Elephants, Cureloms, & Cumoms (Mammoths?) in North America

The following information is from The Annotated Book of Mormon by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum, pages 472-474. Order here.

“An interesting study on ‘Men and Elephants in America’ (Ludwell H. Johnson, “Men and Elephants in America,” The Scientific Monthly 75 (1952), 220-221] . . . concludes: ‘Archaeology has proved that the American Indian hunted and killed elephants; it has also strongly indicated that these elephants have been extinct for several thousand years. This means that the traditions of the Indians recalling these animals have retained their historical validity for great stretches of time. . . Probably the minimum is three thousand years,’ . . . which would place [the elephant’s] extinction about a thousand years B.C., when the Jaredite culture was already very old and Lehi’s people were not to appear on the scene for some centuries. . . Here, then, is a strong argument for Jaredite survivors among the Indians” – Hugh Nibley, “The Prophetic Book of Mormon,” Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Volume 8, Deseret Book Company [1989], 111.

Effigy pipes, as shown on the left, have been excavated in controlled archaeology digs [Louisa County, Iowa], and reported in the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology, Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley, by Henry W. Henshaw, Government Printing Office, Washington [1883], 155-156. Note that these pipes show what looks like elephants but without tails and tusks. These animals could be similar to the cureloms and cumoms mentioned in Ether 9:19.

“It is a wonder, and has been since the mounds have been discovered, how such immense works could have been built by human hands. To me it is not difficult to believe that those people tamed that monster of the forest [the elephant] and made him a willing slave to their superior intellectual power. If such was the case, we can imagine that tremendous teams have been driven to and fro in the vicinity of their great works, tearing up trees by the roots, or marching with their armies into the field of battle amidst showers of poisoned arrows. In western New York, particularly within the borders of the great valley of the Conewango river, evidence is abundant that ancient man and the great American elephant trod the soil together. Large molar teeth have been found at East Randolph, Leon, Conewango, Ellington and various places near the tributaries of the Conewango.”

“In the year 1859, while exploring some tumuli in the vicinity of the Red House valley [Cattaraugus County, New York], we found numerous singular and interesting relics, among which were spear heads, six inches in length, with double barbs composed of masses of native copper; also several blocks of mica, which were in about the same condition as when chiseled from the granite of the [Allegheny] Mountains. It was near this valley where was found one of the most interesting relics ever discovered among the works of the ancient inhabitants. It was a flat piece of native copper, six inches in length by four in width, artistically wrought, with the form of an elephant represented in harness engraved upon it, and a sort of breast collar, with tugs on either side, which extended past the hips.” (Emphasis added)

“The fact that the mastodon was contemporary with the Mound Builders is admitted by all antiquarians. It is my opinion that in all probability they tamed and used that powerful beast to haul heavy burdens. I am confirmed in this opinion by the fact that in his organization he possessed a mild disposition, and that, like the African elephant, he could have been tamed when young and brought under subjection with as little trouble as is required for the ox or horse.” (Historical Gazetteer and Biographical Memorial of Cattaraugus County, NY, edited by William Adams, Lyman, Horton & Co., Syracuse, NY [October 1893], 12, 16, and 23).

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The Naskapi (Nascapi, Naskapee, Nascapee) First Nations people that live in Northeastern Labrador tell of “a large monster that once trampled them and left deep tracks in the snow, had large ears and a long nose with which he hit people. His tracks in the snow were described in their stories as large and round” – W. D. Strong, North American Traditions Suggesting a Knowledge of the Mammoth, American Anthropologist 36 (1934), 84.

“…there were elephants, and cureloms and cumoms, all of which were useful unto man…” (Ether 9:19).

 

Mammoths & Mastodons; Cureloms & Cumoms

“An article on pp. [23-24] reports a “Curious Discovery. The remains of an Elephant have been recently discovered on the shore of York River, a few yards within high water mark, near the seat of Mr. Gawin Corbin, about six miles below Williamsburg [Virginia].” This notice concludes that, “From a comparison of the bones [p. (23) ends] with the osteology of the Elephant, no doubt remains of their belonging to that animal. These demonstrations of the existence of the elephant in the lower part of this state, are new, and form a valuable accession to the College Museum.”

However, the elephant is not indigenous to this hemisphere, and the “remains” in question must have been those of a mastodon (or mammoth). In 1830, the Book of Mormon would also relate the existence of “elephants” in ancient America, and as late as historical pre-Columbian times (Ether 9:19).

