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Book of Mormon Geography

Book of Mormon Articles by Dr. Jerry L. Ainsworth

Wanderings - Jerry Ainsworth - the man

Which hill's Cumorah?

Moroni, warrior or man of peace?

Where's the East Wilderness?

The Jaredites & the Land Southward

What are the towers mentioned in the Book of Mormon?

Where Cumorah's not - fireside notes.

The Hill Cumorah is not Cerro Vejia

Meaning of the name "Mormon"

Mathonihah & his Brother

Mt. Zerin & the Hill Shim - a speculative scenario

Teotihuacan & the Nephites

Musings on the signs of the times

The Lost Tribes of Israel

The Plates of Ether

The five amens of Moroni

Chariots in the Americas?

The Mayan Calendar

The ninth chapter of Moroni

The Narrow Pass and the Narrow Passage

Where are the "wagon loads" of records?

The meaning of Ancum

Surviving death and snakes - El Jefe's close encounter at Cumorah3

Food for Adam and Eve - what did they eat?

The Killing Fields

Cumorah-Ramah - three articles about Cumorah's location.

Are Cumorah and Ramah the same hill? Did the Jaredites battle at Cumorah?

The Padilla Golden Plates - response to Brant Gardner's criticism.

Maya Conference supports Ainsworth's River Sidon.

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A personal email to Marcel - October, 2003

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An email to Marcel - March, 2006

Moroni, Warrior or Man of Peace?

August, 2003

There is only one instance in which Moroni is said to have attended a battle in the Book of Mormon.  The battle of 385ad, which took place in the land of Cumorah.  In The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, I have contended that Moroni was raised by a pacifist mother, (from the People of Ammon), and as such was never placed in a position where he had to take a human life.  It is my belief that Moroni had himself adopted the pacifist convictions of his mother.

Having said that, it appears that Mormon placed his son at the battle of Cumorah, where Moroni “led” one of the twenty-three cohorts of ten thousand.  All twenty-three cohorts were killed parenthetically, (or disserted), with the exception of twenty-four survivors, of which Mormon and Moroni were two. 

I wish to call attention to the way Mormon describes these twenty-three commanders, (himself being one), as they relate to their ten thousand people.

Mormon says of himself:

“And it came to pass that my men were hewn down, yea even my ten thousand who were with me, and I fell wounded in the midst…”

(Mormon 6:10)

Mormon then states the following concerning the other groups of ten thousand:

Mormon 6:12 – “And we also beheld the ten thousand of my people who were led by my son Moroni.”

Mormon 6:13 – “And behold, the ten thousand of Gidgiddonah had fallen, and he also in the midst.”

Mormon 6:14 – “And Lamah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Gilgal had fallen with his ten thousand; and Limhah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Joneam had fallen with his ten thousand; and Camenihah and Moronihah, and Antionum, and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh, had fallen with their ten thousand.”

Mormon 6:15 – “And it came to pass that there were ten more who did fall by the sword, with their ten thousand each;…”

There are some subtle, yet important differences in these accounts given by Mormon.  To wit:

1. Mormon states that all of the twenty three leaders of ten thousand fell “in the midst of their people,” or “with their ten thousand,” with the exception of Moroni.

Mormon was himself seriously wounded and left for dead. (see Mormon 6:10)

2. Mormon is specific about himself being “in the front” of his ten thousand.  With the exception of Moroni, all twenty one other leaders were represented as falling in the midst, or with their ten thousand, implying these twenty one leaders were directly involved in the battle with “their people.” 

3. Mormon says of himself that he was at the front of his ten thousand men. 

4. The ten thousand that Moroni led were not represented as being Moroni’s people, but Mormon’s people.  “And we also beheld the ten thousand of my people, who were led by my son Moroni. 

5. The other twenty-one groups of ten thousand are represented as being the people of each individual leader. (And behold the ten thousand of Gidgiddonah had fallen and he also in the midst.)
6. Plus. In the case of all commanders of ten thousand, Mormon states they led their people, while Mormon says of himself, that he led his ten thousand men.

This account clearly represents both Mormon and Moroni differently than all other twenty-two leaders of ten thousand.  The ten thousand Moroni “led” were not his people, but his father’s, and the account does not place him in “the midst”, or “with” those ten thousand when they fell.

The ten thousand that Mormon led were all men, while apparently, all other groups of ten thousand were comprised of men, women and children.   

