Reading Room Two

Book of Mormon Geography

Book of Mormon Articles by Dr. Jerry L. Ainsworth

This page is a continuation of The Reading Room. Many of the articles on this page were originally published in the Mormon Sites monthly newsletter.

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July, 2007 Newsletter

Maya Conferences

Jerry Ainsworth

As indicated last month, I had intended to be in Mexico all of the month of June.  However, a modest cardiac event, and a bad case of food poisoning forced me to postpone those plans.  For over thirty years I have traveled throughout Mesoamerica and eaten every thing placed in front of me, never having an adverse reaction.  It took a sandwich at a Subway restaurant in my hometown to do me in with a case of food poisoning.  Go figure.

I am therefore going to return to some of the things I learned during my attendance at the last two Maya conferences – that are related to the Book of Mormon.  When understood, this information will help us understand why the presence of Lehi and his fellow travelers left such a small foot print, after their landing on this continent.

Let me first set the geographical stage for this information.  The vast majority of people who research and write on this topic, believe the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica.  And with rare exception these people, myself included, have Lehi landing on the pacific side of Guatemala, close to the border that separates this country from Mexico.  In BofM terms, this would be the land of first inheritance, or in our parlance, the foothills between the mountains and the ocean on the Pacific coast of Guatemala and Mexico.

Since we know Lehi landed around 600BC, the big question is, “Were there other people living in this area, during and/or before 600BC.”  And the answer to this question, as given in the 2007 Maya conferences at the Universities of Texas and Pennsylvania is, “Yes, there were people already living in this area, and they had been living there for hundreds of years.”

At the University of Texas conference a number of cities were reported to have existed in this geographical area as far back as 1200BC, with others dating back to 800BC.  To appreciate how many people may have lived in this area at 600BC, remember that the U.S.A. has only been in existence for around 350 years, and look at the population of this country.  It is therefore easy to appreciate that when Lehi landed, there was at least one culture, possibly more in the same general area, with large populations.

We know that not only was there a large number of people living in that area, and had been for hundreds of years, but there were also cultural events, customs, celebrations, traditions and beliefs that around 20 strangers were confronted with, upon their landing.  If you can imagine 20 strangers coming to the city where you live, and then ask what kind of evidence they would leave of their arrival – you can appreciate what happened at the landing of Lehi.

Rather than the culture Lehi brought with him being manifest, his culture was simply absorbed by the existing culture(s).  The result for this kind of influence on Lehi’s people, would be similar to Mormons celebrating Christmas in December, although we know that was not the month Jesus was born.  It was just the existing custom the LDS church was exposed to after the restoration of the gospel.  Rather than trying to change the celebration of the birth date of Jesus Christ to April, we simply adopted the existing custom.  We can assume Lehi and his people made similar adaptations.

Now, who were these people who Lehi ran into upon his landing?  He landed South of the Narrow Neck, and Ether 10:21 states that the descendants of Jared and his brother, did not take their culture South of the Narrow Neck.  There were a few who did go into the land Southward, during their battle with the serpents, (see Ether 9:32), but very few.

The secret to who the other people may have been lies in Ether 6:1, where we are told that there were four categories of people who came over from the great tower.  There was Jared with his family and the friends of Jared and their families, which totals at least three separate families.

Then there was the Brother of Jared and his family and the friends of the Brother of Jared and their families, which once again are minimally three families – for a total of at least six families that made the trip.  The history of Mexico implies there were seven families.

Ether 2:1 states that the Book of Ether is about Jared and the Brother of Jared and their descendants.  It does not say it is a record of the other families that came with them.  So, although Jared and his brother decided not to expand their culture South of the Narrow Neck, that prohibition did not necessarily include their friend’s families.

I therefore conclude that the people Lehi encountered upon his landing were descendents of the friends of Jared and his brother, or possibly other people who the Lord may have led here.  From what the Book of Ether says, the descendents of Jared and his brother never went to Central America, and certainly not to South America.  Yet, Genesis 11:8 states the following about the people at the tower of Babel, “So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build another city.”

