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Finding Cumorah of the Final Battles
Book of Mormon Geography
Scene of the final Nephite battles.
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There's a hill called "Cumorah" that features prominently in the Book of Mormon record of ancient people in the Americas. Near that hill the final battle was fought that wiped out the Jaredites as a nation. The Book of Mormon says about these people who may have arrived in the Americas about 2500 B.C:
"And never could be a people more blessed than were they, and more prospered by the hand of the Lord." (Book of Mormon: Ether 10:28)
The last Jaredite prophet left a written record which eventually made its way to Moroni the son of Mormon. That record reveals the history of this world from the beginning to the end.
Moroni buries the plates near Palmyra, New York about 421 AD
What happened at Hill Ramah Cumorah?
Strange as it may seem, Hill Ramah Cumorah witnessed the destruction of the last of the Jaredites, and centuries later was also the scene of the final battle that destroyed the Nephites. Hundreds of thousands of people met their death in battles near that hill. Do you think there would be physical evidences of those battles remaining today? That's what our Finding Cumorah project is dedicated to find out...
Mormon wounded in the final battles near Hill Cumorah
Ancient Records to come Forth in our Time
There are indications from early LDS Church writers that records hidden in the original Hill Cumorah, and other records will be made available and translated, perhaps sometime soon. In response to a Brother Mills's statement about the handcart pioneers, Heber C. Kimball said: (Journal of Discourses, 28 September, 1856)
"How does it compare with the vision that Joseph and others had, when they went into a cave in the hill Cumorah, and saw more records than ten men could carry? There were books piled up on tables, book upon book. Those records this people will yet have, if they accept of the Book of Mormon and observe its precepts, and keep the commandments."
In a discourse delivered at the tabernacle in Ogden on 18 May 1873, Orson Pratt said: "Will these things be brought to light? Yes. The records, now slumbering in the hill Cumorah, will be brought forth by the power of God, to fulfill the words of our text, that 'the knowledge of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the great deep." Pratt also said: "Thus we are to understand that such records will yet serve an important role in the future of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
See this FARMS article for more quotes about the cave in Cumorah and the records stored in it.
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Where'd they put Cumorah?
Map of Mesoamerica
Similar to most Latter-day Saints I suppose, I assumed for decades that "Hill Cumorah" was the hill that now bears that name near Palmyra, New York. It was there that Moroni deposited the condensed record of his people inscribed on plates of gold by his father Mormon.
A portion of Moroni's writings, "by the gift and power of God," was translated by Joseph Smith and is now known as "The Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ" It was there, near Palmyra, New York in the early 1800's that the resurrected Moroni told young Joseph Smith to go and get the plates he had buried beneath a rock centuries before.
But, I discovered just a few years ago that Joseph Smith may not have been the first to call the hill in New York "Cumorah." That tradition probably began with early church leaders and caught on. (In my opinion it's a moot point anyway, there are many geographic locations throughout the world that have the same name. Just because the hill near Palmyra is now called "Cumorah" is not proof that there isn't/wasn't another hill of the same name somewhere else...)
See Dr. William J. Hamblin's article "Basic Methodological Problems with the Anti-Mormon Approach to the Geography and Archaeology of the Book of Mormon."
Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration
Cumorah near Palmyra is just a plain little hill with grass and trees on it, only a bit more prominent than others in the immediate vicinity; not likely to be a place where the leaders of two great nations would arrange from a distance to meet a few years later for a final battle after the smaller nation had gathered all their people together. And where's the evidence near Palmyra, New York of hundreds of thousands of people killed in battle about 385 AD? It's just not there...
FARMS article about no ancient weapons found near Palmyra, New York
Spend some time in our Reading Room and browse articles providing evidence that the hill near Palmyra, New York could not possibly be where the final battles of two ancient peoples took place, and where, as seen in vision by Joseph Smith and others, "wagon loads" of ancient records on metal plates are stored.
So, where's Cumorah then?
Scholars such as Dr. Joseph L. Allen and Dr. Jerry L Ainsworth have written popular books on Book of Mormon geography and suggested physical locations of some Book of Mormon cities and events. See also John Tvedtnes.
But the research is still emerging and conclusions are still often conflicting.
