A Million Mounds in North America?

That seems incredible and unheard of to most people of the world. This fact has just not been taught in our historical circles. Why not? Well think about it. It does not go along with the prevailing wisdom of the world to say the Land of North America is so new and not the old world. Oh really?

Did you know that Adam was placed on this so-called New World in Missouri? North America should really be called the Old World. Our existence began in Missouri and it will end with the New Jerusalem in Missouri. The Smithsonian also has hidden the history of the Natives from us as they and other historians say the Natives were not as smart as the White people, which gave them terrible justification of killing, spitting on and driving the Natives out of the land that the White people wanted as their own.

I ask often, “why is it that I personally never even knew or heard about a Native American Indian Mound until I was 50 years old? I wasn’t taught this truth, as many educators didn’t think it was important. Well, it IS IMPORTANT, and I will spend the rest of my days sharing with others why it is important. The Book of Mormon is a history of the Native Americans in the United States of America.

That knowledge has driven me to share that information with the world. There are still today many BYU scholars who say events of the Book of Mormon happened in Mesoamerica and that is very wrong in my opinion. We need to wake them up. With such an important book as the Book of Mormon, we should know all things about it. My testimony comes from the spirit of God, but having this secondary knowledge validates the truthfulness of this wonderful book even more to me. How can we discus the Bible without knowing where it happened, and I ask how can we fully talk about the Book of Mormon without knowing where it came from? After all the references to “A Promised Land” occur in the Book of Mormon so many times, shouldn’t we today know the land that it is referring to? It’s NOT Mesoamerica.

I Believe the Prophets

According to Bruce R. McConkie and Joseph Fielding Smith, “Because of this theory [2 Cumorah’s that many BYU Scholars teach, one hill being in Mesoamerica] some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon.” Doctrines of Salvation Vol 3 Chapter 12. How is your faith? I truly believe there is only ONE Hill Cumorah and it is in Ontario County, NY.

Elder L. Tom Perry said, ““The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom Perry Ensign Dec. 2012.

Pres Thomas L. Monson said, “The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12). Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” Teachings of Thomas S. Monson by Thomas S. Monson 2011 (Ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008)

Hugh Nibley said, “The Book of Mormon is a history of a related primitive church, and one may well ask what kind of remains the Nephites would leave us from their more virtuous days. A closer approximation to the Book of Mormon picture of Nephite culture is seen in the earth and palisade structures of the Hopewell and Adena culture areas than in the later stately piles of stone in Mesoamerica...

Though such piles as the great pyramid-temple of Chichén Itzá yield to few buildings in the world in beauty of proportion and grandeur of conception, there is something disturbing about most of these overpowering ruins. Writers describing them through the years have ever confessed to feelings of sadness and oppression as they contemplate the moldy magnificence—the futility of it all: “They have all gone away from the house on the hill,” and today we don’t even know who they were. The great monuments do not represent what the Nephites stood for; rather, they stand for what their descendants, “mixed with the blood of their brethren,” descended to. But seen in the newer and wider perspective of comparative religious studies, they suggest to us not only the vanity of mankind and the futility of man’s unaided efforts, but also something nobler; the constant search of men to recapture a time when the powers of heaven were truly at the disposal of a righteous people.” Ancient Temples: What Do They Signify? By Hugh Nibley September 1972

President J. Reuben Clark famously said, “If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed.”

Firm Foundation believes along with nearly every non-Mormon archaeologist, these amazing mounds of the Hopewell and Adena people must be researched and not ignored as most of those with so-called LDS scholarship ignore. The Hopewell Culture began in Florida in 600 BC and ended in New York in 400 AD. (Historical Fact). The Adena Culture began near the Great Lakes in 1500 BC, with the most activity in the Ohio area, and ended at the same hill Cumorah in NY that the Hopewell did (See Ether 15:11), in about 300 BC. (Historical Fact). As part of history it is also verified that the Hopewell Culture built right on top of many of the old Adena mound sites, which validates the importance of this area of the United States to both of these cultures. The Heartland of the United States with the Mississippi Valley and the Ohio and Missouri Rivers is some of the best land in the world to have a large civilization of people. It just makes sense that the Hopewell were the Nephites and the Adena were the Jaredites. You can’t make this stuff up. Nibley also said, “The cornerstone of “sound scholarship” in our day is the comfortable doctrine that the answer no can never be quite as wrong as the answer yes, a proposition which to my knowledge has never been demonstrated. Excuse me if I seem recalcitrant, but I find it odd that the one skill most appreciated and rewarded in those circles where one hears everlastingly of “the inquiring mind” and the importance of “finding out for one’s self” is the gift and power of taking things for granted. Even our Latter-day Saint intellectuals are convinced that the way to impress the Gentiles is not to acquire a mastery of their critical tools, (how few even know Latin!), but simply to defer in all things to their opinions.” The WORLD Of The JAREDITES Improvement Era 1951-52 PART II The Tower By Hugh Nibley Now we will look at just a few of the Million or more mounds that existed in North America, and see how they related to the timeline of the Nephites and Jaredites.

Mound City Group Chillicothe, OH

Before reading the quote below about “how many mounds”, understand definitions. “A Mound” does not necessarily mean one clump of dirt. Sometimes there are 5-50 mounds in one group that is designated as a mound, a group, a system, a culture etc. There are 23 mounds at the Mound City Group in Ohio.

“Mound City Group is the only fully restored Hopewell earthwork complex. As such, it is a national treasure. Here, visitors who walk quietly through the enclosure and among the mounds can still experience a sense of what it may have been like to gather at a Hopewell ceremonial site two thousand years ago.

This earthwork consist of a 13-acre rectangular earth enclosure with at least 23 mounds. The height of the earth walls of the enclosure is about 3 to 4 feet, with an entrance or gateway on both the east and west sides. All the mounds are dome shaped except for one that is elliptical. The largest mound of the group was described by early explorers as 17.5 feet high and 90 feet in diameter. There are two additional mounds just outside the enclosure. All the walls and mounds have been reconstructed and are clearly visible.” Source:

How Many Mounds Existed? (Millions)

“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 (shown below) 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, I am 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]. Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., is the author of over 30 books, including Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds and Earthworks. His research has been featured on the National Geographic Channel, MSNBC, Discovery, and the History Channel. He lives in Collierville, Tennessee.

Mounds in North America Joseph Smith Visited

“Mormonism sprang from the mounds,” wrote Roger Kennedy, former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Even before the Book of Mormon was published, Mormonism was linked to the Moundbuilder civilizations of North America. One man who claimed to have heard a reading of the lost 116 pages said “It was a description of the mounds about the country and similar to the Book of Mormon. In 1843, Joseph Smith apparently alluded to the 116 pages when he said the Book of Mormon spoke about sacred burial places. Several authors have placed the Book of Mormon among other 19^th century books about the origins of the Moundbuilders.  At one time, there were over a million ancient earth mounds in North America; approximately 100,000 remain today. Many of these mounds are located in the territory from western New York through western Missouri where early Mormon history took place. Three specific mounds figure prominently in LDS history: Zelph’s mound in Illinois, the Kinderhook mound, also in Illinois, from which the six brass plates were taken, and Enon mound in Ohio. Until the early Saints leveled them to build homes and farms, Indian mounds dominated Nauvoo. Joseph Smith purchased one and resorted to it from time to time. Less well known are the mounds located just north of Nauvoo that have recently been discovered and preserved. The connections between Mormonism and the mounds of North America have yet to be fully explored. …The increasing awareness of the numerous Hopewell mounds in the Nauvoo area may give renewed attention to the connection between Mormons and the mounds. When workers dug a utility trench between the Red Brick Store and the Joseph Smith Homestead, the equipment churned up Hopewell bones and artifacts. This area is adjacent to the Smith Family Cemetery, leading to the possibility that Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, his brother Hyrum and his parents are buried in a Hopewell burial site.” The Mormons and the Mounds – Jonathan Neville Mormon History Association June 2017.

This paper by Wittorf below, is quite good and detailed. I insert my comments as well. The conclusion it comes to I don’t agree with everything, but there is much to study. The idea that in Joseph Smith’s life he saw and discussed ancient mounds is fantastic. When speaking of “this country” and “this land” and “here”, Joseph was not ever in Mesoamerica so we know Joseph was speaking about the land he lived in and touched, even the land of the United States.

JOSEPH SMITH AND THE PREHISTORIC MOUND-BUILDERS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA By John H. Wittorf

“During the nineteenth century, considerable excitement and speculation raged about the antiquity and identity of the builders of the numerous prehistoric burial mounds, earthworks, and fortifications which were encountered by the settlers west of the Allegheny Mountains, it was to be expected that the Book of Mormon, with its claim to being a historical record of ancient American peoples, would be drawn into the controversy. In fact, it has been almost as common-place among non-Mormon writers to regard that record as a history of the “Mound Builders” as to consider it a narration of the travels of the “Lost Ten Tribes.”

That this belief has persisted to the present day, in spite of the efforts of Mormon writers to emphasize the parallels between the Middle American archaeological record and the Book of Mormon, may be seen in the recent (1968) statement by the author of an otherwise excellent account of the “Mound Builder” controversy:

The legend of the Mound Builders achieved its apotheosis when a major religious creed was founded upon it by Joseph Smith and made lasting by his successor Brigham Young.”’

The noted anthropologist, James B. Griffin, in a recent summary of the archaeology of eastern North America, felt it necessary to lecture his readers as follows:

“In this presentation of the prehistory of Eastern North America there are no vanished races; no wandering Welshmen, Lost Tribes of Israel, Irish Monks,.., or angels and golden tablets in New York.

These concepts of the 18th and 19th centuries, with unfortunate hangovers up to the present, were a product of the ignorance of that period.”²

IN MIDDLE AMERICA

The Book of Mormon itself, interestingly enough, does not mention the term “mound” at all and refers only twice to “heaps of earth” having been dug up, once in connection with the fortification of cities and the other in connection with mining operations.’³ Joseph Smith appears to have regarded the main centers of occupation of the Book of Mormon peoples as being situated in the Middle American area when he editorialized two years before his death in the Times and Seasons, commenting on the then-recent rediscovery of the Maya civilization by John Lloyd Stephens:⁴

Editors note: The Lost City of Zarahemla is destined to become one of the most important discoveries in church history in decades… the definitive answer to the question of Joseph Smith’s knowledge of Book of Mormon geography and the origins of Central American theories.  An attorney, novelist, and careful scholar, Jonathan Neville has created a historical account that reads like a first-rate novel. Discover the ‘smoking gun’ of Book of Mormon geography…his name? Winchester. 362 pgs

In March of 1841, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation naming the area of Iowa across from Nauvoo as Zarahemla.  That same month, a man Joseph described as rotten at heart, who would injure the Church as much as he could, began a scheme to move Zarahemla to Guatemala.  His efforts culminated in an article in the Church’s Times and Seasons on 1 October 1842.  From that date until now, this man’s scheme succeeded.