There is good evidence that there were people in South America at the same time the Jaredites were in North America.  So, either the Lord scattered a separate group of people to that part of this continent, or the friends of Jared and his brother migrated that far.

I therefore assume these were the peoples that Lehi encountered upon his landing.  Archaeologically we know that every succeeding group who inhabited Mesoamerica, adopted the culture of the Jaredites, their architecture, their calendrics, some of their language, and some of their theology.  Ether 1:43 states that the civilization descending for the Jaredites would be “…a great nation.  And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of they seed, upon all the face of the earth.”

That is whom Lehi and his people encountered upon their landing, and is why they emulated the existing culture, rather than the other way around. 

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August, 2007 Newsletter

Book of Mormon Geography

Jerry Ainsworth

As an up-date on our efforts to return to Cumorah, Esteban and I are simply waiting for cooler weather.  During this time of year, the area we must visit is extremely hot and humid.  Having already experienced a minor cardiac event last month, my physician explained that one of the very last things I needed to do, is go bouncing around farmer’s fields, in the boonies of Mexico, in 95-105 degrees.

In lieu of that anticipated revisit, let me share something that has become apparent to me, apropos Book of Mormon geography.  I have on my desk a variety of relatively recent Book of Mormons maps, all with varying locations for major Book of Mormon locations, even though all of these maps place the Nephite/Lamanite location in the same general area, (Mesoamerica).

There are two Book of Mormon geographical markers that all of these maps either ignore, or misinterpret, and I wish to address these two markers, both being scriptural.  The two scriptures I am referring to are as follows:

Alma 22:32

And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward.

Ether 10:20

And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land.

I’ll address Alma 22:32 first.  The way I read this scripture is that if it were not for the narrow neck of land, the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi would have been completely surrounded by water.  Unless I am missing something, that means that there must be water on the east side of these lands, the south side of these lands, and the west side of these lands.  And then to the north, there was a narrow neck of land, or the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi would have been completely surrounded by water.

I suspect all mapmakers accept that the Atlantic Ocean (East sea) and the Pacific Ocean, (West sea), are part of the waters that Alma is referring to.  But that leaves a body of water that must be south of the land of Nephi, (Lamanite territory), otherwise these lands would not be completely surrounded by water, (except at the narrow neck).  In order to currently find a body of water south of these lands, one must go to the tip end of South American, Terra del Fuego.  Indeed, in earlier days of the church, it was this scripture that led people to believe that the Book of Mormon took place throughout all of South, Central and North America.

On page 69 of my book, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, I propose how this surround water would have looked during the time Alma wrote this description.  I believe that the two oceans actually converged, indeed surrounded the southern part of the land of Nephi.  Today we would say that this water (the two oceans) join one to the other, separating the countries of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

My proposal may not be correct, but at least I offer an explanation of Alma 22:32.  The authors of the maps I have been studying, do not even address this scripture.  They propose a Book of Mormon map, with no accommodation for this description of Alma.  I think it is a large error in each of these maps.  It is such an obvious omission, that in my opinion, it calls into question the other aspects of the maps.

The second scripture, Ether 10:20, indicates that very close to the narrow neck of land, there was an area where the “sea divides the land.”  Two of the maps that I have, once again simply ignore this scripture, offering no place where the sea divides the land – close to the narrow neck.  Other maps do offer an explanation.  They indicate that the Gulf of Mexico, with the Yucatan on the east side, and mainland of Mexico being on the west, is where the sea divides the land.

Mexico is essentially shaped like a fishhook, with the Gulf of Mexico sitting in the bowl of the hook.  Yet I doubt that anyone would say that a fish-hook was divided.  Once I read this proposed explanation of this scripture, (the Gulf of Mexico), I took out Webster’s Dictionary, which I often do when reading the Book of Mormon.  These are the definitions I found for the word, divide:

To separate into parts

To sector into units

To disunite

To cut off

To separate from

To become separated into parts

To separate into pieces

The way I read Webster, is if you divide something, you end up with at least two separate pieces.  Indeed, isn’t that what the term division means?  It does not mean to indent, to gap, or to bend.  The dictionary makes it clear that the term means to completely divide into two (or more) separate pieces.