Two of Dr. Allen's sons operate "Book of Mormon" tours to ancient sites in Mesoamerica. I took one of their tours with Blake Allen and enjoyed it very much. I learned a lot from that dedicated teacher with a living testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Blake explained that his secular knowledge of Book of Mormon geography does not constitute a testimony, but is his understanding of current scientific evidence and probability. One of our stops was near the hill Vejia in southern Mexico. Dr. Allen suggests that hill as the original Hill Cumorah, as do some other LDS scholars, including John Sorenson who was one of the first to hypothesize Vejia to be Cumorah. After Sorenson's pronouncement, many others apparently began to fall into step with him - including FARMS.
As I stood in the central park of a small town close to Vejia and gazed for the first time upon it, oh how I wished Vejia to be Cumorah! It's a beautiful place, larger than but somewhat similar to its counterpart near Palmyra, New York. I so wanted to stay at Vejia a week or more and explore that beautiful hill. But the tour went on to the next attraction, and the next, ending in Belize.
Somehow as I stood near Vejia I had perhaps forgotten that the violent death place of hundreds of thousands of human beings would quite properly be a place of foreboding, rather than a place of beauty and comfort. Dr. Ainsworth tells me that Cumorah3, the site he thinks is most likely the original Hill Cumorah Ramah, is indeed bleak and "foreboding."
Hill Vejia
I hadn't been home more than a few hours from that Book of Mormon tour when I opened Jerry's book "The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni" and anxiously looked up "Hill Cumorah" in the index. True to my forebodings, Jerry Ainsworth had named a different hill "Cumorah!"
Marcel at Cumorah3.
Among other things about Vejia, Jerry pointed out to me: One of the things that the selection of cerro Vejia does, is place the battle right in the middle of a very large culture which existed there at the time. It would be the equivalent of the President of the USA saying to the President of Mexico: "We are going to gather our armies on the outskirts of Ottawa, Canada, and there have a final battle about the Reconquista." My guess is that the government of Canada would not be crazy about that idea! There was a very large culture around Vejia at that time period; there was none around Cumorah3.
I challenged Dr. Ainsworth to prove Cumorah. And he accepted my challenge!
"Of all the Book of Mormon lands, markers, etc, that I can find and document, Cumorah is the most challenging. But, I accept the challenge. It is going to take some time, and I am going to have to refocus my life. But I think I am up to the task..." Jerry Ainsworth - email to Marcel, March, 2006.
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Proving Cumorah
What if, in addition to his other evidence, Dr. Ainsworth located ancient burial sites, confirmed that there were indeed thousands of people buried within battle range of Cumorah3, and those remains and artifacts were scientifically dated to about 385 AD, the date of the final Nephite battles? Wouldn't that stir up some interest in exploring that region further?
Looking for evidence of Nephite battles around Cumorah3 is what Mormon Sites is focused on right now!
It's possible that "Finding Cumorah" will be followed by "Finding Shim" the place where Ammaron hid the records of the Nephites. But the timing may not yet be right for that. The caves at the probable location of Hill Shim are guarded by the locals - no outsider gets in, on penalty of death to the guide. Join with us as a member and you'll get a 'shovel-by-shovel' accounting as explorers dig ever deeper to discover new and unique physical evidences that add to the growing body of knowledge revealing where the Book of Mormon people most likely lived, and their stories played out. Mormon Sites invites qualified Book of Mormon field explorers and accredited archaeologists/anthropologists to publish on this website. We are interested in exploring sunken cities that could possibly be Nephite.
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Who's Who in the Classic Maya World
Over the years, tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints have visited the hill now named "Cumorah" near Palmyra, New York. I expect that as it was for me, most of those visitors have come away with their testimonies of the truthfulness of the events that occurred there in the 1800's strengthened. It is my opinion that the same events could and should take place at the location of Cumorah of the Final Battles also.
Be sure to read The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni to get right up to speed with why this website exists. Dr. Ainsworth has copies of his book at home that he'd be glad to autograph upon request and send to you if you order directly from his website.
He is a retired university professor on a pension. Jerry personally pays all the expenses for his expeditions in Mesoamerica. If you are rich, why not buy a bunch of Jerry's books and give them away? (Jerry tells me a physician recently bought 65 copies and gave them away to his friends and colleagues.) It could help get the real Hill Cumorah found, and will surely enrich the lives of those who read that book, as it did mine...
Read the fascinating story of how "The Lives and Travels of Mormon & Moroni" came to be.
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