Wittorf continues, “Central America, or Guatemala [sic] , is situated north of the Isthmus of Darien and once embraced several hundred miles of territory from north to south.— The city of Zarahemla. . . stood upon this land We are not going to declare positively that the ruins of Quirigua are those of Zarahemla, but when the land and the stones, and the books tell the story so plain, we are of the opinion, that it would require more proof than the Jews could bring to prove the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the tomb, to prove that the ruins of the city in question, are not one of those referred to in the Book of Mormon..”⁵

The somewhat overzealous claims made in behalf of the Book of Mormon by other Latter-day Saint commentators, such as Orson Pratt and certain members of the Reorganized LDS church,6 undoubtedly contributed greatly to the belief that it is a history of the “Mound Builders.” Since it was Joseph Smith who brought forth the Book, however, it may be considered useful to examine his own observations in regard to the mounds in Ohio and Illinois which came to his attention, and attempt to place these in a proper context.

ENON MOUND

The main references in Joseph Smith’s journal occur in connection with the march of “Zion’s Camp” from Kirtland, Ohio, to Missouri in the spring of 1834 for the purpose of assisting the Saints who had been driven from their homes by mobs several months earlier. The route taken by Zion’s camp is known only approximately.⁷

The first mention of a mound encountered on this journey is an entry in Joseph’s journal under the date of May 16, 1834. The party was en route from Springfield to Dayton, Ohio.

“About nine o’clock . . . we came into a piece of thick woods of recent growth, where I told them that I felt much depressed in spirit and lonesome, and that there had been a great deal of bloodshed in that place, remarking that whenever a man of God is in a place where many have been killed, he will feel lonesome and unpleasant, and his spirits will sink.

“In about forty rods from where I made this observation we came through the woods, and saw a large farm, and there near the road on our left, was a mound sixty feet high, containing human bones. The mound was covered with apple trees, and surrounded with oat fields, the ground being level for some distance around.”⁸

The reference made by Joseph to bloodshed may have some connection with the battle of Piqua, in which General George Rogers Clark and his force defeated some Shawnees in August of 1780. The Shawnee village of Piqua was situated about five miles west of Springfield.⁹ The large mound referred to is undoubtedly the mound at Enon, Clark County, Ohio, about seven miles west of Springfield on the south side of the present Springfield-Dayton road.

A recent publication of the Ohio Historical Society includes a photograph of the mound and describes it as follows:

“ENON MOUND, east edge of Enon. This is the second largest conical mound in Ohio. Its base covers one acre. Reported to have been partially excavated many years ago, the mound was said to have contained a cave or chamber about 30 feet down, kiln-shaped and high enough for a man to stand. A few Adena Culture artifacts have been removed from the mound…. Authorities have called the mound the most beautifully proportioned of its type in existence.”¹⁰

Levi Hancock, writing about two weeks after Joseph Smith, may also have referred to this incident when he recorded the following:

“I . . . remembered what he (i.e. Joseph Smith) had said a few days before while passing many mounds on our way that was left of us. Said he, ‘these are the bodies of wicked men who have died and are angry at us…“11

The Enon mound appears not yet to have been scientifically examined. Some caution will have to be exercised in interpreting any finds, however, if credence may be given to a letter to Science magazine in 1893:

“Near Enon, in Clark County, Ohio, is a well-known artificial mound, commonly called ‘Prairie Knob,’ while the level tract on which it is situated is called ‘Knob Prairie.’ A former pupil of mine informed me that when he was a boy his grandfather sunk a shaft in the centre of the mound down to the underlying black soil, without finding any thing of consequence. The old gentlemen was disappointed not to say disgusted, to find this cherished landmark . . . so utterly barren. He thereupon determined, in the generosity of his heart, that future explorers should not go un-rewarded. He therefore deposited in the hole a miscellaneous collection of stone implements, pottery, shells, old bones, etc., such as he imagined a properly constructed mound ought to contain. This done, he carefully refilled the shaft, and restored the mound to its former appearance.

“Imagine the sensation that such a find as this is likely to make when brought to light by some enterprising mound explorer of the twentieth century!” 12

ZELPH MOUND (Havana Hopewell Period)

On June 2, 1834, Zion’s Camp crossed the Illinois River and camped on the west bank. The next morning, Joseph Smith and others visited a prominent mound on top of the bluffs overlooking the river which appears to have been located the previous day by a reconnaissance party.’³ Joseph wrote that on top of the mound were ….. stones which presented the appearance of three altars having been erected one above the other, according to the ancient order; and the remains of bones were strewn over the surface of the ground.”’⁴

It appears that it was this particular altar-like configuration of stones which attracted the attention of the discoverers and occasioned the visit. Joseph requested that the mound be dug into. He further recorded:

“The brethren procured a shovel and a hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot, discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his ribs the stone point of a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death. Elder Burr Riggs retained the arrow. . . . the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. . . . He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs during a great struggle with the Lamanites.”¹⁵

Wilford Woodruff gave a similar account and added that although the Book of Mormon does not mention Onandagus, he was “a great warrior, leader, general, and prophet. . . . There was a great slaughter at that time. The bodies were heaped upon the earth and buried in the mound    16 Heber C. Kimball, who also recorded this event, stated that Zelph fell in battle “in the last destruction among the Lamanites,”¹⁷ presumably indicating a period about the time of, or subsequent to, the battle of Cumorah in AD 385, as Joseph Smith’s opinion as to the antiquity of the remains.

LOCATION

The “Zelph Mound,” as it is sometimes referred to, has never been definitely located. [Editors Note: Yes it has been located in 1975 near Valley City Illinois] One writer has placed it at Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri,’⁸ while a more recent commentator suggested a location near Beardstown, Illinois, about 80 miles to the north.’19 George Albert Smith recorded the crossing point of the Illinois River on June 2 at “Phillips ferry.”²⁰ The History of Pike County, Illinois, places “Phillips’ Ferry” at Valley City, Illinois, on the west bank of the Illinois River, it being named after Nimrod Phillips, who operated the ferry for a number of years.²’

The location of the mound from “Phillips Ferry” has fortunately been preserved in the journal of Levi Hancock, who gives an additional account of this event (see appendix). He wrote:

“On the way to Illinois River where we camped on the west side. In the morning many went to see the big mound about a mile below the crossing. I did not go on it but saw some bones that was brought back with a broken arrow.”²²

In the early 1950’s, under the direction of the Illinois State Museum, archaeological sites along the Illinois River were located as part of a statewide archaeological survey. The site corresponding closest to the above account is listed as Pk-5, the “Blue Creek site” (Figs. 1 and 2). A brief description is given as follows:

“Pk-5. Blue Creek site. Hopewell. Location: Southeast quarter of section 33, Griggsville Twp. Surface survey.”²³

Referring to the US Geological Survey topographic map of the area, the Griggsville Quadrangle (see Fig. 2), one may see that the site is located about two and one-half miles south of Valley City, Illinois. Just south of the site is Blue Creek, which flows into the Illinois River. It might be presumed that the reconnaissance party that discovered the “Zelph mound” was searching for fresh water.

The discrepancy of a mile and a half from the figure given by Hancock could easily be accounted for by the fact that he had not visited the mound personally, but merely recorded what was reported to him, which may have been an underestimation of the actual distance. It may also be supposed that the Illinois State Museum survey missed the “Zelph mound” altogether, in which case it may be closer to Valley City, as Hancock recorded. In a brief visit to this area about five years ago, I noted that the bluffs were covered with a thick vegetation, which might have contributed to overlooking some sites. For the present, however, with the information available, Pk-5 appears to be the best candidate for the “Zelph mound.”

Exact Location of Zelph’s Mound

Editor’s Note: A Hopewell culture mound site is located in Pike County, Illinois three miles east of the city of Griggsville. The mound today is known as Naples-Russell Mound #8, or Zelph Mound. Dated 62 AD to 128 AD. Thomas E. Emerson, PhD. Principal Investigator, Survey Director, and State of Illinois Archaeologist. GPS Here

ADENA AND HOPEWELL CULTURES

Wittorf continues, “It might be useful at this point to interject a few words about the principal cultures to which the burial mounds of the “Mound Builders” are ascribed. The terms “Adena” and “Hopewell” are commonly used to indicate the prehistoric societies responsible for the Early and Middle Woodland archaeological horizons, respectively, in Ohio and neighboring states.²⁴

Adena mounds, generally characterized by their conical shape, are found in a limited area including the states of Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky, although Adena influence has been noted in western New York, Alabama, and Maryland as well. The earliest Adena artifacts date to the period 1000-800 BC, according to radiocarbon and other indications; but Adena traditions persisted well into Hopewell times (AD 400-500). In some areas, the Adena appears to have been absorbed into the Hopewell, while in other areas farther removed from the main Hopewell occupation centers, it appears to have continued with little dilution.

Editor’s Note: “Adena burial mounds are common in the Ohio River Valley region. It was not, however, until 1901 that the first Adena mound was excavated for historical purposes by William C. Mills of the Ohio State Museum (Mills, 1902). This mound was on the estate of Thomas Worthington (Governor of Ohio, 1814- 18) in Ross County, a mile northwest of Chillicothe, Ohio. Governor Worthington gave the name “Adena” (probably from the Hebrew “Adinah”) Presumably he meant to imply “nothing lacking” or, freely translated, “paradise.” The name “Adena” was adopted by archeologists to refer to the prehistoric Indians who built such mounds…This area became one of the favored locations of these people between 800 B.C. and A.D. 800…” SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Volume 112 1960 Number 3441 WELCOME MOUND AND THE EFFIGY PIPES OF THE ADENA PEOPLE By Frank M. Setzler

Wittorf continues, The Hopewell culture, with its clusters of large mounds surrounded by earthworks in geometrical patterns, is the highest prehistoric cultural development in the eastern United States. Centered in southern Ohio, in the Scioto, Miami, and Muskingum river valleys, it extended as far west at Kansas City. Obsidian from the Yellowstone area of the Rocky Mountains, native copper from Lake Superior, marine shells from both the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts of Florida, and mica from the southern Appalachians indicate the sources of some of the materials from which Hopewell artifacts were manufactured. Griffin mentions his belief that these objects were obtained through visits to these areas rather than intertribal barter.²⁵

The earliest Hopewell assemblages appear in Illinois about 300-200 BC, with a cultural apex being reached in Ohio from about 100 BC to AD 200. The decline of the Hopewell appears to have been quite rapid in Ohio, being essentially complete by about AD 500. Neither the origin nor the decline of the Hopewellian culture has been adequately explained.

