The “Maya Problem”

[BookofMormonArchaeologicalForum]

The “Maya Problem”

Book of Mormon readers and scholars who believe that all New World
events of the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica will sooner or
later find themselves wrestling with issues that are associated with
what might be called the “Maya problem.” Simplistically, the following
facts derived from the Book of Mormon and from Mesoamerica
archaeological, geographical, cultural, and historical research create
this problem:

1. Most of the New World Book of Mormon events associated with the
Nephites took place in the land southward.

2. Somewhere around 90 percent of the New World archaeological sites
that date to the thousand-year period of the Book of Mormon Nephites
are found in the territory east and southward of the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec. This territory is the land southward for most Book of
Mormon Mesoamericanists.

3. That same territory could be labeled as the “Maya homeland” because
it has always been Maya territory. In other words, whatever territory
Mesoamericanists allocate to the Nephites in the land southward during
their thousand-year history is overlapped by Maya archaeology,
geography, culture, and history.

4. If we conclude that the Olmec culture of Mesoamerica and the
Jaredite culture of the Book of Mormon are the same culture, we must
then also conclude that the Olmecs/Jaredites played major roles in the
land southward.

The results create the Maya problem. That is, how should
Mesoamericanists view the Maya in relation to Book of Mormon cultures?
Were the Nephites Maya? Were the Lamanites Maya? Were both the
Nephites and the Lamanites Maya? Were neither the Nephites nor the
Lamanites Maya? Did the Olmecs/Jaredites in the land southward evolve
into the Maya culture?

The Maya problem is compounded because their origins in the land
southward are now commonly dated around 1500–1000 BC. Maya authorities
work with those potential Preclassic origin dates as they typically
divide the land southward into two geographic territories—the Lowland
Maya territory of the lowland jungle area of the Peten and Belize and
the Highland Maya territory associated primarily with highland
Guatemala.

A particularly troublesome issue for Mesoamericanists is associated
with the territory of the Lowland Maya. What roles, if any, did this
territory play in the history of the Nephites? Should it be included
in Mesoamericanists’ geographies of the Book of Mormon?

The Book of Mormon gives valuable information that helps resolve many
aspects of the Maya problem. Click on this link, www.bmaf.org/node/470,
and read the article entitled “‘Lowland Maya’ Equates to Book of
Mormon ‘Wilderness’; ‘Highland Maya’ Equates to Book of Mormon
‘Mountains.’” The unique information in this short article will help
you understand the Maya problem and give you incentive to explore it
in more depth.

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