Once again, none of the authors of these maps have a place, close to the narrow neck of land that is divided from the mainland.  I once again propose an explanation of this scripture, as shown on page 66 of The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni.  Not only may I be incorrect with this proposal, but at least I offer an explanation for this scripture, one where the sea actually separates two sections of land.  And I should quickly add, since publishing book, it has become apparent to me, that I did not make the separated land, (the island), large enough.  When I do the second edition of my book, I will make a modest change in the size of the island, making it larger, so as to accommodate some of the ancient ruin sites, that are currently excluded with the proposal as it exists.  Having said that, I still do believe that the sea did divide the land in this area of Mexico, just as Ether 10:20 indicates.

One thing I am certain of is, if you take a small thin piece of metal and bend it into the shape of a fishhook, (as in the case of the shape of Mexico), no one would say you have divided the piece of metal.  Nor do I think a legitimate case can be made for the Gulf of Mexico being what Ether is being describing in Ether 10:20, where the sea divides the land.

In my opinion, these two scriptures are either ignored, or misinterpreted in the recent Book of Mormon maps that I have in my possession.

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September, 2007 Newsletter

Changes in the BofM lands during the crucifixion

Jerry Ainsworth

Since I began writing this monthly article for the website, a number of people have asked me to address the physical disruptions that took place in Book of Mormon lands at the crucifixion of the Savior.  Having just returned from Guatemala and viewing some of those changes, I thought I would write a few words about these three cataclysmic days.

I realize that views and interpretations of these events vary greatly, so these are simply my views, of both the lands, which I have visited, as well as the scriptures that address the events of these three days.  I recognize that personal interpretations and views are just that.  I will also take the liberty to use the definitions of some of the names of cities, which I have theorized, as this may help locate the cities.  Having said that, I know of no professional linguist that agrees with my definitions.  So, with that disclaimer, here are some of my impressions and views.

First of all, there are a few basics that should be addressed.  There are two separate accounts of the catastrophic events that occurred during this time period accompanying the crucifixion of the Savior.  One account of these events was given by Nephi the historian, in 3 Nephi 8, while the other was given by the Lord himself, in 3 Nephi 9.

I have always assumed the use of the terms, “land, whole earth, face of the land, all the land,” etc, were more specific than general.  In other words, these scriptures were meant to address the whole face of the Nephite lands, (those they were aware of), the same being true for the other terms, “all of the land, etc.”  I do not mean to imply dramatic changes were not taking places in other parts of the planet, only that the Nephite record was specific about what was being described and/or referred to, (i.e. the land Southward and the land Northward).

These events began on April 4, (the first month of the Nephite year - see 3 Nephi 8:5 and 2:8) and lasted for three hours, (see 3 Nephi 8:19).  Nephi mentions that there was “great and terrible destruction” that took place in both the land southward, as well as the land northward.  However, in the land northward, “there was a more great and terrible destruction, for behold the whole face of the land was changed…”  I therefore assume that the whole face of the land southward was not changed, at least not as dramatically as was the case in the land northward. It should be remembered that the Nephite nation (as well as the Lamanites) lived in the land southward, and did not move to the land northward until 350AD, 35 years before the demise of their nation, at the battle of Cumorah in 385AD. (see Mormon 2:28)

After this general description of the changes that had taken place, Nephi, as well as the Savior addressed the specific changes that took place in the land southward.  This was a pattern followed by most Book of Mormon historians, including Mormon.  They generalized about lands outside of Zarahemla, but were very specific about what transpired in the lands occupied by the Nephites and Lamanites, (Zarahemla, Bountiful and the land of Nephi).

