“The Heartland of North America is the only location in the Western Hemisphere where all ten of the essential items necessary to practice the Law of Moses were found anciently including; lambs, oxen, goats, doves, barley, wheat, grapes, and altars made of stacked, unhewn stones.” Amberli Nelson. This blog speaks to the Barley found in Iowa near Montrose at a historical site called Gast Spring site (13LA152) in Louisa County, Iowa.
The harvest of Barley is about three weeks earlier than the wheat harvest. This would give the ancient Nephites a frame of reference of when to expect the wheat to become available. The only “sheaf of the first fruits” of grain that was ripe enough to be harvested, and could be waved before the Lord at the time of the Passover, was barley. The wheat had not yet ripened. The Nephites raised both barley and wheat, essential grains that were required to observe the Law of Moses.
3 Essential Truths about Nephite Observance of the Law of Moses
“First Truth: Not only did the Nephites “strictly” keep the law of Moses (as indicated in 37 verses in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 30:3, Mosiah 13:29-30, Jarom 1:5), but they did so with delight as it was seen by them as both a collection of types of Christ and a means of coming unto Him. Occasionally even the Lamanites were known to “strictly” observe the law (Hel. 13:1). Second: In “observing to keep the commandments of the Lord in all things, according to the Law of Moses” (2 Ne. 5:10), the Nephites would have necessarily observed all the feasts or “holy days” given to Moses by Jehovah. These are recorded in Exodus and Leviticus and are known as “holy convocations” or “rehearsals” and they typify the life and mission of Jesus Christ in profoundly beautiful ways. Third: It was absolutely essential for these Jewish Lehites to be brought to a land that would provide an abundance of all the plants and animals required to keep the Law of Moses, with its concomitant Holy Days or festivals. Based on the latest archeological findings, it can now be irrefutably shown that the Heartland of North America is the only location in the Western Hemisphere where all ten of the essential items were found anciently including; lambs, oxen, goats, doves, barley, wheat, grapes, and altars made of stacked, unhewn stones. These aforementioned items have not been found in the archaeological record of the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica.” Amberli Nelson B.S. Hebrew/Jewish Symbology Expert
“Barley is a short-season, early maturing crop and is likely the world’s oldest cultivated grain. It is produced in a variety of climates in both irrigated and dry-land production areas. Barley is the one of the largest feed grain crop produced in the United States.” Agricultural Marketing Resource Center https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/grains-oilseeds/barley-profile
Little barley (Hordeum pusillum Nutt.)
Little barley is an annual grass which produces a starchy grain or seed, much smaller than that of domesticated Old World barley. It often grows wild on waste ground, along roadsides, and in overgrazed pastures in dry, alkaline soil. Today it occurs primarily in northwestern Iowa.
Archaeologically, little barley is commonly found at sites together with seeds of other known cultivated plants including goosefoot, maygrass, and knotweed. Cultivation is inferred not from morphological changes to the seed, but from its abundance and association with these other cultigens at sites across the Midwest and South.
Evidence for the earliest known cultivated little barley in eastern North America comes the Gast Spring site (13LA152) in Louisa County, Iowa, Article here: [Just 40 miles north of Lee County Iowa where the City of Montrose is located]. Little barley seeds were found with domesticated goosefoot seeds and the rind of domesticated squash or gourd in Terminal Archaic and Early Woodland features dating 2,800 to 3,000 years ago. Archaeologists recovered a single specimen of possibly cultivated little barley at the Late Archaic Edgewater Park site (13JH1132) in Johnson County dated 700 years earlier than Gast Spring. Charred seeds from two Early Woodland contexts at 13MC15 in Muscatine County were radiocarbon-dated to 2,500 years ago. Little barely is increasingly abundant in Iowa sites from Middle Woodland times throughout the Late Prehistoric. Storage pits at Wall Ridge, 13ML176, a Late Prehistoric Glenwood site in Mills County, Iowa, produced the first reported instance of little barley on the Central or Northern Plains.
Although it is questionable whether little barley was ever actually domesticated, its cultivation is important in understanding pre-maize agriculture. Because the grains are so small, large plots were needed for an adequate harvest. Thus its presence signals the beginning of more intensive cropping practices among prehistoric people.
Little barley, like maygrass, is a winter annual with seeds ripening in late May and June— offering prehistoric peoples a springtime resource. To process seeds for food, the bract— a papery covering around the grain which has a sharp, hair-like attachment (awn)— was separated from the grain. Like chenopodium, it is assumed that early peoples ate the nutritious starchy seeds of little barley—possibly parched, roasted, and boiled.”
