“And the work of death commenced on both sides, but it was more dreadful on the part of the Lamanites, for their nakedness was exposed to the heavy blows of the Nephites with their swords and the cimeters, which brought death at almost every stroke” (Alma 43:37).

How Long could a Steel Sword Last after Burial?

Steel Sword near Jerusalem

Vered Jericho Sword by Neal Rappleye 

“Vered Jericho was a small ancient Israelite fortress first excavated in the winter of 1982 by archaeologist Avraham Eitan. It’s located roughly 3.7 miles (6 km) south of Jericho proper, on the northern side of Wadi es-Suweid. The walls still stand over 6 and half feet tall (2 m) and nearly 3 feet (0.9 m) wide, with two towers on each corner flanking the gate. Inside the fort is a courtyard and two dwelling structures.

The fort may have also had cultic or ritual functions as a “high place” (beit bamah). It dates to the late seventh to early sixth century BC, and was destroyed by fire, quite likely in either the Babylonian siege of 597–598 or that of 588–586 BC.1 Among the ruins, excavators found a large iron sword, fully intact, next to the skeletal remains of a man. It is the largest Israelite sword found to date, and measures nearly 3 and half feet long (1.04 m) and a little over 2 inches wide (6 cm); it gets narrower (.75–1.5 in; 2–4 cm) at the handle, which was made of bronze and wood and widens into a crescent shape at the end.2

The blade is double-edged, and metallurgical analysis determined that the iron had been carburized into “mild steel.”3 Image This 7th–6th century BC Israelite sword, held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, was found at Vered Jericho, about 15 miles from Jerusalem. The blade is made of “iron hardened into steel” (museum plaque).

Book of Mormon Relevance
Since steel can be produced through accidental carburization during the ironworking process, it’s hard to say when Israelites first developed the technical expertise to intentionally create high-quality steel.4 2 | Vered Jericho Sword The earliest evidence for the intentional creation of steel comes from twelfth century BC Cyprus,5 and may have spread to Palestine fairly early on. Metallurgical analysis of tenth century BC iron artifacts from Israelite sites reveals that many, even most, of these are technically steel, but there’s uncertainty as to whether these were carburized deliberately or not.6

Whenever the technology developed in Israel, the Vered Jericho sword is evidence the Israelites knew how to intentionally create steel by the late-seventh century BC.7 According to metallurgical analysis of the blade, “the iron was deliberately hardened into steel, attesting to the technical knowledge of the blacksmith.”8 Thus, it is the earliest steel sword found in an Israelite context, and the largest, fully intact steel sword found anywhere in the ancient Near East.9 In 1 Nephi, a military commander named Laban, living in Jerusalem in the early sixth century BC, had a sword with a hilt “of pure gold” and a blade “of the most precious steel” (1 Nephi 4:9).

The Vered Jericho sword, from the exact same time-period, compares favorably with this description—it had a long blade of deliberately-made, high-quality steel, as opposed to the lower quality steel often produced on accident, and was also bi-metallic, with a bronze and wood handle. Laban’s hilt of gold is comparable to that on King Tutankhamen’s dagger (ca. 1336–1327 BC),10 and in comparison with this contemporary Israelite sword it suggests that his was the weapon of a man with high social standing.11

NOTES

1 For background on the site see Avraham Eitan, “Vered Yeriḥo,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, 5 vols., ed. Ephraim Stern (Jerusalem and Washington, DC: Israel Exploration Society and Biblical Archaeology Society, 1993–2008), 5:2067–2068; Hershel Shanks, “BAR Interviews Avraham Eitan,” Biblical Archaeology Review 12, no. 4 (July/August 1986): 30–34.

2 For dimensions of the sword, see Amihai Mazar and Shmuel Aḥituv, “Tel Reḥov in the Assyrian Period: Squatters, Burials, and a Hebrew Seal,” in The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin, ed. Israel Finkelstein and Nadav Naʾaman (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 273. Contra Mazar and Aḥituv, who report that “the blade and hilt are made of iron as one unit,” Eitan says the “haft is of bronze with some wood remains.” See Shanks, “BAR Interviews,” 33.