Since I know that Mormon was a foreigner to the Nephite nation, (see Mormon 1:6 and 2:1), I assume the same was true of Moroni.  A careful reading of Mormon 2:1-3 shows that Mormon started out as the leader of “their armies,” but within two years represented the Nephite armies as “my armies.”   It took Mormon two years before he considered the Nephite armies “his.”  It appears that he did not consider the ten thousand people led by his son, as being Moroni’s people, but his own.  This leads me to believe that Moroni, as with his father’s first experience with the Nephite armies, was not considered one of them.

I interpret these events as follows.  Each of Mormon’s commanders had an army of ten thousand people, comprised of men, women and children.  Mormon had an army of twenty thousand people, comprised of men, women and children.  Mormon called his son to gather with him at Cumorah, as he planned to give his son the plates, assuming he himself would be killed.

Mormon then divided his army into two groups, of ten thousand each.  One group of ten thousand, (assumedly women and children), were commanded by Moroni, while Mormon commanded the ten thousand men.  I suspect the ten thousand of Mormon’s people that Moroni commanded, (women and children), were in charge of weapons production, caring for the wounded, food production, and lastly, reinforcements.

It is my belief that Moroni was not a warrior, but a man of peace, which he probably got from his mother.  It is entirely possible that this was Moroni’s first battle.  He was here for two reasons:

1. At the end of the battle, Mormon assumed his son would take and complete the Nephite record.
2. Since all healthy Nephite males were certainly involved in this critical battle in some way, it was imperative that Moroni be involved.  Especially since Moroni had similar credentials as his famous father.
3. Given these realities, Mormon probably arranged to have his son at the battle, but not in harms way.  I theorize that the ten thousand that Moroni “led” were something like reinforcements.  Moroni probably watched the battle from atop the hill Cumorah, and as one of the other groups of ten thousand became weakened, Moroni would send reinforcements, (a thousand or more), to strengthen the embattled cohort.
4. Such a leadership position for Moroni would place him over ten thousand that were not “his” people.  It also takes him out of the “midst” of these ten thousand, but it is still accurate to say that he “led” these ten thousand. 
5. Such a position would increase the probability of Moroni’s survival, which was essential for the completion of the Nephite record.

As one of the greatest seers of all time, having seen literally the whole history of the planet, I believe it would be unseemly for Moroni also to be a person of blood, a warrior that killed many, as did his father.  This in no way diminishes the mission or Mormon, or the greatest of his character.  It is just that his son had a different calling. One for which being a man of peace sounds more congruent.

I believe it is this mantle, the man of peace, not that of a warrior, that led Moroni to write:

And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren, [the Lamanites], whom I love,…(see Ether 12:38)

Never in seven hundred years had a Nephite leader called an unconverted Lamanite his brother.  And no other Nephite leader ever proclaimed their love for these rebellious and wicked people, the Lamanites.  Only Moroni, a man who I believe had a Lamanite mother and had therefore adopted the pledge of the People of Ammon, (not to kill).  Moroni, was a man of peace.

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Where's the East Wilderness?

An email to Marcel March, 2006

The Jaredites and the Land Southward

By Jerry Ainsworth 24 March, 2006

For the past twenty years I have attended a variety of annual Maya conferences, in my efforts to understand the Book of Mormon, with its lands and people.  During those years I have concluded, as have many others, that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica and that the Maya are related to, if not directly the remnants of the people the Book of Mormon talks about.

As part of that belief, I and others have concluded that the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the narrow neck of land referred to in the Book of Mormon.  It also gives an account of two major groups that came to this continent and developed major civilizations.  The descendants of Lehi, who came here around 600bc developed their major cities for 950 of their 1,000 years South of this narrow neck. (see Mormon 2:29-30)  The people who came with Jared arrived around 2,500bc, landing north of the narrow neck. 

The Book of Mormon then states that the Jaredites decided to develop their civilization north of the narrow neck of land, making a conscious decision not to colonize the land southward, maintaining that for a game reserve. (see Ether 10:21)  Given these statements of the Book of Mormon, my expectations were to find such colonization’s confirmed via the research reported at the Maya conferences I attended.

Another way of stating this, is that I expected to find civilizations that began around 600bc to be located south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, while finding many others that started much earlier, north of the Isthmus.  And on the whole, these two assumptions seemed to have been born out.

Having said that, there were a few exceptions.  There were conferences that I attended that showed ancient cities which had begun before 600bc, yet were in the land south of the narrow neck.  Places such as Santa Rita in Belize, which dates to 1,200bc, and others.

