is that so many have been convinced of a location in Mesoamerica that is far from
factual.
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Thank you. I had previously wondered about cultures on that part of the continent, but didn't do much checking on it. I did come across one thing about the layout of a city and roads being revealed when the "jungle" was cleared in an area, but I can't remember the location or proposed time frame of the city. A quick internet search brought up some mounds found in Brazil (different story than the one in the back of my mind), but the earliest appears to date to 200 AD.
ReplyDeleteRE: "caused the creation of the Gulf Stream..."
ReplyDeleteI am quite curious about this. Is there any data showing the Gulf Stream did not exist prior to 34 AD? Was the European climate much colder prior to that?
As a tangent to this, how large was the Atlantic/Pacific connection through Central America? Was it large enough to allow the Atlantic Equatorial currents to pass though, or would some (or most) of it be redirected through the Gulf and up the eastern coast?
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ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Because of the depth of your inquiry, our response will appear in a future article.
ReplyDelete