3 Avraham Eitan, “Rare Sword of the Israelite Period Found at Vered Jericho,” Israel Museum Journal 12 (1994): 61– 62.

4 For background on ironworking technology in the ancient Near East, see Lloyd Weeks, “Metallurgy,” in A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2 vols., ed. D. T. Potts (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 1:297298, 305–306, 311–312; Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 2001), 167–169; James D. Muhly, “How Iron Technology Changed the Ancient World and Gave the Philistines a Military Edge,” Biblical Archaeology Review 8, no. 6 (1982): 40–54.

5 See Erik Tholander, “Evidence of the Use of Carburized Steel and Quench Hardening in Late Bronze Age Cyprus,” Opuscula Atheniensia 10, no. 3 (1971): 15–22; Vasiliki Kassianidou, “The Origin and Use of Metals in Iron Age Cyprus,” in Cyprus and Aegean in the Early Iron Age: The Legacy of Nicolas Coldstream, ed. Maria Iacovou (Nicosia: Band of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, 2012), 238.

6 T. Stech-Wheeler, J.D. Muhly, K.R. Maxwell-Hyslop, R. Maddin, “Iron at Taanach and Early Iron Metallurgy in the Eastern Mediterranean,” American Journal of Archaeology 85, no. 3 (1981): 245–268; Naama Yahalom-Mack and Adi Elyahu Behar, “The Transition from Bronze to Iron in Canaan: Chronology, Technology, and Context,” Radiocarbon 57, no. 2 (2015): Nephite History in Context 3 (August 2018) | 3 285–305. Stech-Wheeler et al. analyzed 11 iron articles from Taanach, dated no later than ca. 925 BC, and determine that 5 were carburized into steel and that this was done deliberately. In contrast, Yahalom-Mack and Elyahu-Behar analyzed 60 iron artifacts dated to ca. tenth–ninth centuries BC, and determined that nearly all of them (57) are steel, but that none was likely carburized intentionally. While Yahalom-Mack and Elyahu-Behar is the more recent study, and uses newer methods, their results are significantly hampered by the poor preservation of their samples and the limitations of the available methods, and thus their conclusions are far from definitive. Nonetheless, their data does seem to suggest that at this early stage in Israelite history, “a range of steels existed during the Iron Age, indicating the lack of systematic, deliberate carburization” (p. 297), while all of the steel samples analyzed by Stech-Wheeler et al. could be explained as accidental carburization.

 7 References to barzel (iron) ʿashot and barzel mi-ṣafon in Ezekiel 27:19 and Jeremiah 15:12 indicate that Israelites were aware of iron hardened into steel by the late seventh/early sixth century BC. See Dan Levene and Beno Rothenburg, “Early Evidence for Steelmaking in the Judaic Sources,” Jewish Quarterly Review 92, no. 1–2 (2001): 105–127, esp. 109–113, 125-126. Furthermore, archaeologists working in Israel uncovered a furnace dated to the late seventh/early sixth century BC which seems to be custom made for steeling iron objects through carburization. See Beno Rothenburg and R. F. Tlyecote, “A Unique Assyrian Iron Smithy in the Northern Negev (Israel),” Institute for Archaeo-Metallurigical Studies Newsletter 17 (1991): 11–14; Levene and Rothenburg, “Early Evidence for Steelmaking,” 116.

8 Eitan, “Rare Sword,” 62.

9 For short steel swords found from the far northeast of the ancient Near East, dated to the ninth–sixth centuries BC, see Herbert Maryon, et al., “Early Near Eastern Steel Swords,” American Journal of Archaeology 65, no. 2 (1961): 173–184.