Editor’s Note: “The Hopewell Culture was contemporaneous with the end of the Adena culture, but the Adena people tended to be considerably larger than the Hopewell. Remains of men seven feet tall were common among the Adena, while Hopewell were robust, their males averaged closer to six feet in height. There are four types of earthworks that were constructed by the ancient Hopewell civilization. 1- Defensive Enclosure Mounds 2- Burial Mounds 3- Effigy (Shaped) Mounds 4- Ceremonial and Temple Mounds The name “Hopewell” was applied by Warren K. Moorehead after his explorations of the Hopewell Mound Group in Ross County, Ohio in 1891 and 1892. The mound group itself was named for the family that owned the earthworks at the time named Mordecai Hopewell.

Wittorf continues, “It was noted in the surface survey of the “Blue Creek” site that there was a Hopewellian occupation. Assuming this site to be identical with the “Zelph site,” this would place Zelph and Onandagus in the Middle Woodland or Hopewell context. The range of Hopewellian contacts mentioned earlier, from the Florida coast to the Yellowstone area of the Rockies, would provide a world in which Joseph Smith’s statement about Onandagus being known from the eastern sea, or Atlantic Ocean, to the Rocky Mountains could be more easily understood.

Another possibility in elucidating the “Zelph incident” may be found in the arrowhead which is supposed to have caused Zelph’s death. This artifact appears to have been taken by the Saints to Utah, as Matthias F. Cowley, who edited Wilford Woodruff s journal, remarked in 1909:

“The arrowhead referred to is now in the possession of President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah.”²⁶

Presumably, this artifact is still in existence today, either in the Smith family, or in the Church archives. If it could be retrieved and its typology ascertained, it would undoubtedly contribute toward elucidating the “Zelph incident” in terms of the archaeological record.

KINDERHOOK PLATES

On April 23, 1843, six brass, bell-shaped plates were taken from a mound near the village of Kinderhook, Illinois (see Fig. 1). Upon the plates being cleaned with dilute acid, each was found to be covered on both sides with what appeared to be inscribed characters. A short time after the discovery, the plates were taken to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, for examination. The Prophet made no public comment on the plates at the time, but his journal entry for May I, 1843, records the following:

“I insert facsimiles of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike County, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. Robert Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound.

“I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendent of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth.”²⁷

The publication of the discovery in the Quincy Whig at Quincy, Illinois,28 appears to have been picked up by other newspapers in the country.²⁹ It has not yet been determined whether facsimiles of the inscriptions on the plates were also published at the time. They may have had their first publication on February 15, 1845, in an issue of The Prophet, a weekly periodical of the Church published by John Taylor in New York City.³⁰ Joseph Smith’s journal entry also appears to have been first published in this issue.

This publication by John Taylor may have occasioned Squier and Davis to include, in their explorations of the mounds in the Mississippi valley, an investigation of the Kinderhook find. Squier, in a paper on the “Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” read before the American Ethnological Society in 1846 and published two years later, said, speaking of fraudulent finds:

“That similar impositions have been practiced, under no stronger inducement than the malicious gratification of hoaxing credulous mound-diggers, is well known. A notable example is furnished in the six inscribed copper plates, said to have been found in a mound near the village of Kinderhook, Pike Co., Ill. Engravings of these and a minute description were published in due time. They were extensively circulated, and there are doubtless many well-informed persons, who, to this day, repose a degree of confidence in the pretended discovery. The characters were supposed to bear, in the language of the printed announcement, ‘a close resemblance to the Chinese.’

They proved to have been engraved by the village blacksmith, who probably had no better suggestion to his antiquarian labors than the lid of a Chinese tea-box. Each plate, it should be remarked, had an orthodox ‘ideographic sign,’ quite after the fashion of its more famous counterpart.”³’

A similar statement appears in Squier and Davis’ monumental work, published in 1848.32 The fraud story was repeated in a letter in l855~~ and in an affidavit by one of the supposed participants in l879.34

Editor’s Note: I personally will not discount these plates out of hand. I have heard many made up stories of the Holy Stones are fake, Hebrews didn’t live in Ohio, The Book of Mormon happened in Mesoamerica, Zelph is a made up story, Joseph Smith was involved with the occult, the Bat Creek Stone is a fake and so are the Tucson Lead artifacts. I have come to believe that when an intellectual says something is fake, it is usually because it doesn’t fit his belief system. It goes against what their little echo chamber says so they dismiss it. I tend to believe most of the items are indeed real and are little clues the Lord has provided to validate what we already know by the spirit.

REDISCOVERY

Wittorf continues, “Upon the rediscovery of one of the Kinderhook Plates about twenty years ago, an examination was made of the claim in the 1879 affidavit that the inscriptions had been etched with acid. In 1953, two professional engravers signed a notarized statement to the effect that “to the best of our knowledge this plate was engraved with a pointed instrument and not etched with acid,” indicating the possibility that the plate was genuine.³⁵ However, a report of a physical examination of the plate in 1965 by George M. Lawrence, a Mormon physicist, contained the conclusion that:

“The plate is neither pure copper nor ordinary brass. It may be a low zinc brass or a bronze. The dimensions, tolerances, composition and workmanship are consistent with the facilities of an 1843 blacksmith shop and with the fraud stories of the original participants. The characteristics of the inscription grooves can be reproduced in great detail using the simple acid-wax technique, contrary to the judgement of the engravers.”³⁶

In view of present archaeological evidence, neither brass nor bronze appears to have been known in North America until European times. It is thought that the first bronze in the New World was probably made in Bolivia about AD 700. 37 Native copper was the principal metal known to the Hopewellian’s, and in its use they were remarkably skilled. Silver, meteoric iron, and gold were also known, but appear to have had only limited use. In light of the known use of metal in North America, brass or bronze plates in an Illinois mound, bound together with what was reported to be a rusted iron ring, should be regarded with suspicion. However, this would not preclude the possibility of their having been brought into North America from elsewhere.

An analysis of the metal content of the extant plate would be necessary before definite conclusions could be made. This would involve destruction of some of the metal, but with the sophisticated techniques of chemical and physical analysis available today, such as spectrographic and neutron activation methods, the amount of metal needed would be minimal.

LOCATION OF MOUND

The mound in which the Kinderhook Plates were found has not been definitely located. It appears, however, to have been on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, as the journal of Joseph Holbrook indicates:

“In the spring went grafting trees with Anson Call down in Pike County and saw the mound on the bluffs of the Mississippi near a little town by the name of Kinderhook, where Mr. Wiley with others took some plates a week or so before.”³⁸

For the contents of the mound to include ‘human bones that appeared as though they had been burned”³⁹ indicates a Hopewellian burial, as cremation was a common practice in that culture.

Joseph Smith’s behavior with regard to the Kinderhook Plates is quite interesting when viewed in perspective. He made no attempt to purchase these artifacts on behalf of the Church, as he did in the case of the papyri from which the Book of Abraham was translated; he forwarded no specific claims for the plates with respect to the Book of Mormon, although he evidently approved of John Taylor’s Times and Seasons editorial on the plates as evidence for the authenticity of the Book; and he left no indication that he was planning to utilize them for the production of another work of scripture as the Quincy 1Vhig, with its headline “Material for Another Mormon Book,” apparently expected him to do.

Accepting the find as genuine, Joseph had facsimile drawings of the plates made, presumably for future study. The brevity of his translation of “a portion of the plates” precludes the possibility that—if the plates are ultimately demonstrated to be fraudulent—his abilities as a translator of ancient scripts and languages can be called into question. His interpretation may have resulted from the recognition of resemblances between several characters on the plates and those on the Egyptian papyri, with which he had been laboring.

SUMMARY

In summary, in only one of three cases where Joseph Smith encountered the remains of the “Mound Builders”—the “Zelph incident”— did he even suggest a relationship between these peoples and those described in the Book of Mormon, the exact nature of which however, is still uncertain. It is nevertheless quite probable that, through migrations and inter-tribal contacts, a large proportion of the peoples of North America acquired sufficient Nephite or Lamanite ancestry to be considered Lamanites, as the Delaware tribe appears to have been. Of considerable interest in this connection is the conclusion some investigators have recently reached, that on the basis of archaeological and anthropological evidence the Hopewellians are to be regarded as ancestral to the Algonquian tribal family, of which the Delawares constitute an important segment.

THE “ZELPH INCIDENT”: APPENDIX

“Monday, June 2 (1834). Traveled 27 miles, crossed the Illinois River at Phillips ferry and camped on the west bank near a skirt of timber.. . . Some of us visited a mound on a bluff about 300 feet high and dug up some bones, which excited deep interest among the brethern. The President and many others visited the mound on the following morning, a notice of which is published in the Church History.” George A. Smith, in Instructor (1946), 81, 184.

“On the way to Illinois River where we camped on the west side. In the morning many went to see the big mound about a mile below the crossing. I did not go on it but saw some bones that was brought back with a broken arrow. They were laid down by our camp. Joseph Smith addressed himself to Sylvester Smith and said, ‘This is what I told you and now I want to tell you that you may know what I meant. This land was called the land of desolation and Onedages was the King and a good man was he. There in that mound did he bury his dead and did not dig holes as people do now, but they brought their dirt and covered them until you see they have raised it to be about one hundred feet high. The last man buried was Zelf or Telf he was a white lamanite who fought with the people of Onedagus for freedom, when he was young he was a great warner and had his thigh broken and never was set. It knitted together as you see on the side. He fought after it got strength until he lost every tooth in his head save one when the Lord said he had done enough and suffered him to be killed by that arrow you took from his breast. These words he said as the camp was moving off the mounds as near as I could learn he had told them something about the mound and got them to go see it for themselves. I then remembered what he had said a few days before while passing many mounds on our way that was left of us. Said he these are the bodies of wicked men who have died and are angry at us and if they can take advantage of us they will, for if we live they will have no hope. I could not comprehend it but supposed it was alright.” Levi Ward Hancock, The Lift’ of Levi W Hancock, p.79. Typewritten copy in the Brigham Young University library.” JOSEPH SMITH AND THE PREHISTORIC MOUND-BUILDERS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA By John H. Wittorf

REFERENCES

1. Robert Silverberg, Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth (Greenwich, Connecticut: New York Graphic Society, Ltd., 1968),p.96.

2. James B. Griffin, in Science (1967), 156, 175-191.

3. Alma 50:1; Ether 10:23. Alma 28:11 and Ether 11:6 should be taken in a figurative sense with regard to the term “heaps.”

4. “See John Lloyd Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (1841).

5. Times and Seasons, Vol. III (Oct. 1, 1842), p. 927.

6. Orson Pratt, Remarkable Visions (Liverpool, 1848), p. 8, in Orson Pratt, Series of Pamphlets (Liverpool, 1851); and in Journal of Discourses (1871), 13, 130-131. See also C. W. Clark, in Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly (1918), 26, 267.292.

