Continuing with Roper’s and other theorists, particularly Mesoamericanists about the differences regarding the hill Cumorah and what Mormon said about it. Below is a list of several beliefs or concusions drawn about the Hill Cumorah promoted by Mesoamericanists, which disagree with the scriptural record
1. The hill Cumorah was near an eastern seacoast (Ether 9:3). The citing listed does not say it was “near an eastern sea.” The quote is: “The Lord warned Omer in a dream that he should depart out of the land; wherefore Omer departed out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore, and there he pitched his tent, and also his sons and his daughters, and all his household, save it were Jared and his family.”
The route of Omer’s journey from Moron to Ablom
This could be a short distance between the hill Cumorah and the coast, or a long distance. “and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore” is not distance specific. The fact that he traveled “many days” is also unknown. The only thing clear is that Ablom is near the seashore, but the distance they traveled east between the hill Ramah and Ablom is not known.
2. The hill Cumorah was on a coastal plain, and possibly near other mountains and valleys (Ether 14:12-15). The citing quoted does not list mountains at all, and there is no such “coastal” plain mentioned—it is the Plains of Agosh, which seem to be inland, though they did do battle on the seashore. However, all of this is far from the hill Cumorah.
3. The hill Cumorah was apparently a significant landmark (Ether 9:3; Mormon 6:6). The first citation does not suggest any landmark: “Omer departed out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and from thence eastward.” In the second citation, “I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord.” There is no reason to think the hill is a significant landmark from this quote.
4. The hill Cumorah was apparently free standing so people could camp around it (Mormon 6:2,11)
In the first citation, the one listed has nothing to do with this point; however 6:4 is a little more suggestive: “We did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah.” The phrase “around about” is improper English, though used often in Joseph Smith’s time, especially rural areas. It is an American idiom and means “approximately, roughly,” which cannot be used as an exact point as Hedges attempts.
In the second citation, which reads: “And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us, (among whom was my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me.”
There is no reason to believe that Mormon and his 23 survivors limited their view of the dead by standing in one place, or that his men saw different views and talked among themselves on what they saw. This quote shows no reason why the hill Cumorah had to be a singular hill.
5. The hill Cumorah was located in a volcanic zone susceptible to earthquakes (3 Nephi 8:6-23).
In this lengthy quote, nothing is mentioned about the hill Cumorah—only that a singular earthquake hit the Land of promise, both in the Land Southward and in the Land Northward.
It is likely that Alma’s baptisms took place in the Spring through Fall—not in the winter
6. The hill Cumorah’s climate was apparently temperate with no record of cold or snow (Enos 1:20; Alma 46:40)
As for the first citation, the only suggestion is that the Lamanites wore loincloths—which are not only worn in temperate climates. Many parts of the world, as well as the Western Hemisphere, have cold winters (snow) and warm summers (heat). It is not uncommon to find adults and youth wearing only shorts (and halters) to ward off the high temperatures. However, in the winter, snow or just very low temperatures, forced most to wear some type of clothing, but the American Indian always wore a loin cloth on the outside of the clothing.
The second citation suggests that high temperatures existed, making mosquitoes and deadly fevers a problem, which particular plants and roots provided a cure.
Since wars are generally fought between late Spring and early Fall, it might be that the Nephites writing the scriptural record were unaware of what the Lamanites wore in the winter—certainly, they had never been south of the narrow strip of wilderness (other than the few that did missionary work there).
7. The hill Cumorah was tall enough that it could be used as a strategic defensive position.
We do not know, and the scriptural record does not suggest, that the hill Cumorah was a strategic defensive position. The hill Cumorah in New York would certainly not have been such, since the gentle slope up across and down from one side to the other would have provided no defense whatever.
For a mountain to be a strategic defensive position, it would have had to provide an unscalable approach to get over where few could manage at one time, allowing defenders the ability to deal with the enemy that tried to climb the hill and attack from the rear.
8. The lands of Desolation, Moron, the seashore to the east, the hills Shim and Cumorah were all comparatively close to each other.
Omer took his family and traveled northward from Moron
There is nothing in the scriptural record to suggest this. What is said, however, is rather specific: “The Lord warned Omer that he “should depart out of the land; wherefore Omer departed out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore, and there he pitched his tent, and also his sons and his daughters, and all his household, save it were Jared and his family” (Ether 9:3).
First, the Land of Desolation was near the Narrow Neck of Land, to the south of the Land of Desolation (Alma 22:31-32). As Ether concluded: “Now the land of Moron, where the king dwelt, was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites” (Ether 7:6, emphasis added). Now since Desolagtion bordered on the Narrow Neck of Land, which separated the Land of Desolation from the Land of Bountiful, to be near the Land of Desolation, Moron would have to have been to the west, north, or east—also, it was at a higher elevation than Desolation as shown by: “when he had gathered together an army he came up unto the land of Moron where the king dwelt (Ether 7:5).
While we do not know the distance between the hill of Shim and the hill Cumorah, we most certainly do not know the distance between these two hills and Ablom, the latter being by the East Sea. The fact that Omer’s travel northward was “many days,” and his travel eastward not defined in any way, would suggest that the northern hills and city was farther northward, than the seashore eastward.
Second, Omer traveled many days in either a north or south direction—it could not have been south since the Jaredites did not enter the Land Southward. Thus the direction had to be north since it states that they turned to go east. Second, “many days” provides a time frame traveling northward longer than traveling eastward. Third, the hill Shim and the hill Cumorah were evidently near one another, but not close to Ablom
This places the hill Cumorah to the north, perhaps some distance since it took many days to reach it from the Land of Desolation.
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