Book of Mormon defender John L. Sorenson argues that mastodons and mammoths might have survived as late as the Jaredite period. “They are unquestionably elephants in the eyes of zoologists,” he suggests. Yet this approach presents difficulties, for we also have the very specific Book of Mormon terms, “cureloms and cumoms,” representing animals which – along with elephants – were the most “useful” in the Jaredite culture (same verse, Ether 9:19). Sorenson explains that those animals are unidentifiable today, unless one of them be the Pleistocene “giant sloth.” (Sorenson 1985, 297-98)

This dilemma leaves Joseph Smith sufficiently equipped to read the sounds of the names “curelom” and “cumom” in Moroni’s translation of the Jaredite record,but not the equally pronounceable word “mammoth” (or some ancient Nephite equivalent), which also eluded the writers of this 1812 New York State almanac.For pre-1820 examples of Americans who did use the term, “mammoth,” on the other hand, see (beginning with a children’s textbook) MP 193 (Hunt); MP 256 (Morse, American Universal Geography, section headed, “The Mammoth Only Recently Extinct”); MP 402 (John Smith) and MP 450 (Vermont Intelligencer). For the use of the term, “mastodon,” see MP 252 (Mitchill, [Circular.] American Zoology.” Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder

THE MAMMOTH ONLY RECENTLY EXTINCT MAMMOTH. This name has been given to an unknown animal, whose bones are found in the northern parts of both the old and new world. From the form of their teeth, they are supposed to have been carnivorous. Like the elephant they were armed with tusks of ivory; but they obviously differed from the elephant in size; their bones prove them to have been 5 or 6 times as large. These enormous bones are found in several parts of North-America, particularly about the salt licks or springs, near the Ohio river. These licks were formerly frequented by a vast number of graminivorous animals, on account of the salt, of which they are excessively fond. From the appearance of these bones, some of which are entirely above ground, others wholly buried, it is probable that the animals died at different periods; some perhaps as lately as the first settlement of this country by the Europeans. [p. I:237; for background, see MP 139, Farmer’s Almanack, 1812]

“THE MAMMOTH,” a curious article on the second page of this newspaper, describes a creature bizarre enough to fire the imagination. “A letter from a gentleman near Fort Wayne, to the Secretary of the Western Emigrant Society, lately published in the Western Spy, in describing that country, gives the following particulars concerning this animal.” The article is entirely quoted from the letter, and describes a decidedly non-mammoth which was supposedly known among Native Americans until recent times. It brings to mind issues of elephants and cureloms and cumoms in the Book of Mormon; for background
discussion see MP 139 (Farmer’s Almanack).

“Perhaps this country affords more recent remains of the mammoth than any other.—Such specimens as I have seen are less decayed. If any reliance can be placed upon the reports or tradition of the Indians, it is not more than seventy or eighty years since the last of them existed. Last fall an old Indian, in testimony of the account he had been giving me of the mammoth, and the skeletons he knew of, brought me a grinder [molar tooth] that from its appearance I would not suppose had been more than three of four years since it had been in the use of the original proprietor. It has some of the masticated food adhering to the recesses of the grinder, so fresh as to be perfectly distinguished as such. The Indian has engaged to conduct me next spring to the spot where he took the grinder, and where he believes the rest of the skeleton to be, principally covered with soft mud—and to one other that he says he thinks is as perfect as that. “The Indians give some account of the external appearance and habitude of this huge animal. They say that he was of a dark brown colour, of very long hair, formed something like a hog, large pendulous ears, small sharp eyes, resembling those of a hog, divided hoof, very long in proportion to the width, and no trunk like that of the elephant. I endeavored to learn the man-[ner] in which the tusks were inserted, whether the curl was up or down, but could not learn from them.
They say he did not lie down, but he rested leaning against a tree.—His food [was] soft wood, of which he ate the whole trees, of the largest size, as well as the smallest, and was very partial to the Lynd.—That he was not a great rambler—he rested at night, for a length of time at the same spot—removeing [sic] his nightly resting place only for scarcity of food.” [p. 2]

Were the Indians having fun at the expense of this “gentleman”? If I discover such a critter drowsing against my trees some evening, the press shall be called and the grounds quickly enclosed. All that matters for this bibliography is that newspapers could accept and copy such a story during the youth of Joseph Smith.

SEA SERPENT: A quick blurb appears near the bottom of the third page of the newspaper: “The Sea Serpent has again made his appearance in Sag Harbor.” Compare to Ether 6:10 (“. . . and no monster of the sea could break them . . .”). For other examples, see MP 324 (The Plough Boy) and MP 456 (The Washingtonian). “FOSSILS ought to be collected with particular care,” continues Mitchill. “. . . Let the Mastodons, Crocodiles, Encrinites, Pectinites, Ammonites, Belemnites, and other reliques of the extinct races, be assembled and classed; and then let the philosopher survey the whole and draw wise and pious conclusions.” Mitchill got his wish, indirectly, for the records of the New York Lyceum (see below) show that their first donation – a fossil – was presented to them on April 9, 1817, less than one month after the present flyer went out. (Herman LeRoy Fairchild, A History of the New York Academy of Sciences, Formerly the Lyceum of Natural History [New York: H. L. Fairchild, 1887], 12).