7. lncidentally, it would be a worthwhile project for someone working toward an advanced degree in LDS church history to gather the various journal accounts of the participants and attempt to trace the exact route of the march.

8. Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, B. H. Roberts, ed., (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1967), Vol. 2, p. 66. This is more familiarly known as the Documentary History of the Church and will hereafter be referred to as DHC

9. William A. Rockel, 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens (Chicago: 1908), p. 49.

10. Ohio Historical Landmarks, (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1967), p. 10.

11. Levi Ward Hancock, The Life of Levi W Hancock, p. 79. Typewritten copy in the Brigham Young University library.

12. Science (Old Series) (1893), 21, 246.

13. George A. Smith, in Instructor (1946), 81, 184.

14. DHC, Vol. 2, pp. 79-80.

15. DHC (1904 edition), Vol. 2, pp. 79-80. Later editions of the DHC have added the following phrases (italics mine): “. . . the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains…. He (Zelph) was killed in the battle during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and the Nephites.” Fletcher B. Hammond examined the original journal account and found the added phrases to be absent. See his discussion in his Geography of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Co., 1959), pp. 100-103. (These changes are also discussed at length in the Newsletter, 85.00. Ed.)

16. Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), pp. 40-41. This is a photomechanical reprint of the 1909 edition.

17. Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C Kimball (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1967), pp. 46-47. (Italics added.)

18. Harry M. Beardsley, Joseph Smith and His Mormon Empire (1932), p. 147.

19. Riley L. Dixon, Just One Cumorah (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), p. 125. (This work was reviewed in the Newsletter, 80.1. The review was reprinted in Progress in Archaeology, pp. 107-108. Ed.)

20. George A. Smith, bc. cit.

21. History of Pike County, Illinois (Chicago, 1880), p. 417.

22. Hancock, bc. cit.

23. John C. McGregor, The Pool and Irving Villages (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1959), p. 191.

24. Cf. Silverberg, op. cit., pp. 96, 222ff.; Griffin, bc. cit.; Olaf H. Prufer, in Scientific American (December, 1964), 211, 90-102; and Martha A. Potter, Ohio’s Prehistoric Peoples (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1968).

25. Griffin, bc. cit.

26. Cowley, bc. cit.

27. DHC, Vol. 5, p. 372. (The Kinderhook Plates were discussed briefly in an SEHA publication in 1963. See Newsletter, 85.02. The subject was also referred to by J. Henry Baird in 1968 in a paper read at the Eighteenth Annual Symposium on the Archaeology of the Scriptures and considered at length by Paul R. Cheesman in 1969 in a paper read at the Nineteenth Annual Symposium. See Newsletter, 109.1, 116.1. See also a photograph of Dr. Cheesman holding one of the Plates, in Newsletter 116, p. 1. Dr. Cheesman has published a preliminary report of his findings in pamphlet form, An Analysis of the Kinderhook Plates [BYU, March, 1970, 19 pp.]. Ed.)

28. DHC, Vol. 5, p. 377.

29. Cleveland Herald and Gazette (Cleveland, Ohio) (May 17, 1843) Vol. 24, No. 49, p. 2.

30. DHC, Vol. 5, p. 379.

31. E. G. Squier, in Transactions of the American Ethnological Society (1848), 2, 131-207. Reference to the Kinderhook Plates is on pp. 206-207.

32. E. G. Squier and F. H. Davis, Ancient Monuments of the JIIississippi Valley, Smithson ian Contributions to Knowledge, No. I (1848), p. 247.

33. Journal of the Illinois State historical Society (1912-1913), 5, 271-273.

34. William A. Linn, The Story of the Mormons (New York: Macmillan, 1902), pp. 86-87.

35. lmprovement Era (September, 1962), 65, 636. (This reference is found in a four-page article by Dr. Welby W. Ricks, present president of the SEHA, entitled “The Kinderhook Plates.” Reprints of the article were mailed to all Society members in 1962. See Newsletter, 84.21. Ed.)

36. George M. Lawrence, Report of a Physical Study of the Kinderhook Plate Number 5 (Princeton, May, 1966). Typewritten copy in the Brigham Young University library.

37. Dudley T. Easby, Jr., in Scientific American (April, 1966), 214, 73-83..

38. Joseph Holbrook, The Lift’ of Joseph Holbrook, p. 58. Typewritten copy in the Brigham Young University library.

39. DHC, Vol. 5, p. 375.

40. Doctrine and Covenants, 32:2; Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, 5th ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1961), pp. 47, 53-57.

41. Olaf H. Prufer, in “Hopewellian Studies,” Illinois State Museum, Scientific Papers (Springfield, 1964), Vol. 12. See also Robert Silverberg, op. cit., p.293 By John H. Wittorf, editor, Biochemical Indexing Department, Chemical Abstracts Service, and former president of the SEHA Campus Chapter. A paper read at the Nineteenth Annual Symposium on the Archaeology of the Scriptures, held at Brigham Young University on October 18, 1969.

http://www.ancientamerica.org/library/media/HTML/4qimqkix/JOSEPH%20SMITH%20AND%20THE%20PREHISTORIC%20MOUND.htm?n=0

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Additional Information Michigan Tablets

Here is some (March 30, 2021) information about the Michigan Tablets just presented to me yesterday by Wayne May and John Lefgren. Like these two friends, I believe the Michigan Tablets are mostly authentic. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used to own them in 1975 with Milton R. Hunter looking at them. Our Church Historians said these were forgeries and gave them all to the University of Michigan. You can see below John Lefgren’s recent information that he sees a huge break in the plate below, after it was in the hands of our Church. He is investigating why it looks like a hammer may have broken one of the plates which would be an absolute travesty. See my Blog Here Article Here:

Solar Eclipse Cut In Stone from Ancient America.

“For more than one hundred years, the Michigan Relics have had a long and complicated history with believers of the Book of Mormon.

We bring to your attention an astronomical event in the skies over Michigan that occurred 1,669 years ago.

The details of this event came from the exact movements of the sun and the moon. Perhaps some of you during your lifetimes have had the excitement of personally witnessing the moon in its ordinary course cover the face of the sun. Of course, no one can change the movements of the sun and the moon. Scientists know a lot about the cycles of the sun. Past solar eclipses are certain points in time, providing essential coordinates of time and place for history. Future solar eclipses always come as predicted, making them one of the few events that we know will happen.

The best thing that anyone can do is stand as a witness to one of the most incredible events he will ever see in his lifetime in the sky. Anyone who sees a solar eclipse never forgets it. Such an event is a matter of exact calculation.

Please consider the following facts:

(a) ANCIENT SOLAR ECLIPSE at 1:20 p.m. Central Time, July 27th, AD 352;

(b) Latitude is 40.7442 West and Longitude is 84.2115 North;

(c) Magnitude of the Solar Eclipse is 98.8%;

(d) Duration of the Eclipse is 2 minutes 4.5 seconds; and

(e) the ALTITUDE OF THE SUN WAS AT 67 DEGREES AS SEEN FROM THE HORIZON.

These facts come from careful calculations, and they are available online from NASA computer programs. Go and make similar astronomical calculations with NASA or another program.

What does any of this have to do with one of the nearly thousand artifacts from Michigan that Milton R. Hunter gave to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1970s and that the Church later would give to the State of Michigan in the early 2000s?

Take a look at two different pictures of the ancient stone that is part of the Michigan Relics today controlled by Michigan’s State.

The first picture was taken when Brother Hunter placed the artifacts in the care and keeping of the Church in the 1970s. For the last 50 years, BYU scholars have had an active contempt and no interest in the Michigan Relics. The Ancient Solar Eclipse Stone broke in two while it was in the custody of the Church. The second picture showed the broken artifact when the Church turned it over to the State of Michigan. So sad.

In any case, it is possible to measure on the face of the stone the sun’s altitude from the earth’s horizon. Mark it down – the angle of the sun to the horizon is 67 degrees. It is the same angle that NASA’s calculation confirmed for the solar eclipse in the Fourth Century.

With confidence, we can say that the moon darkened the sun’s face for 2 minutes and 4.5 seconds and made a total eclipse of 98.8% at 1:20 p.m. Central Time on July 27th in the year of AD 352.

The ancient person who cut this drawing saw stars in the sky when the sun’s darkening. Any child knows that when the sun shines, it is impossible to see the stars. Nevertheless, this artifact, as another confirmation of its authenticity, there were stars in the sky over Michigan in the Fourth Century at the time of the solar eclipse.

In short, the ancient person who cut this stone saw stars when the sun was dark and, as a witness, he made sure to include in his drawing the stars that he saw for only two minutes when the light of the summer’s sun was no longer in the sky.

A solar eclipse always comes when predicted. When it comes, the only thing to do is stand as a witness to one of the significant events that any person will have a chance to see in the sky. Those who see a total eclipse never forget it. Such an event is a matter of exact calculation.

The ancient person who cut this stone made sure that there was space in his drawing for stars at the time of the total eclipse time. This is another confirmation that stone has an accurate image of the ancient solar eclipse in the summer’s sky. In short, the person who cut the stone saw stars when the sun was dark, and, as a witness, he drew those stars next to the sun.” John C. Lefgren PhD

 

Cities, Highways and Roads of the Book of Mormon

“And it came to pass that there were many cities built anew, and there were many old cities repaired. And there were many highways cast up, and many roads made, which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place. And thus passed away the twenty and eighth year, and the people had continual peace.”3 Nephi 6:7-9 

Alma 48:8 “Yea, he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and
erecting small forts, or places of resort, throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands, yea, all round about the land.” (See blog here about stone walls in North America)

Why This Subject?

Many advocates of the Mesoamerican theory claim there is a lack of large cities, and remnants of highways in the Heartland Model They also say the lack of large buildings made of stone in North America show that the events of the Book of Mormon happened in Mesoamerica. The Nephites didn’t use stone except for one mention in Alma 48:8 which mentions a wall of stone. Nephites used earth and wood for most buildings. After reading this blog you will have many evidences that cities, villages, roads, and highways were prevalent in the Heartland of North America. We will discuss roads, highways, cities, and building materials to help you research more about the Nephites who lived in the Heartland of North America.

Building = Big Town of Bare Earth

Dr. Roger Kennedy, the former director of the Smithsonian’s American History Museum, addressed a misperception about earth mounds, noting that earth mounds are actually buildings.