10 On King Tutankhamen’s dagger, see the forthcoming Nephite History in Context 4.

11 See William J. Adams Jr., “Nephi’s Jerusalem and Laban’s Sword,” in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon: The FARMS Updates of the 1990s, ed. John W. Welch and Melvin J. Thorne (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999), 11–13; Jeffrey R. Chadwick, “Lehi’s House at Jerusalem and the Land of His Inheritance,” in glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem, ed. John W. Welch, David Rolph Seely, and Jo Ann H. Seely (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2004), 115, fig. 11; Jeffrey R. Chadwick, “All that Glitters is Not … Steel,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15, no. 1 (2006): 66–67; Matthew Roper, “‘To Inflict Wounds of Death’: Mesoamerican Swords and Cimeters in the Book of Mormon,” presented at the 2016 FairMormon Conference, August 4, 2016, online at https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2016/inflict-wounds-death (accessed July 30, 2017). https://bhroberts.org/records/dMTmWh-06LGgK/neal_rappleye_discusses_the_vered_jericho_sword

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Many Swords in North America

If we find a steel sword or two in Israel as noted above, it makes sense we would find steel swords in North America if the Lehites actually traveled to North America as Heartlanders believe. Heartlanders have also found evidence of many ores found in Tennessee, and Michigan. Below we will share with you some information about steel, copper and other swords found in the Heartland.

By the Nephites fruits, we shall know them. In other words, by the millions and millions of mounds and artifacts of life in North America from 600 BC to 400 AD, has been left the fruits or artifacts of the labors of the great Lamanite and Nephite people. To say evidence doesn’t exist is to deny the artifacts found in many museums. To be shown the evidence of the Nephites path, you could simply follow the path of the Hopewell Culture. This article will focus on artifacts in Tennessee, Ohio and several other states, and any one item on it’s own could help the honest in heart find physical and spiritual proof of the Book of Mormon. Of course one would have to find room in their heart to believe the Book of Mormon did happen in North America, which I do. (Your contrary opinions are welcome).

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If the Book of Mormon is true, then this world is full of evidence of it’s existence both temporally and spiritually. If the Nephites were a real people in a real time and place, there is found evidence of their existence. If Zarahemla was a city near Nauvoo, we will find evidence of its existence. If metal and copper are mentioned in the Book of Mormon, we will find its evidence in the ground. If Joseph Smith is a Prophet born and raised in the United States and he talks of “this country” or “this land” he is speaking of the USA. If the Land of Tennessee is the place of the Nephites, proof of habitation will exist.

If you haven’t found physical evidence of the Book of Mormon in North America, you haven’t researched hard enough. If you haven’t found evidence of God and Christ, you just aren’t looking and praying hard enough in my opinion. The Book of Mormon is true and you can know through personal revelation. I believe the Lord is always available and He lives and He loves us. 

“For it came to pass that they did deceive many with their flattering words, who were in the church, and did cause them to commit many sins” Mosiah 26:6

TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGY

The Old Stone Fort was built during the Middle Woodland Period, 1,500-2,000 years ago. Native Americans used this area continuously for about 500 years, eventually leaving it abandoned. By the time European settlers arrived, it was unclear of what the area had been used for which resulted in it being misnamed as a fort. In 1966, the state of Tennessee purchased 400 acres of the Chumbley estate as the core of what is now Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. Source

“Almost 2000 years ago, the native peoples who lived along the Harpeth River in Williamson County created a sacred site, akin to what we would call a cathedral today,” said Dr. Kevin Smith, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University. “It remains the only known major sacred site of its type from the Cumberland River drainage – and much have involved peoples from throughout the region. For modern peoples, this site is important not only as the remnants of an ancient shrine, but also as a site that was recognized nationally in the 1870’s by early archaeologists and antiquarians. While only these two remnants of this sacred complex survive for us to preserve, remember and honor today, they are an important reminder that our history as Tennesseans extends much deeper into the past than we might usually think.”

Editors note: These Tennesseans need to know that their land is very possibly the land of the Nephites after Lehi’s escape from his brothers Laman and Lemuel. It is the Land where Alma was converted by Abinadi and the land near the Waters of Mormon. With Chattanooga as the City Nephi it is very likely the city of Amulon is where Franklin Tennessee is today and the city of Helam near the Pinson Mounds Park just south of Jackson, Tennessee. Both of these places show some amazing archaeology dating from 100 BC to 200 AD which is the appropriate time for of the exitance of these Book of Mormon People.