Mitchill’s reference to “Mastodons,” above, is of particular interest to Book of Mormon studies, because of the “elephants” which are mentioned in Ether 9:19 as having been “especially” useful to the Jaredites. For more than a year, a principal Book of Mormon defense site on the Internet volunteered an answer to a question, “Why has no evidence of elephants or horses been found in the Americas in Book of Mormon times?” The solution which was offered there concluded with the following assertion:

Some critics object that the Book of Mormon uses the term “elephant,” not “mammoth” or “mastodon.” Since these terms were invented after Joseph Smith’s time, the only term with which the prophet was familiar would have been “elephant. http://www.farms.byu.edu/questionday.php?id=6 , accessed May 3, 2005, December 28, 2005 and June 17, 2006]

That statement was clearly in error, and could mislead students who might not have ready access to early nineteenth-century American sources. Beyond Dr. Mitchill’s use of “mastodon” in this entry, the reader of this Bibliographic Source will also find the other term, “mammoth,” in American use beginning well before 1820; see MP 193 (Hunt [a children’s textbook]), MP 256 (Morse, American Universal Geography, section headed, “The Mammoth Only Recently Extinct”), MP 402 (John Smith), and MP 450 (Vermont Intelligencer). For my comment on further difficulty with the use of “elephant” in the Book of Mormon, see MP 139 (Farmer’s Almanack, 1812)

THE “MAMMOTH” AND OTHER EXTINCT ANIMALS: “A CAVERN OF THE WEST, IN WHICH ARE FOUND MANY INTERESTING HIEROGLYPHICS, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS,” pp. 138-50 . . .

A cavern beside the Ohio River, “twenty miles below the mouth of the Wabash” (now Cave-In-Rock, Hardin County, Illinois, southwest of Evansville, Indiana; used as backdrop for a scene in the movie, “How the West was Won”) displays on its smooth rock walls, “many hieroglyphics, and representations of such
delineations as would induce the belief that their authors were, indeed, comparatively refined and civilized.” (p. 138). These include a wide variety of images, among which are “representations of the larger animals,” including “The mammoth showing his greatness; . . . ,” p. 143.

Priest discerns “that the ancient inhabitants at a very remote period, had made use of this cave as a house of deliberation and council. The walls bear many hieroglyphics, well executed; and some of them represent animals, which have no resemblance to any now known to natural history.” (p. 139). A digressive section on American “mammoth” bones, teeth and their logical extensions, pp. 144-46, appears to confuse such remnants with fossils of dinosaurs, until Priest gives us an entertaining scenario with forty-foot high creatures resembling monstrous elephants (except for the tail and tusks) “with teeth sufficient to crush a buffalo at a mouthful; . . . his voice like the double rolling of thunder, jarring the wilderness; at which every living thing would tremble, and drop to the earth.” (p. 145). Priest has this biblical “Behemoth in Job, 40th chapter, 15th verse” (p. 146) living contemporaneously with man: We suppose the animals resembling the elephant, to have been the mammoth, and that those ancients were well acquainted with the creature, or they could never have engraved it on the rock. Job, of the Scriptures, who was a native of the land of Uz, in Idumea, which is situated southwest of the lake Asphaltidese, or sea of Sodom, was also well acquainted with this animal. [p. 144] Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder
http://www.rickgrunder.com/getmp2014.html

Settling the James River The First People

“Remains of large prehistoric mammals, like the wooly mammoth, have been discovered in western Virginia, near present day Saltville, and in northern Virginia, near present day New Market. Photo courtesy of Ed Jackson

“Native Americans had lived in Virginia for at least 16,000 years before the English colonists arrived. Archeologists divide Native American history into three time periods. The Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, and the Woodland. These periods emphasize different features of Native American culture. The Paleo-Indian period occurred between 15,000 and 9,000 years ago. During this time early humans came to the New World across the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait is a land bridge that connected Asia and North America. Archeologists believe early humans were following large mammals like mammoths and bison. These groups moved often and left little traces of their existence. The Williamson site in Dinwiddie County is a Paleo-Indian workshop. It is one of only four Paleo-Indian workshops in the eastern half of the United States. Paleo-Indian workshops, or quarries, are areas where Native Americans made stone tools. The next period is the Archaic Period, which occurred between 9,000 and 1,000 years ago. By then large mammals like mammoths and bison were extinct. Early humans began hunting deer, elk, bear, and small game like rabbits. They were also gathering plants such as fruits and acorns. The Woodland Period began 1,000 years ago and lasted until European contact. By this time Native Americans were more sedentary. They were making fired clay pots for cooking and storage. They settled in large communities of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people. These communities relied on farming for their food. Vegetables like squash, beans, and corn were important to their diet. They continued hunting and using all parts of the animal for food, clothing, and tools. Native Americans lived and used the land without permanently destroying it. This is why it can be hard to find well preserved Native American sites. There are a few remaining sites in Virginia. The Conjurer’s Field Archaeological Site is an example of one of the few remaining Middle and Late Woodland period villages located along the Appomattox River.” National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/articles/settlejames.htm