Build and building are also very old words, often used in this text [his book] as they were when the English language was being invented, to denote earthen structures. About 1150, when the word build was first employed in English, it referred to the construction of an earthen grave. Three hundred and fifty years later, an early use of the term to build up was the description of the process by which King Priam of Troy constructed a “big town of bare earth.” So when we refer to the earthworks of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys as buildings no one should be surprised.” The Mormons and the Mounds by Jonathan Neville MHA Presentation June 2017 St. Louis, Missouri

Buildings of Cement and Wood and Dirt

“And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood.” (2 Nephi 5:15) “And the people who were in the land northward did dwell in tents, and in houses of cement, and they did suffer whatsoever tree should spring up upon the land that it should grow up, that in time they might have timber to build their houses, yea, their cities, and their temples, and their synagogues, and their sanctuaries, and all manner of their buildings.” (Helaman 3:9)

“Everyone knows that Mesoamerica features impressive cities and structures made of stone and cement. I’ve visited many of them. Back in the day, many of these sites were completely open, with no guards or even fences. You could climb all over them, and I have.

Mayan culture is fascinating, and we’re learning more and more about it all the time. My kudos to all the Mesoamerican archaeologists and linguists who are helping us understand that culture. But it has nothing to do with the Book of Mormon.

The M2C [Mesoamerican 2 Hill Cumorah Theorists] intellectuals want people to believe that two brief references in the Book of Mormon describe the massive Mayan stone-and-cement structures throughout Mesoamerica.

Naturally, the Mayans built with stone and cement. In a jungle, wood structures don’t last long.Which explains how we know the Nephites did not live in a jungle. The Nephites built with wood and cement, not stone and cement.” Jonathan Neville Blog Here

City doesn’t have to be large

“A city need not have a large population. “Many ancient cities had only modest populations, however (often under 5,000 persons).”[i] When Lehi left Jerusalem, the city had a population of only about 25,000 people.[ii]

Roger Kennedy discussed the terms “city” and “building” this way.

Our English noun city comes from the Latin… city carries from its demographic root the implication of intention. A city was the consequence of a purpose. Perhaps it is not so much a noun as the outcome a verb; not a location but a phenomenon. A city was where a relatively large number of citizens congregated… In the Middle Ages, in the British Isles, a city became a place in which a potent religious leader such as a bishop was headquartered.[iii]

The cities described by the text fit Kennedy’s concept quite well. There is no requirement for massive stone temples and palaces. Such are never mentioned in the text. The only palace described in the text was Noah’s, and it was made “of fine wood,” not stone (Mosiah 11:9).” Jonathan Neville Moroni’s America page 131

[i] Michael E. Smith, “Ancient Cities,” The Encyclopedia of Urban Studies (R. Hutchison, ed., Sage, 2009): 24. Available at http://bit.ly/Moroni75.

[ii] John W. Welch and Robert D. Hunt, “Culturegram: Jerusalem 600 B.C.,” Glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), Provo, Utah 2004): 5.

[iii] Kennedy, Ancient Cities, p. vii.

“Ancient people almost never built of stone”

“The Nephites vastly preferred wood to any other building material, and only worked in cement when they were forced to by shortage of timber. Indeed, they refused to settle otherwise good lands in the north if timber for building was lacking (Helaman 3:5). Where they reluctantly settled in unforested areas they continued to “dwell in tents, and in houses of cement,” while they patiently waited for the trees to grow (Helaman 3:9). Since cement must be made of limestone [see. p. 63], there was no lack of stone for building in the north. Why then did they not simply build of stone and forget about the cement and wood? Because, surprising as it may seem, ancient people almost never built of stone. Even when the magnificent “king Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings,” their splendor was
that of carved wood and precious metal, like the palace of any great lord of Europe or Asia, with no mention of stone (Mosiah 11:8-9). The Book of
Mormon boom cities went up rapidly (Mosiah 23:5; 27:6), while the builders were living in tents. And these were not stone cities: Nephite society was even more dependent on forests than is our own” – Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 2nd Edition, Chapter 29,
Building Materials, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co. [1964]. As quoted in Annotated Book of Mormon page 349

Joseph Smith on Buildings

Lucy Mack Smith said, “During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined: he would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent; their dress, mode of travelling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, and their buildings, with every particular; he would describe their < mode of > warfare, as also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life with them” – Lucy Mack Smith, “Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845,” p. 87, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed Feb. 5, 2019.

“HIDDEN CITIES” IN NORTH AMERICA

“The Lord told us, in reply that he would make it known to the people that the early inhabitants of this land had been just such a people as they were described in the book, [of Mormon] and he would lead them to discover the ruins of great cities…” – David Whitmer, Interview with James H. Hart (Richmond, Mo., 21 August 1883), as printed in Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah [Tue, Sep 4, 1883], page 2; emphasis added.

Roger G. Kennedy, Director Emeritus, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, author, “Hidden Cities, The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization,” The Free Press, New York, [1995], stated, “Very, very few of us were conscious of these immense cities of a place like Monk’s Mound and Cahokia, opposite St. Louis, which is bigger in its footprint than the Great Pyramid at Giza [city in Egypt]. We didn’t know that.”

Dr. Kennedy coined the phrase, “Hidden Cities,” because he states, “I use the term because these were very big places. There were more people, that we now know, in Cahokia, across from St. Louis, than there were in London or Rome. There were major population centers in what is now Nashville and Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Few realize that some of the most complex structures of ancient archaeology were built in North America, home of some of the most highly advanced and well organized civilizations in the world.” In his book, Hidden Cities, he writes: “Eighteenth century pioneers passing over the Appalachians into the Ohio Valley wrote often of [the] feeling of being freed of encumbrances, of fresh beginnings. Judging from what they said, and from what has been said of them subsequently, most of them shared the misconception that they were entering an ample emptiness intended to be theirs alone.

“In fact… [t]he western vastness was not empty. Several hundred thousand people were already there, and determined to resist invasion….Even along the headwaters of the Ohio, on the banks of mountain brooks, there were signs of ancient habitation…As the streams grew larger, so did the buildings. “In the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, tens of thousands of structures were built between six and sixty-six centuries ago. Some, as large as twenty-five miles in extant, required over three million person hours of labor” – Roger G.Kennedy, Hidden Cities, 1-2. City of Cahokia by William R. Iseminger Courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Ancient Hopewell Road

“Although Cahokia, the great Mississippian-era city in Illinois, qualifies as a city under almost any definition, archaeologists generally do not regard the large Hopewell earthworks as “cities.” Roger, however, was expansive in his definition: “by city we mean a place in which a large number of people gather for common purposes.” Therefore, he was perfectly justified in encompassing Ohio’s Fort Ancient, the Newark Earthworks, Mound City and Serpent Mound within his marvelous narrative.

In 1990, I was a relatively new curator at the Newark Earthworks State Memorial. Roger, with characteristic flair, referred to me in his book as “chatelaine” for the earthworks. (I still wish I could make that my official job title!) Roger and his film crew interviewed me at the Munson Springs site, a Paleoindian camp site between Granville and Newark, as well as at the Newark Earthworks. We also enlisted a troop of local boy scouts and experimented with (mostly) aboriginal tools to see how long it would take to build the earthworks. (It turns out a motivated team of young men can move a lot of earth in a surprisingly short period of time!) Roger became interested in the idea of the Great Hopewell Road, which I was then only beginning to formulate; and he decided we needed to rent a helicopter and fly the route. So he arranged for the helicopter and we did just that. It was August, so we didn’t see much through the morning haze except a profusion of vegetation,but Roger became convinced that a Hopewell Road did, indeed, connect Newark and Chillicothe and even extended on to Portsmouth! I have never been willing to go that far literally or figuratively, but I agree that if there was a Great Hopewell Road connecting Newark and Chillicothe, there should be other Hopewell roads connecting other great Hopewell earthwork sites.” “Ohio History Connection

Hopewell Road Documentary, Introduction

Introduction Video Here:
This is the introduction to Searching for the Great Hopewell Road by American Public Television. It gives a brief overview of the highly advanced ancient civilization, called by archaeologists today the Hopewell Mound Builders, that existed in the heartland of North America between about 300 B.C. and abruptly ended near 400 AD. To purchase the DVD documentary, please visit our bookstore at www.BookofMormonEvidence.org

The Great Hopewell Road Intro Video

LiDAR Imaging of the Great Hopewell Road

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Great Hopewell Road

The Great Hopewell Road is thought to connect the Hopewell culture (100 BCE-500 CE) monumental earthwork centers located at Newark and Chillicothe, a distance of 60 miles (97 km) through the heart of Ohio, United States. The Newark complex was built 2,000 to 1800 years ago.[1]

In 1862, brothers Charles and James Salisbury surveyed the first 6 miles (9.7 km) of this road, noting it was marked by parallel earthen banks almost 200 feet (61 m) apart and led from the Newark Earthworks. They said that the road extended much farther south from Newark in the direction of Chillicothe. Other 19th-century investigators, such as Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis, also documented the walls of the road near Newark. The 2.5-mile section from the Newark Octagon south to Ramp Creek is now known as the “Van Voorhis Walls”.[1]

In the 1930s, the area was surveyed by plane, revealing traces of the road extended for 12 miles (19 km) toward the Hopewellian center of present-day Chillicothe. Additional examination of the area with the new sensing technology of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) adds confirmation to this finding and suggests a way to gain more evidence. This technology showed the road was lower than the surrounding land, sunk between the walls.[1]

Dr. Brad Lepper, the present-day champion of the Great Hopewell Road, claims that traces of the road remain at four additional places along the 60-mile (97 km) line connecting Newark and Chillicothe. Parts of the road can be seen from the air and with infrared photography. There is precedent for such a sacred road at other complexes.[2] More “ground truthing” needs to be performed but the evidence is suggestive.[1]

The first 2.5 mi south of the parallel-walled roadway of the Newark Earthworks is known as the Van Voorhis Walls. It is a confirmed earthwork. This portion of the earthwork terminates a Ramp Creek, in Heath, Licking County, Ohio. South of there, the projected path of the Hopewell Road passes through fields toward Millersport, Licking County, Ohio. Evidence from early accounts and 1930s aerial photography suggests that the Hopewell Road may continue south of Ramp Creek, and a cultural resource management study provides equivocal, yet suggestive evidence of the earthwork south of Ramp Creek. In 2016, an analysis of previous studies found enough evidence of the Great Hopewell Road south of Ramp Creek, to indicate that archaeologists should continue to search for evidence of it.Great Hopewell” Wikipedia/Hopewell road

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“Graded Ways”

Understanding the roads and highways spoken of in the Book of Mormon, it would be helpful to know what term for those words are used in the history and archaeology of today that may help us study them. I just discovered that perfect wording used in the 1800 text of those archaeologists. They called a highway or road a “graded way.” It also seems the ancient mound builders would settle in places that seemed as naturally graded ways where they could slightly modify and take advantage of their usage.