In early 1875, Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, wrote to a number of Tennessee citizens asking for assistance in collecting specimens for the United States National Museum. A fire in January of 1865 had destroyed significant portions of the museum’s early collections (DesRochers 2012), and the approach of the United States Centennial — to be celebrated in concert with the first major world fair and exposition held in the country — required acquisition of new materials. Among those individuals Henry contacted was Dr. William Martin Clark, a physician and resident of Franklin, Tennessee and later the editor-in-chief of the Nashville Banner (Clayton 1880).

Clark began his efforts on behalf of the Smithsonian in May of 1875 with the excavation of an earthen mound on the farm of Dr. William Reid, near Franklin. From there, Clark shifted his efforts to the nearby Glass property, of which he wrote: There is a fine group here, and four of them are in a line from north to south, a large one in the centre [sic], flanked on the south by two small ones, and on the north by another, evidently intended to have been a large one, but from some interruption was never finished. This last was not more than three feet high, though seventy-five feet in diameter. It had been cultivated a great number of years, but distinctly showed its proportions. Being in cultivation at the time of my visit, I did not examine it. The two smaller ones were about six feet high and twenty in diameter, while the largest was twenty feet high and four hundred feet in circumference. They did not stand in a perfect circle, the largest mound forming the lowest part of the concavity (W.M. Clark, “Antiquities of Tennessee,” MS 2407, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Page 10).

In his account, Clark mentions four mounds (identified herein for reference as Clark-A, Clark-B, Clark-C, and Clark-D): Clark-A stood ca. 6 m in height and 40 m in diameter and most closely matches Mound 2 at the Glass Mounds; Clark-B and C were located to the south and each measured ca. 2 m in height and 6 m in diameter; and Clark-D, situated to the north, measured ca. 1 m in height and 23 m in diameter. The surviving Glass Mounds Mound 1 may be either Clark-B or Clark-C, although the information provided by Clark is insufficient to determine which. Neither of the two surviving mounds at the Glass Mounds site match the dimensions of Clark-D. Clark excavated two trenches into the largest mound at the site (Clark-A; Glass Mounds 2), beginning on opposite faces and meeting in the center.

Copper Face Plate

Within the mound he encountered a layer of ashes and burned earth five feet below the summit, with similar sequences recurring every five feet until the base of the mound. Clark records that the mound was constructed on top of a four-foot deep deposit of burned earth, ashes, and charcoal, from which he recovered “the only relics” from the excavation (W.M. Clark, “Antiquities of Tennessee,” MS 2407, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Page 11). See Below

Those materials consisted of a copper earspool and hammered copper face plate (Figure 2) (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution [NMNH] A19987-0 and A19986).

No skeletal remains were present within the basal mound deposit, suggesting that these artifacts represent either a cache of ritual objects, or perhaps were associated with a cremation or completely degraded grave.

The mask in particular fired Clark’s imagination, leaving him to ponder: Could it speak, what tales it could tell of the red men. [Lamanites & Nephites] No doubt it has witnessed many a torture of captives and heard them shriek, as their hearts were torn from their living bodies and thrown upon the fire to appease the vengeance of their captors. Now how low it has fallen! A small fragment of copper handed down from an antiquity far beyond our conceptions, only a slight token of the mythical nations (W.M. Clark, “Antiquities of Tennessee,” MS 2407, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Page 12). TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGY Volume 10 Fall 2020 Number 2 The Tennessee Division of Archaeology and Middle Tennessee State University

Metal, Coins, Swords, Scabbards, Furnaces, Soldering, Hebrew, Helmets, Iron, Steel, Copper, Nails, etc.

The natural and aboriginal history of Tennessee: up to the first settlements therein by the white people, in the year 1768

BY JOHN HAYWOOD, OF THE COUTNTY OF DAVIDSON, THE STATE OF TENNESSEE. NASHVILLE: PRINTED BY GEORGE WILSON, 1823. Page 341-349

First we will speak of the coins of the aborigines found in the neighboring countries, and then of metallic instruments and utensils also found there.

