Jaredites point to Nephites
Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum
AUGUST, 2014
The typical American knows very little about the history of their neighbors in Mexico, Mesoamerica and Central America. The average latter-day saint knows some about the Maya, the Aztecs and maybe the Olmec, but by and large knowledge about the Olmec is scant. As the debate about the location of the Nephites/Lamanites grinds on, we propose that the most convincing way to locate the Nephites is to study the Olmec!
The Book of Mormon tells the story of three groups of people who were moved by the Lord to the American Continent. Chronologically, the first group was the Jaredites, whose approximately 2,500 year history is tightly summarized in the tiny book of Ether. Despite its brevity there is much to glean, spiritually as well as physically.
The Jaredites were brought to this continent in an epic 344 day Pacific crossing sometime after the Tower of Babel in Babylon (modern day Iraq), (estimates range from 3000 BC to 2000 BC). The Lord caused furious winds to blow their vessels to their promised land.
One of the most fertile areas in the hemisphere including fish and game, the Gulf of Mexico has been populated since about 8000 BC with hunter-gatherers, population sizes growing gradually. The area has hundreds of rivers and springs and a huge water basin.
The development of this culture into a true civilization started around 1500 BC, though it continued to consolidate itself up to 1200 BC.The Olmec are thought to be the 'mother culture' of Mesoamerica, because of the great influence that they exercised throughout the region. Archaeologists and anthropologists agree that the Olmec experienced a rather sudden explosion of their culture and technology, a phenomenon that would require the invasion of a more advanced culture.
Because of the preponderance of similarities, the most likely place on the entire continent where the Jaredites settled was in the Gulf of Mexico, near or among the nascent Olmec people who were already populous.
The Olmec experienced a huge cultural change which represents a milestone of Mesoamerican history, in that various characteristics that define the region first appeared there. Among them are
the state organization
the development of the 260-day ritual calendar and the 365-day secular calendar
the first writing system
major advancements in art and pottery
urban planning.
Its principal sites were LaVenta, San Lorenzo, and Tres Zapotes in the core Gulf of Mexico homeland region. However, throughout Mesoamerica numerous sites show evidence of Olmec occupation, some quite far distant from the homeland and many more show evidence of Olmec influences but not occupation. They were proud of their cultural and religious accomplishments and appeared to be missionaries in spreading it.
Among the best-known expressions of Olmec culture are giant stone heads, sculptured monoliths up to three metres in height and several tons in weight. They seem to have been particularly fond of thrones and several examples are in museums. These feats of Olmec stonecutting are especially impressive when one considers that Mesoamericans lacked iron tools and that the heads are at sites dozens of kilometers from the quarries where their basalt was mined. The function of these monuments is unknown. Some authors propose that they were commemorative monuments for notable players of the ballgame, and others that they were images of the Olmec governing elite, perhaps collected by victors of war.
We know the Jaredites were literate or we would not have their record. The Olmec were the only people on the American continent literate at this time. Examples of their writing have been discovered
We know the Olmec had constant civil wars and eventually self-imploded, exactly as described in Ether in the Book of Mormon and at about the same time. (around 300 BC)
Most LDS scholars agree that the Olmec either are the Jaredites, or were joined by them, or lived near them.
These charts prepared by Dr. John Clark of BYU show the correlation of the Jaredites and the Olmec. The similarities are inescapable.
Now that we know where the Jaredites most likely lived, locating the Nephites becomes an easy task due to these requirements of the Book of Mormon:
Jaredite lands were north of Nephite lands but in the same general area.
River Sidon flowed north past Zarahemla and emptied in to a sea fitting the description of the Gulf of Mexico.
Both Jaredites and Nephites fought their last battle on the same hill, (Ether 15:11) called Ramah by the Jaredites and Cumorah by the Nephites. This means they both lived in the same general area. The suggestion that the Nephites travelled from Mesoamerica to have their last battle in upstate New York is awkward if not impossible.
Both cultures lived in a warm to semi-tropical climate. Doing battle in Buffalo, New York in winter, dressed in a loincloth would produce a lot of frozen Lamanites.
Many similar cultural and artistic attributes including names passed from the Jaredites to the Nephites. (Mormon, Moroni, Coriantumr, etc.)
The Limhi expedition, though lost, stumbled into the Land of Cumorah which had to be within a few days' distance of City Nephi.
JOIN WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF BMAF ON THE FACEBOOK SITE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bmaf.org/
Be sure to check out the BMAF Facebook site where you can post material, ask questions and mingle with other folks who love the Book of Mormon