Was Fort Ancient in Ohio a Nephite Fort in North America? – Part IV

Continued from the previous post regarding a series of questions or comments sent to us by a visitor to our site.
Comment: “Seeing a sophistication of roads and buildings is not always an evidence for the people of God so you have to look at language and culture.”
Response: There are only two areas in the Western Hemisphere that have paved or stone roads and highways that date back into BC times, and that is in Peru and to a far lesser amount, Mesoamerica. Roads have always signaled the advancement of mankind as it connected all regions of an operating society, with large highways and small roads leading to many, most, or all of a particular wide-spread culture. Such did and exist and there is no evidence it ever did in North America, but specific and obvious in the Andes and western South America.
    We can look at culture, but unfortunately, culture is interpreted for the most part by anthropologists using a European/Asian model that simply does not apply in the Americas, since the latter did not begin with same development stages as did the Eastern Hemisphere. But in comparing culture between North America and Andean South America, there simply is no comparison for Ecuador-Peru-Chile show signs of a continued culture and civilization from the Mid-East, or an earlier advanced civilization matching that of biblical standing while North America has almost no signs of an ancient civilization except in Indian lore, which has never been particularly accurate, and certainly lacks candor.

Top: Ancient Hebrew-style buildings; Bottom: Nephite homes in the Land of Promise

Buildings are also a major issue in the Book of Mormon, indicating not only did the Nephites have buildings, but before them the Jaredites had buildings “of every kind” (Mosiah 8:8).
    While the presence of buildings and roads do not necessarily indicate a people of God, evidence shows that in the case of the Jaredites and Nephites, it did.
Comment: “There has been people in Muslim countries practicing semitic rituals for thousands of years and they didn't know they were Semitic rituals.”
Response: Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia included indigenous animistic-polytheistic beliefs, as well a Christianity, Judaism, Mandaeism, and Iranian religions of Zoroastrianism, Mithraim and Manichaeism. Arabian polytheism, the dominant form of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia, was based on veneration of deities and spirits. Worship was directed to various gods and goddesses, including Hubal and the goddesses at-Lãt, al-‘Uzzã and Manãt, at local shrines and temples such as the Kaaba in Mecca.  
    Deities were venerated and invoked through a variety of rituals, including pilgrimages and divination, as well as ritual sacrifice. Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in Meccan religion. Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods are traced to idold, especially near the Kaaba, which is said to have contained up to 360 of them—the Kaaba, (Ka’bah) meaning “Cube,” also referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah‎, (“Holy Ka'bah”), is a building at the center of Islam’s most important mosque, Great Mosque of Mecca (literally meaning “the Sacred mosque”), in the Hejazi city of Mecca, Saudia Arabia.

In addition, other religions were represented to varying, lesser degrees. And finally, the influence of the adjacent Roman, Aksumiteand Sasanian Empires resulted in Christian communities in the northwest, northeast, and south of Arabia.
    With such a history, it cannot simply be said that “people in Muslim countries practicing Semitic rituals for thousands of years and they didn't know they were semitic rituals.” Such is not an accurate interpretation of the facts, since Semitic rituals were practiced in numerous areas of the Middle East—whether known or unknown cannot be determined.
Comment: “I would argue if the Nephites or Lamanites where is South America some cultures would have a trace of semitic rituals or beliefs.”
Response: One of the most important Hebrew rituals found in all of Peruvian South America is that of circumcision. There are few places in the ancient world where this ritual was practiced other than Israel (Canaan) or Lavant and in western South America. For generations this was solely a Hebrew and Jewish (Judah) ritual, being part of the Abrahamic covenant with God. In fact, circumcision was common, though not universal, among ancient Semitic people.

The five Mediterranean Climates outside the Mediterranean Basin; only two are in the Western Hemisphere

There is another example of a connection in South America not found in all of North America, and that would be the seeds Lehi brought from Jerusalem and planted in the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 18:24). There are only two locations where the climate, precipitation, soil and temperatures of the Mediterranean where the seeds were produced would have grown in 600 BC, and that is in La Serena, Chile, which has a matching Mediterranean Climate—the only other area is southern California.
    There are numerous other matches between western South America and the Middle East (Lavant) that have been mentioned in our blog—nephicode.com.
    These additional singular matches include herbs and plants that cured the killer fevers (Alma 46:40); two animals unknown to Joseph Smith (Ether 9:19), and two grains also unknown to Joseph Smith (Mosiah 9:9); Lehi’s isle of promise (2 Nephi 10:20); also the Nephite four seas in their proper directional positions (Helaman 3:8), mountains “whose height is great (Helaman 6:9, 14:23); ore of every kind with metallurgy (2 Nephi 18:24; Jarom 1:8; Helaman 6:11; Ether 10:23) and others.