Major References
Asch, David L. and William Green 1992
Dunne, Michael T. 1997
Dunne, Michael T. and William Green 1998
Green, William 1990
Green, William and Shelly Gradwell 1995
Schroeder, Marjorie 1995
Whittaker et al. 2007
Zalucha, L. Anthony 1999
Published by The Office of the State Archaeologist (https://archaeology.uiowa.edu) and other reference below.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20708423?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
From the LDS Bible Dictionary under Barley we read, “A food grain cultivated from the earliest times; in Palestine it is sown from the beginning of November till the beginning of December; the harvest is about three weeks earlier than wheat harvest. Often it was mixed with other, more palatable grains in making flour. See Ex. 9:31; Deut. 8:8; Ruth 1:22; John 6:9–13. Mosiah 7:22 Mosiah 9:9 Alma 11:7
Mosiah 9:9 “And we began to till the ground, yea, even with all manner of seeds, with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley, and with neas, and with sheum, and with seeds of all manner of fruits; and we did begin to multiply and prosper in the land.”
(Left) Little Barley sign at Fort Ancient Archaeological State Museum, Oregonia, Ohio, which is situated 260 feet above the Little Miami River atop an immense isolated 126 acre plateau having monumental earthworks and embankment walls. (Photo by Rod Meldrum)
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(Right): Little barley seeds are edible and were part of the
Eastern Agricultural Complex of cultivated plants used in Pre- Columbian times by Native Americans.
(Left): Burnt Corn. The Cincinnati Museum Center archaeology team found a ditch at Hahn Site, Newtown, Ohio, to contain refuse from the last occupants—Fort Ancient Culture and an earlier use of the site during the Hopewell horizon. This recently was confirmed by a radiocarbon date—the ditch was probably built by the Hopewell, perhaps around 200-400 A.D., and just before the Late Woodland period (see p. 535 Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon). Earthwork construction of the site is indicative of Hopewell Geometric construction, circles, henges, squares, ellipses and causeways. Burnt corn was found, suggesting one of the earliest introductions into Hopewell timeline in Ohio. (Photo taken at Firehouse Town Hall, Newtown, OH, courtesy of Wayne N. May)
THE RIPENING OF BARLEY AND THE LAW OF MOSES
When Moses petitioned the Pharaoh to allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt, ten plagues were pronounced upon the Egyptians before the Pharaoh finally relented to let them go. The seventh plague that fell upon Egypt, shortly before the night of Passover, was hail. As related in Exodus 9:29-32, the hail ruined the barley crop because it had already ripened, but the wheat was not destroyed because it had not matured: And Moses said unto him: “As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my
hands unto the LORD. And the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be anymore hail that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’s. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.” And the flax and the barley was smitten for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled [was in bloom]. But the wheat and the rie [rye] were not smitten for they were not grown up.” (Emphasis added.) In Leviticus 23:4-14 we read concerning some of the seasonal feasts celebrated in the Law of Moses: “These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons: In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s Passover [early Spring]. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the LORD. Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days; in the seventh day is an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.” And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: “When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.” (Emphasis added.)
The only “sheaf of the first fruits” of grain that was ripe enough to be harvested, and could be waved before the Lord at the time of the Passover, was barley (see right) The wheat had not yet ripened. The Nephites raised both barley and wheat, essential grains that were required to observe the Law of Moses. ”In their seasons”: (see p. 300 Annotated Book of Mormon) “And we began to till the ground, yea, even with all manner of seeds: with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley…” Mosiah 9:9- Page 160 Annotated Book of Mormon
(Number 3 Below) THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS took place at the beginning of the spring harvest signifying Israel’s gratitude to and dependence upon the Lord. According to Leviticus 23:9–14, an Israelite would bring a sheaf of the first grain of the harvest (see “The Ripening of Barley and the Law of Moses,” p. 160) to the priest, who would wave it before the Lord as an offering. Deuteronomy 26:1–11 states that, when the Israelites brought the firstfruits of their harvest before the priest, they were to acknowledge that God had delivered them from Egypt and had given them the Promised Land. This festival was also implemented to symbolize Christ’s resurrection as He was the “firstfruits of them that slept.” (1 Corinthians 15:20) Page 169 Annotated Book of Mormon
Please read the information below that Book of Mormon Central (BOMC) provides for saying there was Barley in Mesoamerica. They agree with me that Barley was found in Iowa and in Arizona, but notice their lack of information about Barley in Mesoamerica.
https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/barley-and-book-mormon-new-evidence
Please watch their video below. It is very well done but never explains about any Barley in mesoamerica.
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/how-can-barley-in-the-book-of-mormon-feed-faith
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1110&index=36
Book of Mormon Central also gives the following link as a reference, but nowhere can I find information about Barley in Mesoamerica. I find Barley in the Heartland of North America. You read, then decide! If you find anything about Barley in Mesoamerica please let me know.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20708423?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Book of Mormon Central who are huge supporters of the Mesoamerican theory have an article here that they use to try and acknowledge they are neutral on Book of Mormon Geography. They show TWO (2) articles total with favorability towards the Heartland model, yet they have several hundred articles favorable towards Mesoamerica. BOMC claim they are neutral but they are not.
Barley, NO Connection to Mesoamerica in their own words.
Barley originated in Iowa and Illinois not Mesoamerica. Why does Book of Mormon Central strain over this nat? They want nothing mentioned in the Book of Mormon to connect to the Heartland of North America.
