Mesoamerican Labels for Jaredites and Nephites – Part I

Go on any scholarly website regarding the Book of Mormon and chances are you will find it stating that Lehi landed in Mesoamerica, specifically along the west coast of Guatemala. This overall attitude has been well arranged by Mesomerican theorists working at BYU over the years and those who support that belief. This, despite the numerous contradictions between this model and the actual statements of description in the Book of Mormon.
    In fact, there are so many contradictions, that critics of the Church have used this standard belief as a means to attack the Book of Mormon. And that is understandable since the Mesoamerican area simply has little in common with Lehi’s Land of Promise as the land the Lord granted to him and his descendants (2 Nephi 1:5).

Sorenson’s map of Mesoamerica, sowing that his Land Northward is to the West and his Land Southward is to the East; his East Sea is in the North and his West Seas is to the South—all contrary to Mormon’s descriptions (Alma 22:27-34)

The contradictions dealing with the land arrangement are distinct. Sorenson and other theorists claim their land model that runs east and west is the same as the land description Mormon gives us of a land that runs north and south. In addition, Mormon tells us that “the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:32, emphasis added). This “small neck,” also called a “narrow neck” (Alma 63:5),” cannot be the 140-mile width of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to be their “narrow neck” as these Mesoamerican theorists claim, which to the naked eye at ground level cannot be discerned to be a narrow neck of land between two other larger land masses (it takes an aerial or space view of this area to realize it is a wide isthmus). In addition, there are numerous other physical descriptions of Mesoamerica that do not match the Land of Promise as it was described by Mormon in the scriptural record, such as no metallurgy until 600 to 800 AD, yet, the Jaredites had metallurgy as early as about 2000 BC, and worked both iron and steel (Ether 7:9; 10:23).
    Besides all of this physical differences, there are also cultural differences of some importance where the claimed societies matching the scriptural civilizations are in error. As an example, according to anthropologist and archaeologist of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies, Richard A. Diehl, the Olmec, who Mesoamericanists claim were the Jaredites, did not appear on the scene until 1500 BC. As a noted scholar he is renowned for his extensive contributions in the study of the Olmec civilization—which he claims flourished along the Gulf Coast of Mexico and widely influenced subsequent Mesoamerican cultures—were the first Mesoamerican civilization.
    In fact, as a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Diehl continues to be active in Mesoamerican and archaeological research, teaching and writing about the Olmec and other archaeological subjects. His studies and work centered on the Olmec’s initial settlement at what is now Vera Cruz (Richard A. Diehl, The Olmecs: America’s First Civilization, Thames and Hudson, London, 2004, pp9-25).

Time Line shows the difference between the Biblical and Book of Mormon dates and those of Sorenson and his Mesoamerican calendar

In addition, non-LDS scholars on the subject claim there were pre-Olmec people in the land in 2500 BC, which places the people in the land prior to the landing of the Jaredites and before the Biblical Flood of Noah—another point of disagreement of Sorenson, who uses a date of 3100 BC for the Flood date, based on an unexplained and unknown reason for the beginning of the Olmec calendar.
    Another site, San Lorenzo, which lies 175 miles south of Vera Cruz, and a little north of the Mesoamerican theorists’ claimed narrow neck of land, sits on the west side of the Coatzacoalcos River. Today called San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, the site is the collective name for three related archaeological sites: San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlan and Potrero Nuevo (in the southeast corner of today’s Mexican state of Veracruz).
    Of San Lorenzo, Sorenson states in his book An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (p109) it “had a brilliance and suddenness in its growth that seemed mysterious,” suggesting a sudden appearance in the land as the Jaredites had been in the Land Northward. However, Sorenson also says that San Lorenzo was first settled in 1700 BC, and then tells us that it peaked in 1200 BC., which is a 500-year growth period, which hardly seems to be either “sudden” or “mysterious.” In fact, Sorenson goes on to say later that the Olmec development had “a long period of development behind it” and that the Olmec culture itself was far older than they had supposed.”
    Sorenson also states that the Olmec began in San Lorenzo and spread as far as coastal Guatemala on the south and central Mexico on the north; however, using his map 5 on page 37, that places the Olmec (as his Jaredites) in the Land of Zarahemla and the Land of Nephi, both of which were in the Land Southward. Yet, Moroni tells us quite clearly, that the Jaredites never settled south of the narrow neck of land “and they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants” (Ether 10:21).
    It should be noted that the famed “Olmec Heartland” not only consists of Laguna de los Cerros and Tres Zapotes in Vera Cruz, with San Lorenzo near the narrow neck (all in the Land Northward), but also the major site of La Venta in the Land Southward along with Olmec appearances in San Andrés and Arroyo Sonso, all three in the coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mesoamericanits’ Land of Bountiful (Stefan Lovgren, “Ancient City Found in Mexico, Shows Olmec Influence,” National Geographic News, National Geographic Society, January 26, 2007).

Dark area represents the Olmec range of sites and trade routes showing the Olmec involvement throughout the Mesoamerican claimed Land Southward, contrary to Moroni’s outline of the Jaredite lands

In addition, there are recorded Olmec remains along the Pacific Coast of Guatemala in the Land Southward, and several minor locations in the far south of Guatemala, western Honduras and El Salvador—none of which agree with the scriptural record for the Jaredites. In addition, the Olmec are said to be the parent culture of many of the important Mesoamerican cultures that came afterward, including the Aztec and Maya. It is also claimed that Olmec traders swapped finely made Olmec celts, masks and other small pieces of art with other cultures such as the Mokaya and Tlatilco, getting jadeite, serpentine, obsidian, salt, cacao, pretty feathers and more in return. These extensive trade networks spread Olmec culture far and wide, spreading Olmec influence throughout Mesoamerica. While this may well be true of the ancient Olmec, it has no founding in the Book of Mormon and the many descriptions of the Jaredite kingdom.
    No wonder Mesoamericanists are so hell-bent on claiming there were other cultures and peoples in the Land of Promise before, during and after Lehi’s landing. The very nature and history of their claimed Land of Promise site requires there to have been former people in the land, even before the Jaredites, and especially at the time of the Nephites, before and long after.
    In another instance, Sorenson (pp112-113) states that “the spectacular fall of Olmec San Lorenzo took place shortly before 1000 BC when the local society lost much of its vigor and influence. Here and there…other Olmec sites arose, notably La Venta, on an island in a swamp 60 miles east of San Lorenzo, and Laguna de los Cerros northwest of the fallen cultural capital.”
    However, in the scriptural record, there is no indication that the Jaredite capital of Moron, or any other major Jaredite city fell in 1000 BC, some 300 to 400 years before the end of the Jaredite kingdom. Nor do we see in the record that another capitol was formed, as Sorenson states of La Venta to “become a second San Lorenzo for brilliance,” but it too, was later abandoned.
    The many dates Sorenson and many other Mesoamerican theorists use, reach far back to 3100 BC, and the claimed Jaredite landing in 3000 BC, in which Sorenson discounts and considers the Biblical Genesis and the Pearl of Great Price accounts to be inaccurate regarding the birth dates of the Patriarchs. This is done because the time frame of Mesoamerica and its calendar does not match the scriptural time frame found in the Genesis account. Instead, Sorenson uses the Maya calendar in his Mesoamerican model, which date for the Flood is based on an unexplained calendarbeginning in 3100 BC.
(See the next post, “Mesoamerican Labels for Jaredites and Nephites – Part II,” for information on the Maya and the Mesoamericanist theory of their being the Book of Mormon Nephites)