Archaeological History of Ohio: The Mound Builders and Later Indians By Gerard Fowke Page 271

CHAPTER VIII
GRADED WAYS, TERRACES, EFFIGIES, AND ANOMALOUS STRUCTURES.

A. —GRADED WAYS.

ON page 209 is a description of the possibly artificial grade at the Turner Group. So far as known, no other passageway is formed by making a fill to connect plains of different levels.

But at several places in Ohio gentle inclines through a depression, from a higher terrace to a lower, or to a stream, are attributed to the Mound Builders, who are supposed to have cut them out for roadways, throwing the earth to either side. Squier and Davis have the following reference to them.

There is a singular class of earthworks, occurring at various points at the West, * * the purposes of which to the popular mind, if not to that of the antiquarian, seem very clear. These are the graded ways, ascending sometimes from one terrace to another, and occasionally descending towards the banks of rivers or water-courses. The one at *Marietta, is of the latter description; as is also that at Piqua, Ohio. One of the former character occurs near Richmonddale, Ross county, Ohio; and another, and the most remarkable one, about one mile below Piketon, Pike county, in the same State. A plan and view of the latter is herewith presented. [ See figure 75 (S. & D., 88, plate XXXI, No. 1) ]. It consists of a graded way from the second to the third terrace, the level of which is here seventeen feet above that of the former. The way is ten hundred and eighty feet long by two hundred and fifteen feet wide at one extremity, and two hundred and three feet wide at the other, measured between the bases of the banks. The earth is thrown outward on either hand, forming embankments varying upon the outer sides from five to eleven feet in height; yet it appears that much more earth has been excavated than enters into these walls. At the lower extremity of the grade, the walls upon the interior sides measure no less than twenty-two feet in perpendicular height.

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It is, of course, useless to speculate upon the probable purpose of this work. At first glance, it seems obvious; namely that it was constructed simply to facilitate the ascent from one terrace to another. But the long line of embankment extending from it, and the manifest con nection which exists between it and the mounds upon the plain unsettle this conclusion.” — S. & D., 88-9.

A. AT MARIETTA.

Of the four mentioned by them, that at Marietta has been most often described; but only because more people have seen it. Among the earlier notices, these may be found:—

“A causeway forty yards wide, and from ten to twelve feet high, rounded like a turnpike road, leads from it to the river.” — Cuming, 106.

In a numbered sketch, made in 1785, of the Marietta works, is given:—

“No. 6, Conveyed away from the town to the then locality of the river, which is supposed at that time to have run along the edge of the second bottom. These walls are now twenty feet high, and the graded road between them was one hundred feet wide, and beautifully rounded like a modern turn-pike.” — Stebbins, 329.

“The entrances at the middle are the largest, particularly that on the side next the Muskingum. From this outlet is a covert way, formed of two parallel walls of earth, 231 feet distant from each other, measuring from centre to centre. The walls at the most elevated part on the inside are 21 feet in height and 42 feet in breath at the base, but on the outside average only five feet high. This forms a passage about 360 feet in length, leading by a gradual descent to the low grounds, where it probably at the time of its construction reached the margin of the river. Its walls commence at sixty feet from the ramparts of the fort, and increase in elevation as the way descends towards the river; and the bottom is crowned in the centre in the manner of a well-formed turnpike road.” — Harris, 149.

The account by Squier and Davis is more complete.

The “ Via Sacra,” or graded way, at Marietta (top picture) “is six hundred and eighty feet long by one hundred and fifty wide between the banks, and consists of an excavated passage descending regularly from the plain, upon which the works just described are situated, to the alluvions of the river. The earth, in part at least, is thrown outward upon either side forming embankments from eight to ten feet in height. The centre of the excavated way is slightly raised and rounded, after the manner of the paved streets of modern cities. The cross-section gh [see figure 15] exhibits this feature. Measured between the summits of the banks, the width of the way is two hundred and thirty feet. At the base of the grade, the walls upon the interior are twenty feet high. From this point there is a slight descent, for the distance of several hundred feet to the bank of the river, which is here thirty-five or forty feet in height. [There is an] entire absence of remains of antiquity upon the beautiful terraces to which this graded passage leads. They may nevertheless have been once as thickly populated as they are now; and this passage may have been the grand avenue leading to the sacred plain above, through which assemblies and processions passed, in the solemn observances of a mysterious worship.”— S. & D., 74.

The plan given does not represent the squares as ” exact “. Whittlesey is less romantic in his explanation of its probable use:—

‘”The grade at Marietta leads from a strong work down to the Muskingum River, and had an evident purpose, that of access to water. It is principally an excavation and not an embankment.” — Whittlesey, Works, 9.

There is no doubt that this work is artificial; but it was never made for the sole purpose of being used as a roadway or means of passage between the two terraces. It is wide enough for a hundred men to walk abreast in it, and leads out on a strip of bottom land but little if any wider than itself and which could never have been much wider. It is more than likely that earth was obtained here for making mounds and embankments in the vicinity. Very probably it originated in a pathway to the river, which was gradually widened by removal of earth for the works. If this was the case, another path led from the lower terrace to the water. The stream may have been reached, however, through the ravine which discharges almost in a line with the upper side of the “Via Sacra “.

It is to be observed that the earliest recorded measurement gives the height of the walls on each side of the cut, as only five feet. The scale of “twenty feet” for the inside, includes the undisturbed earth of the side-slopes. These walls, which long ago disappeared, were probably built of earth taken up from the surface of the upper terrace, as was the case at Piketon.

The water of the Muskingum is now at a much higher level than it was formerly, owing to the dam near the mouth; but if ever as low as denoted by Squier and Davis, it is very clear that the graded way was made without any reference to the stream.

B. AT RICHMONDDALE.

No such work exists in the vicinity of this village; nor is there any visible evidence of aboriginal occupation about there, except a few mounds scattered over the high terrace to the north. None of the latter are within a mile of Richmonddale; and there is no conceivable reason why a “graded way” should be made, when there is no place for it either to begin or end. Probably the authors allude to some one of the numerous ravines in which no water now flows on account of changes of slope carrying drainage in other directions.

C. AT PIQUA.

The reference to this is based upon Major Long’s observations early in the century. It is evident we have here to deal only with a natural ravine or gulley, on one side of which an embankment has been made.

At Piqua, “near the bank of the river, there are remains of a waterway; these remains consist of a ditch dug down to the edge of the river, the earth from the same having been thrown up principally on the south side or that which fronts the river; the breadth between the two parapets is much wider near the water than at a distance from it, so that it may have been used either for the purpose of offering a safe passage down to the river, or as a sort of harbor in which canoes might be drawn up; or perhaps, as is most probable, it was intended to serve both purposes. This waterway resembles, in some respects, that found near Marietta, but its dimensions are smaller. The remains of this work are at present very inconsiderable, and are fast washing away, as the road which runs along the bank of the river intersects it, and, in the making of it, the parapet has been leveled and the ditch filled up.” — Long, St. Peter’s, 52.

D. AT PIKETON.

The work at Piketon has long been cited as the most remarkable instance of this form of aboriginal industry. Figure 76 from the original drawing by Squier and Davis, and reproduced in a hundred publications since their time, has always been given as a correct representation. The actual work is shown in figure 77, in plan and section, from a recent careful survey. It will be seen that there is no ” crown ” to the roadway, as their cross-section shows, except that which is due to the construction of a turnpike passing through it; and the error and exaggeration, in various other respects, of their “plan and view” will be apparent at a glance. In itself the work is of no special interest or importance, and the details are trivial: but they show a negligent, slip-shod manner which casts doubt on more important work, and should be gone into with some minuteness, because these perverted accounts have done much toward impressing readers with erroneous ideas of the people who are credited with its formation. Compare the “view” with the sections.

The depression is not in any degree artificial but is due entirely to natural causes. Formerly, when Beaver creek was at a much higher level than its present bed, at least a part of its waters found their outlet through this cut-off or thoroughfare. Its length, following the curve from the creek bank to the lower terrace at the other end, is 2225 feet; at the narrowest part it measures 120 feet across. The elevation of the upper terrace above the lower is 22 feet—not 17. The greatest base measure of either wall is 69 feet; one of them is 636 feet, the other 761 feet, in length along the top. The east wall has been cultivated until not more than three feet high; the west wall is untouched, and only a few rods of it have an elevation of more than six feet. Instead of tapering to a point at the south end, the west wall is higher there than anywhere else, having the appearance of a mound with an elevation of nine feet. No earth was carried up out of the depression; that composing the walls was gathered on the surface and piled along the brink of each bank, a part of it being allowed to spread down the sides in order to produce a steeper slope. Both walls change direction at more than one point; and so far from extending its entire length on the upper terrace, the east wall descends the slope and terminates near the bottom. The measure of ” 1080 feet” so frequently found in other parts of Squier and Davis’s descriptions, as well as here, will not apply to any part of the “graded way” unless the line be carried out into the open fields. If the walls were leveled and all the earth in them spread out evenly, it would not make a difference of more than two feet in the elevation of the space between them.

The early mistakes in regard to this work are repeated and exaggerated by McLean. Whittlesey says:—

“The great excavated road at Piketon also descended to water.” — Whittlesey. Works, 9.

While, as we have seen, it is not “excavated” by human labor, it undoubtedly once “descended to water,” though not in the sense he means to convey. It is cut through the fourth or highest terrace, and terminates on the third, at the end toward the river, which then flowed at that level. When Beaver creek carved out its present channel, the old thoroughfare remained practically unchanged for an unknown number of centuries, until the Mound Builders came along and built their little walls on either side, all unconscious of the trouble they were making for future archaeologists.

E. ABOVE WAVERLY.

Colonel Whittlesey falls into a worse error concerning another old ” cut-off “. This was made by the Scioto, after the third terrace was formed. It would be difficult indeed to ” discover the spot to which the earth was transported “, as it has gone toward making low bottoms farther down the river. He describes it as an excavation in Big Bottom, “near the line between Pike and Ross counties. The design appears to have been to form a cut or passage from the bottom land above Switzer’s Point to the bottom land below. Only a very small portion of the earth removed is now to be seen; having been transported to some spot which I did not discover. At the northeast end of the east bank is a mound. A little to the west and northwest is a natural ridge which appears to have been trimmed by art, and to have been used in connection with the lower portion of the western line of the embankment. The mass of earth removed here is greater than at Piketon.” — Whittlesey, Works, 7.

F. NEWARK.

“There is also a grade, partly in excavation and partly in bank, from a portion of the Newark works in Licking county, leading to a branch of Licking or Pataskala river.” — Whittlesey, Works, 9. This has been described under the Newark enclosures.

G. NEAR BOURNEVILLE.

Atwater alludes to the “graded way to the spring” at the ellipse described on page 217.— Atwater, 149.

