Since around 2008, Heartlanders have attempted to use DNA evidence to prove their geography of the Book of Mormon—tht is, that all New World events of the Book of Mormon took place in the continental United States from the Great Lakes on the North to the Gulf of Mexico on the south.
Rod L. Meldrum, one of the leaders of the Hearthand theory has written several DNA-related publications in support of their model, (including his book, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA, Digital Legend, Mendon, NY, 2009).
Under an article entitled “Why is finding “Lamanite” DNA in the America’s Important?” Meldrum lists the so-called millions of mounds he considers to be in the Eastern United States, which by extrapolation would have reqired, he claimed, millions of people to build. He answers his own question in another book titled The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Mounds & Earthworks. This answer is: “The most common question that is asked about mounds is, “How many exist?” In the 1800’s the Smithsonian sponsored many expeditions to identify mound sites across America. A map was produced by Cyrus Thomas in 1894 in a Bureau of Ethnology book. They found approximately 100,000 mound sites, many with complexes containing 2 to 100 mounds. The figure of 100,000 mounds once existing—based on Cyrus Thomas map revealing 100,000 sites—is often cited by others, but that estimate is far, far too low.
After visiting several thousand mounds and reviewing the literature, Meldrum claims that he is fairly certain that over 1,000,000 mounds once existed and that perhaps 100,000 still exist. Oddly, some new mound sites are discovered each year by archaeological surveys in remote areas. But in truth, a large majority of America’s mounds have been completely destroyed by farming, construction, looting, and deliberate total excavations” (Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Mounds & Earthworks,” Eagle Wing Books, Inc., Memphis, TN, 2009).
Newark Earthworks in Newark, New Jersey
Some of these great mounds were larger than any pyramids in Egypt. For example, “the Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks—however, despite Meldrum’s fanciful wordage, these mounds while covering a great footprint on the ground, rival the pyramids in no other way.
Monumental Newark Earth Works that originally covered 4½ square miles and 7 million cubic feet of earth; however, its height never exceeded eye-level and falls far short of the magnificent Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering present-day Giza in Greater Cairo, Egypt.
As usual, Meldrum gets a little beyohd reality as he explains his theory. Neither the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks come close to rivaling the Great Pyramids of Egypt, though covering more ground.
This complex, claimed to have been built by the Hopewell culture between 100 and 500 AD contains the largest earthen enclosures in the world, and was about 3,000 acres in total extent.
The Great Circle Mound
Less than 10 percent of the total site has been preserved since European-American settlement; this area contains a total of 206 acres (83 ha). It is operated as a state park by the Ohio History Connection. A designated National Historic Landmark, in 2006 the Newark Earthworks was also designated as the “official prehistoric monument of the State of Ohio.”
As for the DNA, Meldrum points out that the three primary races of the earth, Asian (Oriental), African (Negroid) and European (Caucasian) are quite easily distinguished from each other through specific DNA markers or ‘signatures’ that delineate their ancestry.
Meldrum writes that the Book of Mormon states that the descendants of Lehi, (including his wife Sariah, Ishmael and his wife, and Zoram) lived and multiplied to a great extent somewhere in the America’s. Since he claims it is quite highly probable that Sariah, Ishmael, and Zoram were also of the same genetic stock (not Asian or African), their genetic signatures today would most certainly be classified by present day geneticists as ‘European’ rather than Asian or African. According to Meldrum, we do not know the exact makeup of Lehi’s DNA, but that does not preclude us from being able to make a direct connection to his ‘European/ Caucasian” heritage.
The density of three Haplogroup X
According to Meldrum, preliminary DNA studies, performed on thousands of individual Native Americans from the Aleuts in Alaska, through North, Central, and South America, were completed. They were tested, studied and classified into one of 4 primary genetic groups called haplogroups. These four founding groups, designated Haplogroups A, B, C and D are all Asian-based groups found in modern populations of Siberia and Asia today, which supports, Meldrum claims, the dominant theory of the peopling of the New World (the America’s) by an overland migration across the Bering Strait during an ice age epoch.
Initial studies, he states, indicated that there were no European type genetic DNA markers, which would lead to the conclusion that no migration or population expansion of an ‘Israelite’ group occurred anywhere in the America’s as is indicated by the Book of Mormon. This led to some LDS scientists viewing this as the ‘final straw’ for their belief and some were subsequently excommunicated from the church after writing books contrary to the teachings and doctrine of the gospel, but based on these initial scientific findings.
A small ‘Christian ministry’ capitalized on this small group of LDS scholars and scientists who left or were excommunicated from the church and documented their feelings and findings, producing a very powerful anti-Mormon video documentary, selling tens of thousands of copies since its introduction in early 2003. The revenue produced by this documentary has funded other ‘anti-Mormon’ videos.
Is there a Problem with those who say there is no DNA Evidence? The problem is twofold. The anti-Mormon documentary producers were premature in their conclusions regarding DNA studies in the America’s as the research was not yet complete at the time of the release of their video. The second problem is that in order for DNA to be found relating to Book of Mormon people, we must be sure that we are looking for it in the correct location. What chance is there of finding supportive DNA or any other physical evidence for the truth of The Book of Mormon if we are looking for it in the wrong place?
The article presents data on a genome found that is related to present-day western Eurasian populations and modern Native Americans, not from East Asia—historically a puzzling finding.) In the article, Meldrum claims, ancient DNA researcher Eske Willerslev, of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. stated: “This [DNA] study changes this idea because it shows that a significant minority of Native American ancestry actually derives not from East Asia but from a people related to present-day western Eurasians.” Willerslev also said: “It’s approximately one-third of the genome, and that is a lot,” he added. “So in that regard I think it’s changing quite a bit of the history” – Published November 22, 2013.
(See the next post for a continuation of Meldrum’s DNA claims and the Church's official response to DNA)
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