One can only guess what destruction and changes occurred in the land northward, or other places on the planet.  But as for the destruction and changes that took place in the land southward, we do not have to guess, as Nephi and the Savior are very specific about what those were, at least the ones they consider worthy of mention.  Here are the specific destructions and changes that occurred in the Nephite/Lamanite lands, as detailed by Nephi and the Savior:

Nephi states the city of Moroni was sunk into the depths of the sea and all the inhabitants were drowned.  The Savior refers to this city as “the great city of Moroni. (see

3 Nephi 8:8 and 9:4). This is the only city described as sinking into the sea.  Since there were other cities contiguous to the city of Moroni, one might assume that they sank also, but no other cities are mentioned as sinking into the sea.  My candidate for the location of this city is the under water Maya site off the coast of the northern portion of Belize, a place named Cerros.  The tops of pyramids can be seen sticking out of the ocean at this location, (the city being underwater).  Photos of this can be seen on page 71 of my book, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni.  I have dived to the floor of this ancient city and gathered many potshards from that location.  Also, if you walk the beach around this location on any given morning potshards can be seen there, which are washed up on shore during the night before.

3 Nephi 8:14 does say that “many great and notable cities were sunk,…” and some people assume this means they were sunk into the sea.  I do not make that assumption.  I assume that Nephi is referring to the cities mentioned by the Savior in 3 Nephi 9:6&8, which are described as being sunk “in the depths of the earth,” and “made hills and valleys in the stead thereof.”  The Savior mentions five such cities.  My assumption about the sinking of these cities, is that there was a parting of the earth (and earthquake) and some cities actually sank into very deep fissures.  I assume this because at the end of the three days of darkness, 3 Nephi 10:10 states that “…the earth did cleave together again…”  I interpret this to mean that those deep fissures then closed up, (cleaved together), entombing the inhabitants of the sunken cities.

There is not much to go on, as to the location of these five cities, but the names of two of the cities may give a clue.  I have determined that the term “Gadi” in the BofM means “the middle.”  We know that the “Gadi-anton” robbers lived in the middle of the mountains, (between the tops and the bottoms.)  I believe that anton means mountain.  These were the robbers who lived at the middle level of the mountains.

If I am correct about this term, then the names of two of these five cities may give a clue as to their location.  To wit: Gadiandi and Gadiomnah.  These names may place these cities in the middle, or center of the land.  Nah in Maya means the chief person, Lord, or head.  As an example, Alma 30:21-23 indicates that Giddonah was the High Priest and Chief Judge.  The term “nah” appended to his name indicates that – in Maya.  So these two cities may have been in the center of the land and the city of Gidiomnah may have been the chief city of a province.

The second city that was named as being destroyed was the city of Moronihah.  Once again Nephi refers to it simply as “the city…,” while the Savior refers to it as “the great city of Moronihah.”

Nephi states that “in the place of this city there became a great mountain,” while the Savior states that “I have covered this great city with earth, and the inhabitants thereof…”

I believe the Lord caused a large mountain to simply move over,  on top of, and to cover the city of Moronihah.  Nephi states it was a “great mountain,” so I assume it was large.  My candidate for this mountain is the Maya mountain range in southern Belize.  I believe the city of Moronihah is underneath that mountain range.  I guess the only way to prove that would be to dig up the mountain – a daunting task.

Nephi then gives some descriptions of damages to the general infrastructure of the Nephite lands.  In 3 Nephi 8:13 he states that the highways were “broken up and level roads spoiled and many smooth places became rough.”  I have traveled this area extensively and I know where the ancient Maya roads were, (at least after the crucifixion), and these changes mentioned by Nephi would not appear to be all that catastrophic.  The highways of the Maya had a very deep and substantial foundation, made of stone.  Once the highways were broken up, it would require little effort to take the existing disrupted stone and rebuild the highways.