It never appears to occur to these writers that the existence of springs, and of an easy approach to them, may have determined the location of earthworks. They seem to proceed upon the assumption that the builders made their enclosures at random, and then set to work to make the locality habitable.

H. AT MADISONVILLE.

“The ancient roadway near Madisonville, is cut along the face of a steep hill extending from the creek to the top of the hill. It is upward of 1,600 feet in length, having an average width of twenty-five feet.” — Howe, II, 23, condensed.

The only “ancient roadway” at this place is an old wagon road, now overgrown with trees and partially destroyed. It is not at all like any prehistoric work, either in its position or its construction. It begins in a ravine and ends at the top of the hill near a pioneer farmhouse; and there are no aboriginal remains anywhere near it.

I. NEAR CARLISLE.

McLean describes with much minuteness a “graded way,” about two miles west of Carlisle in Butler County. This is raised instead of sunken. He traces it from the top of a hill, down the slope, across a bottom or “upper terrace” to the bank of Twin creek, giving numerous measurements. Here it stops; but he imagines it as formerly extending across the “second terrace,” which was probably a “swamp” at one time and needed this “causeway” in order to enable the Mound Builder to reach the fort from which the “graded way” proceeds. He attempts to establish a chronology, by supposing all this “swamp” to have been carried away by erosion, to the level of the “second terrace,” which he places thirty-one feet below the “upper terrace.” No definite number of years is given, because there is no measure of erosion, and so

“The question is, ‘how long has it taken Twin Creek to cut the thirty-one feet?'”— McLean, 134.

The site of this professed artificial roadway is on a hillside overlooking the valley of Twin creek, and on the bottom land at its foot. Two nearly parallel deep ravines, a few hundred feet apart, form a headland with steep, almost precipitous, sides. Around the margin of this and across the rear end of it an embankment is carried. On the side toward the creek it curves inward to surround the head of a small ravine which affords an easy approach from the bottom land below; consequently there is no need for a “graded way,” and none was ever made. The ridge described as such is entirely a natural formation, due to erosion. The upper portion preserves the ordinary slope of the ground, as may be understood from his measurement which gives an incline of more than twenty degrees. This does not sound large, but makes a pretty stiff climb, nevertheless. That part of the “way” along the foot of the hill is due to the approach of the ravine on one side toward a shallow washout on the other. What McLean calls the continuation of this “graded way” across the bottom, or “upper terrace,” is nothing but the ridge formed by an old fence row and by the earth thrown up in making a turn with a plow at the end of the field; it is visible only in some places, as he says, and never had any existence where it is not now to be seen. His “second terrace” is nothing but the shore of the creek, and is subject to overflow with every hard rain — unless, indeed, he means the low bottom beyond the creek. This may once have been a “swamp,” as he suggests; but if so it existed before the stream was formed, and extended to the hills several hundred yards away. If the Mound Builder was here at that time, he saw the retreat of the ice-sheet; for it was very shortly after that time that Twin creek began its task of “cutting down the thirty-one feet.”

In a word, it may be said that with the single exception at Marietta, the alleged “excavated graded ways” are natural depressions, possibly slightly modified, which happened to be where they were needed; or the place was taken possession of because the grade was there. The few pathways which are actually artificial have escaped notice by reason of their insignificance. Where a group of works or a village-site is located on a terrace immediately above a very steep slope, steps were no doubt cut in the bank, or perhaps a narrow passage way dug, to facilitate ascent. The depression thus begun would deepen and widen with every storm, until finally a trough with considerable width and easy slope would be eroded, which can be distinguished from one entirely natural only by the fact that no water from the upper plain drains into it. Such gullies may be observed at the present day along the banks of any stream whose banks are of soft, loose earth, up and down which persons are accustomed to pass frequently. They are not uncommon where prehistoric village-sites were located on a bank with a tolerably steep slope; but, as stated, their origin is overlooked.

The nearest approach to a “graded way” that is to be found in the Scioto Valley, is a ravine of this kind just north of the circle at High Banks. The river bluff, about sixty feet high at this point, is so steep as to be very difficult of ascent. A pathway was made by the inmates or builders of the circle, in order to reach the water. This is now a large gully. In the loose sand and gravel forming the bluff, rains would rapidly erode the sides and bottom of such a path, and in a comparatively short time cut it down to an easy slope.

Passageways similar to this could be cited, but no other is so large.

Source:
https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=Graded+Ways+archaeology&sig=ACfU3U1QvrYt6vWdkNSpotMN1GikcIuoLw&id=m_QSAAAAYAAJ&ots=1n2ms4q3CP&output=text

The works occupy the high, sandy plain, at the junction of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers. This plain is from eighty to one hundred feet above the bed of the river, and from forty to sixty above the bottom lands of the Muskingum. Its outlines are shown on the map. It is about three fourths of a mile long, by half a mile in width; is bounded on the side next the hills by ravines, formed by streams, and terminates on the side next the river in an abrupt bank, resting upon the recent alluvions. The topography of the plain and adjacent country is minutely represented on this map.

The works consist of two irregular squares, (one containing forty acres area, the other about twenty acres,) in connection with a graded or covered way and sundry mounds and truncated pyramids, the relative positions of which are shown in the plan. The town of Marietta is laid out over them; and, in the progress of improvement, the walls have been considerably reduced and otherwise much obliterated; yet the outlines of the entire works may still be traced. The walls of the principal square, where they remain undisturbed, are now between five and six feet high by twenty or thirty feet base; those of the smaller enclosure are somewhat less. The entrances or gateways at the sides of the latter are each covered by a small mound placed interior to the embankment; at the corners the gateways are in line with it. The larger work is destitute of this feature, unless we class as such an interior crescent wall covering the entrance at its southern angle.

Within the larger enclosure are four elevated squares or truncated pyramids of earth, which, from their resemblance to similar erections in Mexico and Central America, merit a particular notice.⁵⁹ Three of these have graded passages or avenues of ascent to their tops. The principal one is marked A in the plan, and an engraving more clearly illustrating its features is herewith presented, Fig. 17. It is one hundred and eighty-eight feet long by one hundred and thirty-two wide, and ten high. Midway upon each of its sides are graded ascents, rendering easy the passage to its top. These grades are twenty-five feet wide and sixty feet long. The next in size is marked B in the plan, and is one hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and twenty wide, and eight feet high. It has three graded passages to its top, viz. upon the north, west, and east. Those at the sides are placed somewhat to the north of the centre of the elevation. Upon the south side there is a recess or hollow way, instead of a glacis, fifty feet long by twenty wide. This elevation is placed upon an easy swell or ridge of land, and occupies the most conspicuous position within the enclosure, every part of which is commanded from its summit. A few feet distant from the northern glacis, is a small conical mound, surrounded with shallow excavations, from which the earth for its construction, and, perhaps, for the construction in part of the pyramidal structure, was taken. To the right of the elevation, and near the eastern angle of the enclosure, is a smaller elevation one hundred and twenty feet long, fifty broad, and six feet high. It had graded ascents at its ends, similar in all respects to those just described. It is now much obliterated. Near the northern angle of the work is another elevation, not distinctly marked. The two larger squares are covered with a close turf, and still preserve their symmetry. Indeed, no erections of earth alone could surpass them in regularity. They are perfectly level on the top, except where some uprooted tree has displaced the earth.

*The Ancient Ohio Trail
THE SACRA VIA

Old maps show (left) the Sacra Via as a long, broad ramp with high earthen walls on both sides, leading up from the Muskingum River to Marietta’s large rectangular enclosure. Its monumental scale survives today as a park, a hundred and fifty feet wide. Such grand “graded ways” were often part of Ohio earthwork complexes.

The ramp was carefully engineered: its width crested in the center like a modern highway, its twenty-foot-high walls were lined with clay. This grand thoroughfare would have weathered floods well, and certainly would have impressed visitors arriving at the earthworks by boat. Its central axis is aligned with the winter solstice sunset; a mound probably marked the spot on the cliff top across the river.

There is an article from the SL Tribune about Richard Bushman that says he believes the Book of Mormon is RIGHT, not TRUE. Here.  Bushman was also agnostic when he went on his mission. I want to share with you some important differences I see between the belief system of many Progressive Mormon’s (Like Bushman) and other Traditionalist Mormon’s. See my blog here for more detail about An Apologist. As I discuss things below I am not claiming to speak for any other member of M2C, (Mesoamerican Two Hill Cumorah theory or Heartlander, (Believers that events of the Book of Mormon began in the Heartland of North America), and I am definitely not speaking on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love the Lord and His Church and I am a lifelong member in good standing.

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I define myself as a Traditional & Conservative Apologist as well as many of my Heartland Geography friends would. I am also Traditional on Social, Financial, Political and Constitutional values.

Traditional is an advocate of maintaining tradition, especially so as to resist change. A person who believes the old ways are best. Truth cannot be changed. God’s in charge not man as a generalization. Judgmental of unusual behavior.
Conservative is a person who is averse to change and holds traditional values. A person favoring free enterprise, private ownership, and socially traditional ideas and an adherence to God and His principles.
Apologist is a person who defends or supports something (such as a religion, cause, or organization) that is being criticized or attacked by other people.” A person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial. Both M2C and Heartlanders are Apologists.

Most believers on the Mesoamerican two Cumorah Theory (M2C) belief of geography, I would say are Liberal, & Progressive Apologists.

Liberal a supporter of a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise. One who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways. Man’s more in charge not God, as a generalization. Less judgmental of norms.
Progressive a supporter of policies that are socially progressive and promote social welfare. Favoring or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas. Developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step until traditional values become more liberal or progressive.

Difficult Questions and Answers

Mot Heartlanders are Conservative or believe in the Traditional history of the Church. Most in the M2C camp are more Liberal or Intellectual and believe in the Revisionist history of the Church. Most Traditional Mormons would answer questions about sensitive issues similar to me as follows:

DNA- We believe there may be Hebrew DNA in many Native American Indians near the Great Lakes of the Algonquian and Iroquois tribes. Article Here: Only Asian DNA has been found amongst the people of South, and Central America and amongst other Western Native Americans of the United States and Alaska. We believe most of those living in the South Pacific Islands are of Israelite blood, but we haven’t found DNA yet. M2C believe the Asian DNA found in Central America is because the Asian population over took any Hebrew DNA that may have existed as during the time of Lehi.
Evolution: We do not believe a cat could evolve into a dog and we don’t believe an ape can evolve into Man. We do believe in Evolution defined as change or adaptation within a species. Most intellectuals believe we evolved from an ape and change can happen outside of a species.