My initial reaction to such sites was, that there must have been a few folks from the Jaredite culture that sneaked down south of the narrow neck, contrary to the standing policy.  In other words I assumed there were a few rule breakers, or a couple of renegades who were responsible for this modest ruin site that pre-dated the landing of Lehi, in the land south of the narrow neck.

As I continued to attend the Maya conferences, the discovery of additional pre-Lehi sites in lands where I considered they should not be, grew larger and larger, which became more and more troubling to me.  Finally at the March 2006 Maya conference at the University in Austin, Texas, I listened to a report by Barbara Arroyo.  Her topic was. Understanding the Early Maya Highlands: Discovering El Naranjo, Guatemala.

During her report, Ms. Arroyo showed a number of sites, including El Naranjo, all of which were located adjacent to sites that date to, and were assumed to be sites developed by the people of Lehi.  She was adamant that these earlier sites dated well before 600bc, El Naranjo itself dating to 800bc, a date of which she was certain.  It was then clear to me that there were many cities that were built by people well before the landing of Lehi, in the land referred to as the land southward, (south of the narrow neck).  Not just a few small cities, but large and substantial cities, many adjacent to the cities I consider to be Nephite or Lamanite.  Such a realization did two things for me:

1. It confirmed what I had already concluded, that when Lehi landed, there were many cities in that immediate area, and that the Nephite and Lamanite cultures grew up surrounded by other cultures and cities that already existed in the same area.  I am equally sure that, minimally, the Lamanites inter-married with these other cultures.
2. It sent me back to the Book of Mormon, to read Ether again, to determine if I had missed something in that book.  Something that would explain what I was hearing from archaeology reports.  And, as is usually the case, I discovered that I had mis-read the Book of Mormon, and there was a clear explanation to what the archeologists had been trying to show me for all these many years.  The explanation is as follows:

It appears that the people who made the trip to this continent with Jared consisted of four distinct groups, (see Ether 1:33, Ether 1:37, Ether 1:41 and Ether 2:1):

1. Jared and his family
2. The friends of Jared and their families
3. The Brother of Jared and his family
4. The friends of the Brother of Jared and their families.

The history of Mexico states that there were seven separate families that came to this continent at a time consistent with Jared and his group.  Assuming that account is correct, then there were possibly five additional families that made the trip, with Jared and his brother.  But here is the surprise.  In Ether 6:1, Moroni writes:

“And now I Moroni proceed to give the record of Jared and his brother.”

The book of Ether is a record of just two of the families who came here, Jared’s and his brother’s.  The other five families are not covered by the record.  Ether gives his genealogy in chapter one, and makes it clear that he was a descendant of Jared.  It appears that all the kings and the people over who they reigned were descendants of Jared and his brother.  Nothing is mentioned of the descendants of the remaining five families.

Therefore, when the Jaredites state that they were not going to build cities south of the narrow neck of land, this prohibition apparently did not apply to the other families, those not related to Jared or his brother.  In fact, Ether 1:1 and 9:35 make it clear that at least a large segment of the Jaredites migrated northward, to places referred to as the “North Countries.”  Assumedly these lands were far from the narrow neck.

It seems logical to me therefore, that these other families, or at least some of them, migrated south of the narrow neck.  I therefore conclude that these were the people who built the cities that were in the lands ultimately occupied by the Nephites and Lamanites.

There is also no reason to believe that these families were involved in the wars of destruction that led to the demise of the Jaredites.  The cities built and occupied by these families are therefore the cities that archaeologists have reported on, that date to Pre-Lehi dates, but yet are in the land south of the narrow neck.  Nor is there any reason to believe that the people from Jared’s group, those friends of his who occupied cities in the land southward, were involved in the battles between the Nephites and Lamanites.

Assuming this is a correct interpretation, it provides possible answers to the following questions:

1. Why there were large and successful cities south of the narrow neck, when the Jaredites say they did not build there.
2. Who some of the people were who lived contemporaneously with the Nephites and Lamanites – in the same geographical areas.
3. Why and how the people of Lehi so quickly adopted the practices of this other culture, their language, their architecture, their calendrics, and religious practices.
4. Indicates groups the Lamanites could have inter-married with, providing so many additional warriors.
5. Why the DNA of the current Lamanites does not match that of other Middle Eastern peoples. (Maybe their DNA became diluted from these other families)
6. How the skin of the Lamanites was turned into a dark color.  It is possible that some of the families who came with Jared were dark skinned people.  Indeed the figurines shown at the 2006 Maya conference by Ms. Arroyo, those from El Naranjo, looked very much like that could be the case.