First. On the farm of Mr. Edward Payne, near Lexington [KY], were found two ancient coins ; one was of gold, and sold for hundreds of dollars : the other was of brass. Each had a head reversed, and both were inscribed with characters not understood, but said to resemble Hebrew. The date of the gold coin was probably 1214, and the date of the brass piece 1009. A few miles below Mr. Payne, a gold piece “Was found, on the plantation of Mr. Chambers, who says it was sold at Lexington for 13 dollars. It was inscribed in unknown characters; and, as Mr. Chambers thinks, was unlike any coin he had ever seen. He says, that a small piece of copper was found on his farm at the same time. The date 1214 could not relate to the “hegira.” [Muhammad’s departure from Mecca to Medina in AD 622]. If it related to the Christian era, it must have come from some of the modern kingdoms of Europe, which had adopted the use of the Arabic numerals. It is not known that the Persians ever used them. The most that can be made of the fact, is, a probability that these coins came to the country before the discovery of America by Columbus; for between 1214 and 1492, the time of his discovery, were 178 years, and before the Spaniards could have circulated it, many more years intervened prior to their intercourse with the nations on the continent. So that it must have circulated nearly 300 years, before it could have come hither from them, and by that time would have been worn out.

At Circleville [Ohio] a copper coin was taken from the central mound, from beneath the roots of a hickory growing on the mound, seven or eight inches in circumference. It has no resemblance in its devices to any British or other coins to which it hath been compared. A hickory six to eight inches in circumference, might have grown up long since the French settlements were on the Ohio and its waters.

On the plantation of Colonel William Sheppard, in the county of Orange, on the river Enoe; 6 miles above Hillsborough in North Carolina, and near the remains of a town which had been deserted in very remote times, was picked up, about the year 1803 or 1804, a round piece of copper about the size of an American eagle. On both sides was a short line of letters, with parallel lines increasing in length till past the center, whence they decreased in length to the bottom, accommodating themselves to the rounded shape of the copper. It was neatly executed. The letters were of some unknown alphabet. This copper was dropped again on the same plantation, where probably it now is. It was about the thickness of the coins called coppers. Similar pieces were sometimes given by the Spanish friars to their proselyted Indians.

Gold and silver ornaments have been found in many of the tumuli in Ohio. Silver very well plated, has been found in several of the mounds : copper in many: pipe bowls of copper, hammered, and not welded together, but lapped over, have been found in them. A bracelet of copper was found in a stone mound at Chillicothe. It resembles the links of a common chain, the ends passed by each other, but were not welded together. Ornaments of silver and copper have not been found north of Newark [OH The location of the Newark Earthworks of 100 BC to 100 AD]. Below that place, vast numbers have been found. North of that place are no wells perforated in the rocks. Arrow heads of copper, some of them five or six inches in length, circular medals of copper, several inches in diameter, very thin, and much injured by time, have been found in the tumuli of Ohio. Iron has been found in some instances oxidized.

Sword, Skeletons and Mirrors

Out of a mound near the circle of the large fort at Circleville [OH], was found the elk- horn handle of a small sword or long knife. Around the end where the blade had been inserted, was a ferule of silver; no iron was found, but an oxide remained. Also, charcoal and wood ashes in which those articles lay, which were surrounded by several bricks very well burnt. A skeleton appeared to have been burnt in a large and very hot fire, which had almost consumed the bones of the deceased. The skeleton was deposited a little to the south of the centre of the tumulus. And 20 feet to the north of it, was another. There was also a large mirror, three feet in length, one and a half in breadth, and one inch and a half thick. It was of “isinglass.” [mica or a similar material in thin transparent sheets]. Also a plate of iron, which had become an oxyde ; but before it was disturbed by the spade, resembled a plate of iron. This skeleton had been burned like the former and lay in charcoal and a considerable quantity of wood ashes.

Gold and Silver

An ornament of very pure gold was discovered, a few years since, in Ross County Ohio, near Chillicothe, lying in the palm of a skeleton’s hand, in a small mound. [Arch. Am. 176].