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“Saltville Valley is an important source of information about the environmental history of the Middle Appalachian region, especially for the past 15,000 years. The Saltville River coursed the valley until about 13,500-13,000 yrs BP, at which time it was diverted by headstream piracy and replaced in Saltville Valley, by Lake Totten. At site SV-2 (=44SM37), three horizons dating from 14,510 +/- 80 yr BP to about 13,500-13,000 yr BP document the presence of pre-Clovis people in Saltville Valley and provide insight into their lifeways. At 14,510 yr BP, pre-Clovis people appear to have butchered and processed hide, meat, bones, and tusks of a mastodon (Mammut americanum) and to have utilized parts of the skeleton of a musk ox (Bootherium bombifrons). Five hundred years later, at 13,950 +/- 70 yr BP, human presence is suggested by unlikely arrangements, associations, and modifications of lithics, including flakes of chert that resemble biface reduction flakes. A midden dating from about 13,500 to 13,000 yr BP constitutes the youngest of the three pre-Clovis horizons recognized to date at SV-2. SV-2 is one of the few and most complex pre-Clovis archeological sites in North America, and because it is a wet site, it contains a relatively extensive amount of organic information. Evidence suggests that the pre-Clovis people who visited Saltville Valley in 14,510 yr BP had a diversified ivory, bone, and lithic technology–possibly including a biface technology. These people appear to have been mobile hunters and gatherers who regularly visited and exploited the riparian and littoral zones in Saltville Valley where they utilized diverse faunal resources ranging from large mammals to small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and mussels.” An Outline of the Pre-Clovis Archeology of SV-2, Saltville, Virginia – with Special Attention to a Bone Tool Dated 14,510 yr BP. Virginia Museum of Natural History’s Jeffersoniana Series, Number 9, November 30, 2000 by Jerry N. McDonald

“Mastodons would have roamed Virginia 12,000 to 16,000 years ago. This is the second set of Mastodon bones found in the state, and the Virginia Living Museum is now in the process of building a new display. Jerre Johnson is a geologist who led the excavation of the rare 16,000-year-old mastodon bones – found two miles west of Yorktown in Baptist Run.” Yorktown Discovered Mastodon Bones Newport News Daily Press 2018

Jerre Johnson (left) holds up a portion of a mastodon molar while at his home in Williamsburg on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. Johnson is a geologist who led the excavation of rare 16,000-year-old mastodon bones found two miles west of Yorktown in Baptist Run. The bones will permanently be displayed at the Virginia Living Museum.

Virginia Living Museum’s Senior Director of Exhibitions Fred Farris (right) shows off a covered and protected full Mastodon tusk. Mastodons would have roamed Virginia 12,000 to 16,000 years ago. This is the second set of Mastodon bones found in the state. Jan. 25, 2018.

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“Some of the articles above mention time frames that are different than what seem to be reasonable today, especially with the hard work of Dean Sessions and his book found at UniversalModel.com. Instead of coming over the land bridge as is very popular with scientists who have no better theory, we believe it very likely that the Jaredites brought the appropriate mammoths, cureloms, or cumoms along with bees and other animals on the eight barges. In that token, Lehi may have brought similar baby mastodons or elephants from the Old World. The old story that almost everything came over the Bering Strait just doesn’t seem to be an option any more.

The more we learn about the Gospel and research about the Jaredites and Nephites, the more we understand the Lord is in control of “all things” and bringing the proper animals to the New World seems a very likely answer. We know Lehi must have brought the sheep, oxen, doves, goats, wheat, barley, and grapes to the United States to practice the Law of Moses. It is also another sign of the United States being the Land described in the Book of Mormon, as the previously listed animals, plants and fruits that were essential to practice the Law of Moses are no where to be found in Mesoamerica during the time of the Nephites. Every one of these necessary plants and animals are found in the United States during Nephite times.” Rian Nelson Editor

JAREDITES & NEPHITES & IROQUOIS MAMMALS

The Pleistocene Age is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the world’s most recent period of repeated glaciations. this is according to the so-called scientists whose dates are way off. We believe the Jaredites lived from about 2,000 BC to 500 BC and the Nephites from 600 BC to 421 AD. The Iroquois lived from about 1142 Ad until today. The chart above is a good reference to mammals that would have lived during the Jaretite and Nephite time periods.

Fairview Museum of History and Art

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