Could the Heartland People Have Built Great Cities?

 There is no questions that great cities were built among the Nephites and by Nephite dissenters for the Lamanites. Mormon describes the greatness of certain cities: “Now the Lamanites and the Amalekites and the people of Amulon had built a great city, which was called Jerusalem” (Alma 21:2, emphasis added), the city of Ammonihah was called a great city (Alma 9:9, emphasis added), the great city of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:18; 13:12-14, emphasis added), and the great city that the Jaredites built “by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land”  (Ether 10:20, emphasis added).

In fact, even the Lord referred to some Nephite and Lamanite cities as “great”: “Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire”…And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth” (3 Nephi 9:3-5, emphasis added). Also, “And behold, that great city Jacobugath” (3 Nephi 9:9, emphasis added), and “these great cities which have fallen” (3 Nephi 10:4, emphasis added).

In defining the term “great city” as used by Joseph Smith in the translation, we find in Noah Wester’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, that “great” meant: “Large in bulk or dimensions; a term of comparison, denoting more magnitude or extension than something else, or beyond what is usual; as a great body; a great house; a great farm; Being of extended length or breadth. Large in number. Expressing a large, extensive or unusual degree of any thing.” Thus, these “great cities” referred to by the Lord were cities of great size, larger and more vast than usual, extensive in length and breadth. 

The city of Jerusalem in Lehi and Nephi’s time

 

For a comparison of the use of “great,” Nephi referred to the ancient city of Jerusalem as a “great city” (1 Nephi 1:4; 2:13; 10:3; 11:13). Thus we have a comparison between some Nephite cities and the ancient Jerusalem of the Levant in the Old World. This means that any land claimed to be Lehi’s Land of Promise would have some level of city walls and buildings.

When a group of Nephites returned from the city of Zarahemla, after Mosiah had discovered it, to the city of Nephi from which Mosiah came, they were led by a man named Zeniff, who became king over the land. While we do not know how much time elapsed between those two events, it is likely that Coriantumr, the last surviving Jaredite, arrived among the people of Zarahemla, or the Mulekites, before Mosiah arrived (Omni 1:21), and it is likely that Mosiah interpreted the writing, on the stone Coriantur wrote upon, after Zeniff left to go back to the city of Nephi. Thus, we might assume that Zeniff, and thus his grandson, Limhi (Mosiah 7:9), were unaware of a civilization to the north when king Limhi sent his 43-man expedition to find Zarahemla and enlist their brethren to help them against the oppressive Lamanites.

Consequently, when the expedition returned, after being lost in the wilderness and wandering for many days before encountering a land filled with ruined buildings of every kind (Mosiah 8:8), they thought it was Zarahemla and so reported it to Limhi upon their return.

We also need to keep in mind that from the very beginning, Nephi taught his people “to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance” (2 Nephi 5:15). In fact, Nephi built in his city a temple, like Solomo’s (2 Nephi 5:16), ad about 400 years later, king Noah “built him a spacious palace“ (Mosiah 11:9) among other buildings and towers in the same city Nephi’s temple was like, in some respects, the famed temple in Jerusalem, which he had visited before leaving that city when Lehi was called to travel out into the wilderness with his family.

Solomon’s Temple was 87½ feet long; 30 feet wide; and 43½ feet high. In many places inside the temple, wood paneling was covered with sheets of gold (Window into the Bible—sponsored by www.bibleworld.org.nz)

Nephi acknowledges that the main difference between his temple and that of Solomon it was “not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine” (2 Nephi 5:16). Solomon's temple was built of cut and pre-dressed stone, cedars of Lebanon wood and pine. Two large pillars named Jakin and Boaz stood at the entrance, and there were three stories of side rooms built around three sides of the temple, which almost doubled the width of the complete building (1 Kings 6:1-38; 2 Chronicles 3:1-17).

Once again, it seems only reasonable to believe that wherever the Land of Promise was, remnants of buildings and cities of great size, would still be evident. And such ruins of cities, temples and palaces are found in both Mesoamerica and the Andean area of South America. However, no such construction of any similar kind is found anywhere in Hearatland or Great Lakes area of what is now the United States. In fact, from a Book written in 1915 about the dawn of history and the chronicles of aboriginal development in the Great Lakes Region, comes this description of the indigenous Indian of that area.

The Tipi, typical settlement arrangement for Plains Indians of the Heartland

 

“The great red race which inhabited what is now the Great Lakes region, spent a primitive existence, living thinly scattered along the sea-coast, and in the forests and open glades of the district of the Great Lakes, or wandering over the prairies of the west. In hardly any case had they any settled abode or fixed dwelling-places. The Iroquois and some Algonquins built Long Houses of wood and made stockade forts of heavy timber. But not even these tribes, who represented the furthest advance towards civilization among the savages of North America, made settlements in the real sense. They knew nothing of the use of metals. Such poor weapons and tools as they had were made of stone, of wood, and of bone.”

Compare that with the highly advanced indigenous “Indians” of Mesoamerica—the Aztecs, of Mexico and the Mayan of Guatemala—and the Inca of the Andean area, at the time of the European arrival. Their achievements in construction, roads and cities are among some of the finest pre-history developments in the world. What we find in the Heartland and Great Lakes region are burial mounds, trenches, and earthen bulwarks.

The question asked originally, “Could The Heartland  people have built great cities?” seems obviously answered. The evidence of remains and noticeable lack of such accomplishment seems overwhelming against such an ability.