If the assumption(s) of this paper are correct, then maybe it resolves some of those lingering questions about who the people were who built the cities south of the narrow neck, that date to Pre-Lehi times.  There are certainly other defensible possibilities, but the ones I have reached seem to have merit – enough for consideration.

Addendum –

After writing this article and sharing it with friends, to a person I was asked, “If a variety of different people/cultures lived proximal to the Nephites and Lamanites, why are they never mentioned in the records of the Nephites?”  A legitimate question and one I had already considered.  Following is my answer to this question:

First of all there is no indication that Lehi, Nephi, et. al., did not mention these people in their records.  But, we do not have their records.  What we have is an abridged account of these records by Mormon. It appears that Mormon was given a directive – to write only about the Nephites and Lamanites. It would not surprise me to discover that Mormon had explained that very thing at the beginning of his abridgment, the 116 pages that were lost.

Second, Moroni did state as much in the foreword to the Book of Mormon, to wit:

“Wherefore it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi and also the Lamanites.”

I assume Mormon and Moroni took that mandate seriously and wrote only about those peoples.  You will notice that Mormon does not mention the people of Mulek, except to the extent that they directly influence the Nephite nation, (receiving the plates of Ether, etc.).  From that point forward, the people of Mulek are not mentioned, even though they were clearly in the same vicinity.  In fact, Mormon states there were more Mulekites than there were Nephites – yet nothing is said about them.

Also, Mormon does not mention the Jaredites at all, and they were still here when Lehi landed.  Plus they were the greatest civilization ever to occupy this land, (see Ether 1:43).  Given that, why would Mormon not mention them?  It appears clear to me that he was commanded not to.

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Towers and the Book of Mormon

 By Jerry L. Ainsworth January, 2003

In a variety of church paintings, such as King Benjamin’s farewell speech, towers are an integral part of the story. These structures are frequently painted as being made of wood, similar to a modern Forest Ranger lookout post.  The purpose of this short paper is to make a case for the idea that these towers are not structures of wood, but are made of stone and/or brick.  Indeed are pyramids.

I begin by quoting from the heading of the Book of Ether, where it states, “The prophet Ether’s genealogy … the great tower -…”(italics added).   This structure in also referred to in the Book of Genesis as the tower of Babel.  Genesis 11:3 explains that this structure was made of bricks, stones and slime, (mortar).  Such a structure was imitated on this continent at such locations as Cholula and Xochitictl, in the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, Mexico.  These structures are made of brick (adobes), stones and mortar.  It appears that anciently, the term tower referred to a large towering structure made of brick and/or stone.

It is my contention that when the Book of Mormon uses the term tower, it is referring to  similarly large structures, made of brick, and/or of stone.  Structures which we currently refer to as pyramids.

To begin with, the Book of Mormon indicates that these towers were present throughout the land, in all the cities.  Alma writes the following about Captain Moroni “And it came to pass also that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites;…” (Alma 46:36).

Assuming that I am correct about the Peten area of Guatemala and the southern part of Mexico being the land of Zarahemla, then this scripture is in concert with those lands.  There are indeed pyramids in almost every part of that land.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of stone and brick pyramids throughout this area of Mesoamerica.

It appears the towers, or at least some of them, were very tall.  They were so tall that a person could view all of the land from the top of the towers.  Indeed this appears to be one of their primary functions.  I refer to Mosiah 11:12: 

“And it came to pass that he built a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about.”

Even the Lamanites appear to have built towers, upon which they addressed their citizens.  In Alma 48:1 we read:

“…it came to pass that Amlickiah …appointed men to speak unto the Lamanites from their towers, against the Nephites.”

We see here a couple of additional characteristics of the towers.  They were tall, they were used to address citizens, they were used to survey the lands and they were frequently built near temples.  Mosiah 19:5 confirms that towers were built near temples when it says, “And it came to pass that he fought with the King; and when the King saw that he was about to overpower him, he fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple.”

The use of these towers as lookout posts is also confirmed in Mosiah 20:8 where Limhi “discovered them from the tower, even all their preparations for war did he discover;…”

Mosiah 11:13 adds one additional feature of these towers.  They were frequently built on the top of a hill.  “…and he caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom.” 

It appears that not only were some of these towers built on hills, (which makes sense if they were watchtowers), but some were “great” or large towers.  All of these characteristics appear to fit the characteristics of the pyramids in Mesoamerica.

King Benjamin also appears to have used such a tower, a pyramid, to address his people.  In Mosiah 2:7-8 we are told that the King “caused a tower to be erected that thereby his people might hear the words which he should speak unto them.”

One additional function of these towers appears to have been for prayer.  In Helaman 7:10-14 we are told that Nephi “got upon my tower that I might pour out my soul unto my God, because of the exceeding sorrow of my heart,…”

It appears that some of these towers were owned by individual persons and were used for their personal intercessions with the Lord.

In all of these references to towers, there is one that is somewhat unusual; the towers that were constructed adjacent to the large picket fence that surrounded the city of Bountiful.  Alma 50:4

In conclusion, here is a summary of the towers mentioned in the Book of Mormon.  It appears they were made of stone and/or bricks, they were very high, used for look out posts, were built in a variety of places, (frequently on hills), by temples and for special occasions.  In some cases, individuals owned and used personal towers, such as in the case of Nephi and King Benjamin.

What I have just described is a fairly good accounting of the pyramids in Mesoamerica.  They were built throughout the land, were built on hills, were tall and large structures of stone/brick, and were used for civil, religious and personal purposes.  It was not at all unusual for them to be constructed by other structures, such as temples.

And lastly, these pyramids appear to have been built by the thousands throughout the Book of Mormon lands, (Mesoamerica).  I believe the towers referred to in the Book of Mormon are pyramids, and even more specifically, those of the Maya of Mesoamerica.

If I am correct about these towers being tall stone/brick structures, as was the tower of Babel, then this would be a characteristic of the lands of the Book of Mormon.  Since I do not believe there is adequate evidence of large stone/brick pyramids in Panama, South America, or North America, I exclude those as potential candidates for the lands of the Book of Mormon.  By way of the process of elimination, Mesoamerica remains as the primary candidate for the lands in which the Book of Mormon took place.

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The Location of Cumorah - Where it isn't...

24 January, 2005

1.  Let’s begin with the hill’s first name, (Read Ether 15:11).  What does Ramah mean and why was the hill given that name?

2.  The first description given of the land in which we find the Hill Cumorah, is provided by Mormon, from the Nephite’s account, (Read Mosiah 8:8-11).   Where was this land  located?  AMONG MANY WATERS.

3.  Where/what is “many waters?”  Read 1 Nephi 17:5

4.  Two questions:

a.       Does Irreantum have any significance other than this description

      (Read Mormon 1:3)

     b.   Is “Many Waters,” the same as the ocean?  (Read Alma 3:3 and 4:4)

5.  Are the “Waters of Sidon” different from the River Sidon?

6.  Where did the men of King Limhi begin, in their search for Zarahemla?  Even they ended up in the land of Cumorah, where did they think they had been?  (Read Mosiah 21:26)

7.  What significant event, between the Nephites and Lamanites occurred in 350ad? (Read Mormon 2:28-29) Where does this place the Nephite and Lamanite nations?

8.  From 350ad until 375ad, (only 25 years), how far from the narrow neck did the Nephite nation travel?  Read Mormon 4:12-19)

9.  What did Mormon do in 380ad? (Read Mormon 6:1-2)  Does it make sense that  Mormon would ask that both armies move from Mexico/Guatemala to up-state New York for their final battle?  What advantage would that be? Read Mormon 6:4)

10.What was Mormon’s purpose for having the battle at Cumorah?  Would it be an  advantage to take people who had lived in a tropical land, to a place where it snows  5-10 feet during the winter?

11.  How does Mormon describe this land?  What kinds of water sources are mentioned? Are lakes mentioned?

12.  How does Mormon’s description differ from Mosiah’s?  Why are the descriptions different?  Had the topography of this land changed?

13.  What was the date of this battle at Cumorah?  (Read Mormon 6:5)

14.  Parenthetically, how does Mormon represent the abridgment which he gave to his son? (Read Mormon 6:6)  Does this sound like 500 plates, (which is what six inches would amount to?)

15.  What year was Mormon killed?  How many years after the battle of Cumorah? (Read Mormon 8:1-6)

16.  What year was Moroni killed?  (Read Moroni 1:1) Notice what Moroni calls the Lamanites.

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Why the Hill Cumorah could not be Cerro Vejia, as some have proposed.

By Jerry L. Ainsworth 26 May, 2002