Not long since, a silver cup was taken from a mound at Marietta, on the Ohio. It is in the possession of Mr. Hill, of St. Clair county, Illinois. It is in the form of an inverted cone, measuring three and a half inches across at top, two and a half at bottom, and four inches in height. It is of pure silver, and so skillfully wrought, that no traces of the plating hammer are discernible. The bottom, which is circular, has been separately forged, accurately fitted to the sides, or barrel, and soldered on.

The line of attachment is plainly discernible. Its interior surface has been gilt, or washed, with a bright, yellow, untarnishable metal, which is undoubtedly gold ; but that gilding is impaired in some places. It was found in a mound at Marietta, half a mile east of those remarkable fortifications on the Muskingum. The mound is situated in woody plane, with a gentle declivity towards the river, and a small stream washes its base. During the autumnal rains, or the melting of the snow in the spring, it runs with the velocity of a current. Thus it has gradually washed away the earth, and laid open the mound for a considerable space, and in this situation the cup was discovered. It was then in a bruised or shapeless mass, and foul from adhering clay ; but being taken to a silversmith, was put into the shape it now presents, which was probably the shape it originally had. Its value by weight is about fifteen dollars. It bears no device or ornamental work of any kind, being a perfectly plain and heavy piece of workmanship. If it be not of European fabrication, the inference is inevitable, that some nation preceding the savages was formerly here, of far greater advancement in the arts of civilization than they ever possessed. But for fear of mistake, let us bear in mind that the French settled in Canada as early as the year 1608, and soon afterwards carried on trade extensively with all the Indians who lived on the waters of the Ohio.

Copper, Marble and Amulets

Copper instruments and ornaments have also been found. In 1813 was found in a mound a piece of copper incrusted with “erugo” [mildew, plant rust], half an inch thick It consists of thin plates of copper rolled up, encircling each other. It was about three inches in length, and one fourth of an inch in thickness. The plates were remarkably pure and fine. In the same mound a beautiful piece of marble was taken up in the year 1814. It was undoubtedly made and used for an ornament, being perforated with loopholes for fastening, which must have been bored by some hard instrument. The marble piece is about five or six inches in length, flat on one side, oval on the other, having an increasing width in the middle, the ends are apparently cut, and with some hard implement used for the purpose. The marble is of a dark dun colour, but the veins of the stones are very distinct.  The magicians of India are provided with many articles against witchcraft, which they distribute amongst those who consult them. There are certain enchanted beads, very thin plates of copper, on which extraordinary figures are engraved, with inexplicable words and unknown characters. Amulets also, of various kinds, all which are worn by the Hindoos to serve as talismans, and to preserve them from every species of incantation. No other circum-stance at present recollected, can account in the least degree for the plates of copper above mentioned.

Verdigrease (patina), Helmet, Scull bone which lay under the plate of copper

In one of the tumuli on Grave Creek [WV], below Wheeling, near to the Ohio, were found, about 20 years since, sixty copper beads, made of a coarse “wire, hammered out, and not drawn and cut off at unequal lengths. They were soldered together in an awkward manner, the centre of some of them uniting with the edges of others. They were incrusted with “verdigrease” [A green patina or crust of copper sulfate or copper chloride formed on copper, brass, and bronze exposed to air or seawater for long periods of time], but the inside of them was pure copper.

Some copper pieces have been found in a mound near the Little Muskingum, four miles from Marietta, which appear to have been the front of a helmet, was originally eight inches long and four broad, and has marks of having been attached to leather. It is much decayed and is now a thin plate, and appears to have been attached to the centre of it by a rivet, the hole for which appears both in the plate and ornament. At this place the remains of a skeleton were found. No part retained its form but a portion of the forehead or scull, which lay under the plate of copper. These bones are deeply tinged with green, and appear to have been preserved by the salts in the copper.

Steel Swords in North America:
Shield Boss, Belts, Buckler, Scabbard, Sword, Iron and 500 year old trees.

In an ancient mound of the streets of Marietta, in the margin of the plane near the fortifications, amongst other things, in 1819 were discovered three large circular bosses [A shield boss, or umbo, is a round, convex or conical piece of material at the centre of a shield], or ornaments, for sword belts, or a buckler composed of copper, oval, and with a thick plate of silver. The front is slightly convex with a depression like a cap in the centre. The measure, two inches and a quarter across the face of each. On the back side, opposite the depressed portion, is a copper rivet or nail, around which are two separate plates, by which they were fastened to the leather. Two small pieces of the leather were found lying between the holes of one of the bosses. They resemble the skin of an old mummy. The plates of copper are nearly reduced to rust. Around the rivet of one of them is a quantity of flax or hemp in a tolerable state of preservation. Near the side of the human body was a plate of silver, the upper part of a sword scabbard, six inches long, two wide, weighing one ounce. Three longitudinal ridges were on it, which perhaps corresponded with the edges or ridges of the sword. It had been fastened to the scabbard by three or four rivets, the holes of which yet remain in the silver.

Two or three pieces of a copper tube were also found, filled with rust. These compose the lower end of the scabbard, near the point of the sword. There is no sign of the sword itself, except this appearance of rust. Near the feet was a piece of copper weighing three ounces. It seemed by the shape to have been used for a plumb or for ornament. Near one of the ends is a circular crease or groove for lying a thread. It is round, two inches and a half in length, one in diameter at the centre, and half an inch at each end. It is composed of small pieces of native copper pounded together; and in the cracks between the pieces, are several pieces of silver, one nearly of the size of a fourpenny piece or half a “disme” [ an American silver coin with a face value of five cents.] This copper ornament was covered with a coat of green rust, and is considerably corroded. A piece of red ochre or paint, and a piece of iron ore, which has the appearance of having been partly vitrified or melted, were also found. The trees upon the mound, as evidenced by the annulars, were between 400 and 500 years of age, and on the ground beside them were other trees, in a state of decay that appeared to have fallen from dotage.

Bear Teeth, Mica, Copper Beads, Human Bones

From the ancient works where Circleville [OH] now stands, and from the mound there, were taken a few scattered human bones, a branch of a deer’s horn and a piece of earthenware containing muscle shells. At the distance of 500 feet from this pyramid, in the direction of north eight east, there is another. Nine feet high, of a circular figure, nearly flat on the top. In it were found some human skeletons, and a hand full of copper beads, which had been strung on a cravat of lint. There is another mound at the intersection of Third and Main streets; whatever it contained was deposited a small distance below a stratum of loam which is common to the town. The first artificial layer was gravel, considerably raised in the middle; the next, composed of large pebbles, was convex and of a uniform thickness ; the last consisted of loam and soil. The strata were entire, and must have been formed after the deposits in the tumulus were completed. Amongst other articles were these : A bone ornamented with several carved lines ; the sculpture representation of the head or beak of a rapacious bird, perhaps an eagle ; a quantity of isinglass ; a small oval piece of sheet copper with two perforations ; a large oval piece of some metal with longitudinal grooves or ridges ; a number of beads of bone or shell; the teeth of a carnivorous animal, probably those of a bear; seven large marine shells, belonging perhaps to the genus buccinum, cut in such a manner as to serve for domestic utensils, and nearly converted into a state of chalk; several copper articles, each consisting of two sets of circular concave and convex plates. The. interior one of each sort connected with the other by a hollow axis, around which had been wound some lint. Other articles have been found there, consisting of pure copper, human bones of different sizes, sometimes enclosed in rude stone coffins, but oftener lying blended with the earth, surrounded by a portion of ashes and charcoal.

Iron and steel utensils and ornaments have also been found. There was dug up from the central mound at Circleville, a fragment of some culinary vessel. It was evidently of cast iron, and showed the marks of the mould. It was covered on the lower side with the black, smut contracted over the fire. It was found among ashes, and large pieces of charcoal.