Translation of the Gold Plates: We believe they were translated by the power of God with Joseph using the breastplate and two clear stones in a silver bow (Like spectacles) that were found in the same hill as the plates. Most M2C followers believe the stone in the hat method of translation (SITH). They believe Joseph Smith never looked at the gold plates to translate.
Seer Stones: We believe Joseph had several seer stones that were used for faithful things by Joseph, but Joseph did not use a seer stone in his hat to translate the Book of Mormon. If he did use this method, he would be just reading words from a seer stone that someone gave him to be written down so he wouldn’t have “translated” the plates but just would have dictated the words he saw in the stone to Oliver. Joseph could have used any item if he never had to look at the plates and Nephi and Moroni would never of had to write and preserve the plates. Joseph also used the Urim and Thummim to translate parts of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Bible and other books. 
Politics- We believe the United States is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon as Elder Perry said, “The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom Perry Ensign Dec. 2012. We are mostly very conservative, love the US Constitution and our Founding Fathers. We believe in the right to bear arms and freedom of speech. Most of us don’t agree with RINO Republican’s (Republican in Name only), and we believed John F. Kennedy had great visions on taxes and freedom, but we disagree with most Democratic platforms today. Most of us love the great freedoms that Trump has given us as he has kept his word, as few politicians do. We also believe in the values of Ronald Reagan. We highly respect George Washington, and other great founding fathers, and we love Abraham Lincoln. We disagree strongly with Woodrow Wilson. We don’t approve of the socialized version of government. We don’t agree with Socialism, Marxism, Communism, Totalitarianism, or Progressivism. We believe rights can only come from God not from Government, “Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Polygamy: We believe Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were following the commandments to practice polygamy just as Abraham and others were instructed. Satan just uses this highly controversial idea to get us to doubt things. Only about 3% of the entire church ever practiced polygamy. We believe when the Lord commands us, we should listen. Spiritual marriage is a higher law of God and has little or nothing to do with a physical relationship.
Science: We believe the dinosaurs lived during the Old Testament with Adam and were killed during the great world wide flood. We also believe that rocks were created during the flood which was an event that happened at about 2345 BC. Most Intellectuals believe the dinosaurs are millions of years old. We believe Noah’s worldwide flood was real. Many M2C think it may have been a myth. We have shown in a laboratory that wood can be fossilized in 2 days not in millions of years. (See Universal Model by Dean Sessions).
Creationism: We believe Adam was the first man and Eve the first woman placed on this earth around 4,000 BC and the earth is only about 12,000 years old, but the material of the earth is billions of years old as matter cannot be created but has existed forever. Most intellectuals believe the earth is 4.5 billion years old as the consensus on google says. They also believe in cave men and men on earth before Adam.
Testimony: Most of the M2C theory are just as valiant as Heartlanders are in the Church and they are both trying to help others as good members of this Church. We just have different beliefs in some matters. Both sides should strive to love one another.

Personal Revelation

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral when it comes to Book of Mormon Geography and many of the other subjects from my above list. We should learn and study the revelations and doctrine that the Prophet and Apostles teach us and the standard works. Remember we are told that we may know the truth of all things. We as members should gain our own personal revelation on the scriptures, and the doctrine and revelations of the Church, including the things that are not doctrinal, just as the Prophet says below:

“Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course … as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.”

You don’t have to wonder about what is true. You do not have to wonder whom you can safely trust. Through personal revelation, you can receive your own witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this is the Lord’s Church. Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true.

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives by President Russell M. Nelson

Different Apologists

M2C Apologists: They say they are neutral and open to hearing about other geographical theories of the Book of Mormon. I don’t believe they are neutral. The may vaguely listen to others, but they are staunch in the Mesoamerican belief. I believe they say they are neutral to stay in a supportive role with the Church.

John L. Sorenson a leader of the Mesoamerican Theory said, “There remain Latter-day Saints who insist that the final destruction of the Nephites took place in New York, but any such idea is manifestly absurd. Hundreds of thousands of Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley to New York, pursued (why?) by hundreds of thousands of Lamanites, is a scenario worthy only of a witless sci-fi movie, not of history.” John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex (Deseret Book, 2013), p. 688.

Heartland Apologists: We love and support The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we are mostly life long members in good standing. We are not neutral in our opinions about Book of Mormon Geography. We believe Book of Mormon events happened in the heartland of North America. The Book of Mormon is only a small percent of history and through marriage and migration we acknowledge there are other Lamanites that live outside of this Heartland, not spoken of in the Book of Mormon, including in the western United States, Canada and Central and South America.

My Blog about both competing theories is here:

Mesoamerica Two Cumorah Theory

M2C means, “Mesoamerica Two Cumorah Theory”, as defined by Jonathan Neville. In other words those who believe there are two Hill Cumorah’s, one in New York where Joseph deposited the plates, and a second Hill Cumorah somewhere in Mexico where the final battles of the Nephites and Lamanites took place. YES, they really believe this!
Why?
1. They need to justify that their theory has to have happened in Mesoamerica.
2. They insist the area around NY Cumorah is too small to be a place for such disaster.
3. They claim no bones, arrowheads, iron, copper and other artifacts have ever been found near the NY Cumorah. My Proof Here
4. They believe the Cave at Hill Cumorah that Joseph entered and saw wagon loads of plates was just a dream and didn’t really happen. Blog, Other Blog
5. They believe Moroni traveled over 3,500 miles to NY to bury the plates.

John L. Sorenson begins his Preface to Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book, with these observations:

“This book presents a wide array of evidence that the Book of Mormon is an ancient historical record that could only have been produced by a writer who lived in Mesoamerica (southern Mexico and northern Central America) many centuries before Spanish explorers reached that area…. Numerous theories have, of course, been proposed to correlate Book of Mormon geography with the modern map of the Americas. None of these theories have been considered definitive by authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In chapters 2 and 7, I explain why I consider only one of those theories–involving a particular area in Mesoamerica–to escape the fatal flaws exhibited by all the others.”

I suspect most readers glide right over this sleight-of-hand rhetoric. The truth, though, is that Church authorities have always made a clear distinction between fact and theory regarding Book of Mormon geography.

Fact: The Hill Cumorah is in New York. This was established as a fact in Letter VII, written by President Oliver Cowdery who was an eye-witness to the depository of Nephite records in that hill (Mormon 6:6). Joseph Smith helped write these letters, had them copied into his personal history, and endorsed their republication for the rest of his life. The fact that Cumorah is in New York has been repeated many times by Church leaders, including by members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference. No member of the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve has ever repudiated this teaching of his predecessors.

Theory: Church leaders have always said don’t know for sure the locations of other Book of Mormon events, so every proposed geography other than the New York Cumorah is necessarily a theory.

All of this means that, starting right from the outset, Mormon’s Codex is propaganda, not scholarship…

Brother Sorensen also says, “There remain Latter-day Saints who insist that the final destruction of the Nephites took place in New York, but any such idea is manifestly absurd. Hundreds of thousands of Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley to New York, pursued (why?) by hundred of thousands of Lamanites, is a scenario worthy only of a witless sci-fi movie, not of history.” Mormon’s Codex, p. 688…

The treatment of Cumorah in Mormon’s Codex is an illusion of scholarship, as you’ll see if you read it carefully. Here are some examples:

“In the final stage of their retreat, all the identifiable Nephites assembled near the hill Cumorah, probably Cerro El Vigia in south-central Veracruz….

When all the remaining Nephites were ‘gathered in,’ the numerically superior Lamanite horde waged battle. In a single day they exterminated all 23 units of the defenders (each nominally of 10,000 men)….

Finally, the hill where the end came for the Jaredites, who called it Ramah, and the location of the last battle of the Nephites at the same hill (they called it Cumorah), have a highly likely correspondence to Cerro El Vigia (see fig. 7.2), an outlier on the northwest of the Tuxtla Mountains. In overall location and in a dozen other features, the textual information in the Book of Mormon agrees with the geographical situation. 72″

In classic M2C citation cartel fashion, Footnote 72 (page 142) cites David A. Palmer, In Search of Cumorah (Bountiful, UT: Horizon Publishers, 1992). Brother Palmer, of course, encouraged Brother Sorenson to write his books…

Brother Palmer is the one who wrote the self-serving entry on Cumorah in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism that cites only his own book for authority, again in classic M2C citation cartel fashion. You can read my discussions of his book if you search for “David Palmer” on this blog. Brother Palmer cites the anonymous articles in the Times and Seasons for authority, while ignoring the teachings of the prophets entirely, except for a brief dismissal of Letter VII, which he doesn’t even quote.
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As you go through the “criteria” for Cumorah set forth in Mormon’s Codex and In Search of Cumorah, you’ll see that the criteria are derived not from the text but from the assumed Mesoamerican setting. There must be volcanoes, for example, which Mormon and Moroni forgot to mention but which Brothers Sorenson and Palmer thoughtfully provide.

As I noted at the outset, once you recognize that Mormon’s Codex is a long-winded justification for repudiating the prophets, you see the logical fallacies and circular reasoning throughout.

To be clear, I do not reject the Mesoamerican setting and I won’t until it has not been rejected by the prophets. However, I think it is implausible, given the New York Cumorah. I think the evidence from ancient North America aligns far better with the text of the Book of Mormon than the evidence from Mesoamerica, Baja, Panama, etc.

For me, the distinction between fact and theory, between the New York Cumorah and everything else, is so well established by the prophets that it is inexcusable to censor, let alone repudiate, the teachings of the prophets…

It’s a side benefit that the fact of the New York Cumorah is so well supported by available archaeology, anthropology, geography, and geology. Mormon’s Codex is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog.” Jonathan Neville Illusion of scholarship – Mormon’s Codex part 3

“Sorenson’s analysis of Alma 22 seems to be influenced by the Times and Seasons article published on 1 October 1842, which declares that the Nephite city of Zarahemla “stood upon” “Central America or Guatimala [sic].” Sorenson cites this passage from the Times and Seasons, although he recognizes the “fact that the geography question had not been settled authoritatively.”^[1] In Mormon’s Codex, Sorenson relegates the Times and Seasons articles to a footnote in support of his unequivocal conclusion: “Joseph Smith became convinced in the last years of his life that the lands of the Nephites were in Mesoamerica.”^[1]

Sorenson’s assumptions about Central America lead him to a preconceived concept of Book of Mormon geography; i.e., a narrow neck of land between two larger land masses. Perhaps he felt somewhat bound by the Times and Seasons articles and his inference that Joseph Smith agreed with them. As such, Sorenson’s work could be viewed as an effort to vindicate the Prophet’s words.” Moroni’s America by Jonathan Neville pages 26-28

You Choose-

BYU Fantasy Map?

Heartland Model Map?

Follow the entire Nephite Time-line of how the Book of Mormon began in Jerusalem and then continued in Florida to Tennessee to Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and ended in New York, the same pattern as the ancient Hopewell culture. Here is that time-line article: