For years, Mormons have been looking for archaeological evidence to support their Book of Mormon. Occasionally, they will promote some type of archaeological artifact that is similar to something built or written by Hebrew people to try to validate their claim that the Book of Mormon people were indeed from the land of Israel.
But even if one can prove that a group of people from Israel migrated all the way to the land of America, that does not substantiate all the rest of the claims made in the Book of Mormon that have no archaeological basis.
For example, several archaeological digs made in the area surrounding the Hill Cumorah in upstate New York have yet to yielded even one artifact to back up the Book of Mormon claims concerning the numerous people and wars that allegedly transpired in that area. One can try to refute every “so called” evidence that Mormons present to try to substantiate the Book of Mormon, but both internal and external evidence shows that the book is an 18th century invention. Some of the Archaeological Evidence that goes against the Book of Mormon claims include:
-
COMPASS: The earliest form of the compass (magnet floating in water) was invented in China sometime around 1044 AD. A dry form of the compass was invented in Europe around 1300 AD until it was replaced in the 1800’s by a liquid-filled magnetic version. Yet, Nephi in the Book of Mormon is said to use a compass as early as 589 B.C. (1 Nephi 18:21).
-
ANIMALS: The Book of Mormon mentions the cow, horse, ox, ass, and goat as if these animals existed in America between 589 B.C. and 421 A.D. (Alma 18:9; 1 Nephi 18:25; Enos 1:21; 2 Nephi 17:25; 21:7; 30:13; 3 Nephi 3:22; Ether 9:18-19; Mosiah 13:24). Yet, none of these animals have been found in pre-Columbian America. The “curelom” and “cumoms ” animals mentioned at Ether 9:19 in the Book of Mormon are unknown to mankind.
-
WHEAT, BARLEY: The Book of Mormon mentions wheat and barley grains (Alma 11: 7, 15; Mosiah 7:22; 9:9) as being cultivated in America around 200 B.C. Yet, these grains are unknown to Pre-Columbian America.
-
SILK: The fabric “silk” mentioned at Alma 1:29 did not exist in pre-Columbian America.
-
STEEL, BRASS, BELLOWS: Steel mentioned at I Nephi 4:9; 8:25,Brass mentioned at 2 Nephi 5:15, and Bellows (a device used to control the sending of pressurized air to a firey heater) mentioned at 1 Nephi 17:11 were either unknown in Book of Mormon times or did not exist in Pre-Columbian America.
-
CIMETERS (SCIMITARS) AND CHARIOTS: The cimeter (curved sword) mentioned at Enos 1:20 and chariots mentioned at Alma 18:9-10 did not exist in Pre-Columbian America.
-
COINS: Ancient Biblical coins abound in Archeological digs throughout the Middle East, yet not one Book of Mormon coin (senum, amnor, ezrom, onti, seon, senine, shum, limnah, shiblon, shiblum, leah, antion) has ever been found anywhere.
-
DNA EVIDENCE: The Book of Mormon claims that Jewish ancestry formed the majority of pre-Columbian inhabitants of America. Yet, 99.4% of the DNA research done on thousands of Native American Indians from over 150 tribes shows a direct link to Asia and 0.6% points to Europe or Africa, not Israel. Thus, there is NO evidence whatsoever to suggest a Jewish or Middle-Eastern migration to America. To excuse away the DNA evidence against this Book of Mormon claim, Mormon apologists have resorted to the idea that the Jewish Book of Mormon immigrants to America (the Nephites and the Lamanites) comprised only a relative small group of ancient inhabitants of America.This argument falls apart when one considers the following explicit passages from the Book of Mormon that assert that no other people existed in America prior to the Book of Mormon migrations. These passages claim that these Book of Mormon Jewish pilgrims grew “exceedingly numerous” to “cover the face” of the “whole” land:
-
2 NEPHI 1:8: “And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.”
-
JAROM 1:6: “And they were scattered upon much of the face of the land, and the Lamanites also. And they were exceedingly more numerous than were they of the Nephites…”
-
ALMA 10:3: “And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.”
-
OMNI 1:15-17: “Behold, it came to pass that Mosiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedikah… And they journeyed in the wilderness, and were brought by the hand of the Lordacross the great waters, into the land where Mosiah discovered them; and they had dwelt there from that time forth. And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous.”
-
HELAMAN 3:8: “And it came to pass that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began tocover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east. ”
-
Rather than finding supportive evidence for these Book of Mormon historical claims and artifacts, Mormon scholars have been forced to retreat from traditional interpretations of the words and phrases in the Book of Mormon and have developed unconventional explanations to reconcile these conflicted Book of Mormon texts with ancient Native American artifacts.
Native American DNA DEBUNKS Ancient Hebrew Migrations and the Book of Mormon!