Iron and Ivory Bracelets

In the large cemetery of Augusta were found four iron bracelets on the left arm of a female skeleton. They are formed with a loop at one extremity, and extend in an oval shape to a knob at the other end, “which hitches into the loop. The elongated central part of the oval is the thickest, from which it gradually tapers to the clasp. These bracelets are much corroded, and the loops destroyed; but even their present state of preservation can only be accounted for by the fortunate circumstance, that the alluvial soil of the burying ground was free from mineral acids. There are in this state some ancient ivory bracelets from Indostan, which exactly resemble in shape those iron ones. It is a well-known fact, that the dress and ornaments of the Hindoos have continued unchanged from the earliest periods of history.

Iron Knives and Swords

The aborigines had some very well manufactured swords and knives of iron, and possibly of steel. A few years ago, near Blacksburg in Virginia, 80 miles from Marietta, was found about the half of a steel bow, which when entire would have measured five or six feet.

Stone Wall and Furnaces

On the main branch of Paint creek in Ohio, near some very ancient works, and on the inside of a wall on the side of an elevated hill 300 feet high, which wall is of stone, around the brow of the hill there appears to have been a row of furnaces or smiths’ shops, where the cinders now lie many feet in depth. The remains are four or five feet in depth even now in many places.” Source

The source link above is a direct quote from an 1819 report by Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth (a Marietta physician and early antiquarian), originally published in a letter to the American Antiquarian Society and later reprinted in various 19th-century works, including Caleb Atwater’s writings on Ohio antiquities (around 1820) and referenced in John Haywood’s 1823 book on Tennessee history (which compiles similar regional reports).

“Regarding iron or steel: Pre-Columbian North Americans occasionally used meteoric iron (from meteorites, naturally metallic) for small tools or ornaments, but there’s no evidence of iron ore smelting (extracting iron from ores like hematite at 1,200–1,500°C). Steel production would require even more advanced steps: smelting iron, then adding carbon (carburization) in controlled forges—technologies not present in pre-Columbian Michigan or elsewhere in North America north of Mexico.”  Wikipedia

It seems most historians and archaeologists are typically in support of their own bias, just as the editor is about his belief. We will continue to look and search for additional evidence of steel in North America, not for proof of the physical truth of the Book of Mormon but to one day conclusively validate the spirit of testimony of this great book from the Lord.

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Conclusion:

I have shared with you many signs of ancient life in the Heartland of the United States. There is so much more if you want more. I absolutely know the Book of Mormon is true by the spiritual witness I have received often. Knowing this gives me tremendous personal knowledge and when I find secondary evidences of truth, it sure feels good. None of us know the exact facts of specific artifacts or dating methods, but I do know it is very likely many of these artifacts help me to understand the importance of the records of the Nephites and Lamanites. The events of the Book of Mormon beginning in the Heartland of America is a special part of my overall testimony of the truthfulness of this sacred book. I leave you with several quotes of our Prophets who seem to indicate my feelings:

“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)

“I marvel at the miracle of America, the land which the God of Heaven long ago declared to be a land choice above all other lands and concerning which He has made a promise and given a warning in these remarkable words: ‘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.) “God bless America, for she is His creation.” (Hinckley, Gordon B., National Advisory Council of BYU College of Business [November 2, 1973]).

“The Book of Mormon reveals that Joseph, the son of Jacob who was once sold into Egypt, foresaw the Prophet Joseph Smith and his day (see 2 Ne. 3:6–21) and noted that there would be many similarities in their lives. Centuries later, the Prophet Joseph stated, “I feel like Joseph in Egypt.” (The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984, p. 409; spelling modernized.) The Book of Mormon reveals that the inheritance of Joseph, son of Israel, was not forgotten when, as promised in the Abrahamic covenant, land was distributed to the tribes of Israel. Joseph’s inheritance was to be a land choice above all others. (See Ether 13:2, 8.) It was choice not because of beauty or wealth of natural resources, but choice because it was chosen. It was to be the repository of sacred writing on plates of gold from which the Book of Mormon would one day come, choice because it would eventually host world headquarters of the restored church of Jesus Christ in the latter days.” A TREASURED TESTAMENT By Elder Russell M. Nelson Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles JULY 1993

The book of Mormon began in the Heartland of North America: 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.