In 3 Nephi 8:14-15 Nephi states that the shaking of the earth was so violent, that “the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth…” and “…some cities remained; but the damage thereof was exceeding great…”  If one can picture the stone pyramids and other stone buildings found in ancient Maya cities, and envision the type of quaking required to make these buildings fall apart, then you can envision the violent nature of the storms and earth quakes taking place during this time.  An example of such disruption can be seen at Yaxcaba, at the top of the Yucatan, (below Chichen Itza), where the pyramids have been pretty much destroyed, with the stones laying scattered on the ground.

In verse 18 Nephi now indicates “…rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up, upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments and in seems and in cracks…”  As initially stated, I just returned from Guatemala, where I spent some time on the shores of Lake Atitlan – in many of the Maya villages around that lake.  The description sited above appears to describe exactly the condition of the rocks in/on the mountains surrounding this lake, as they are broken into fragments, cracked, etc.  These rocks initially were a result of large lava flows from the volcanoes around the lake, but are now broken into pieces and fragments.  I am certain there are other similar places in the lands of the Nephites/Lamanites, and that Atitlan, (the waters of Mormon), is just one such place.

In verse 17, Nephi states that “…the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings and lightenings and the quaking of the earth.”  And in verse 16 he implies this was due to a hurricane, or some similar violent storm.  I have been in two violent hurricanes in this area, and there is no doubt that they deformed the face of the land.  I have seen every tree in Cancun up-rooted by hurricane Gilberto, and all the sand of the resort beaches ripped into the ocean by Katrina, leaving the beaches with ragged stones where the sand once was.  All very deforming, but also very easy to recover from.  Indeed Cancun has done so a number of times.

In verse 8, Nephi states that “…the city of Zarahemla did take fire.”  Helaman 13:13 makes it clear that this fire came “down out of heaven.”  I assume this means that lightening struck the city of Zarahamla and since this city is in a location known for gas and oil reserves in Mexico, I assume the lightening struck escaping gas/oil, (remember there were great and deep fissures), and this city did “take” fire.

In 3 Nephi 9:3 the Savior states that “the great city of Zarahemla have I burned with fire and the inhabitants thereof.”  You may notice a clear distinction between how Nephi represents these events and how the Lord does.  Nephi is acting as an historian, simply recording events accurately.  The Savior on the other hand is describing a principle of the gospel, blood atonement.  Nephi states that cities were destroyed, while the Savior states that the inhabitants were drowned, burned and/or buried.  He also explains why, “…to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets should not come any more unto me against them..” (see 3 Nephi 9:7-11)  Put very simply, if sins are not repented off and therefore paid for by the Savior, then other blood must be shed to pay for those sins.  Some of that took place during these dramatic and destructive events being described in 3 Nephi 9.

Nephi, in verse 8:14 states that many cities were burned, while the Savior, in 9:8, lists some of those cities, to wit: Jacobugath, Laman, Josh, Gad, Kishkumen and Zarahemla, once again explaining the necessity of the shedding of the blood of these inhabitants.  There is no way to know if these were the only six cities that were burned, but we know there were at least six.  It may be of interest that at this year’s Maya conference at the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Canuto, of Yale University reported that he has discovered a Maya city (Achates) that was burned by fire, “around 50AD.”  The actual date of the ones mentioned in the Book of Mormon was 34AD.  The date of “around 50AD” is close enough for me.

In 3 Nephi 9:8 the Savior mentions some cities that Nephi does not, namely, the cities of Onihah, Mocum and Jerusalem, which were all covered with water, or as the Savior puts it, “…and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof.”  The key words being “waters come up.”  I think of the city of New Orleans that was below sea level and how hurricane Katrina caused the waters to “come up,” in the stead thereof.

I do not know where these three cities were located, but the name Onihah implies that this city was by the water.  (Hah in Maya means connected to water.)  I place these three cities close to the location where the borders of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras converge.  At this location, there is a very large lake, Lago de Izabal, a few smaller lakes and the Bahia de Amatique.  I know of no evidence that there are cities underneath these waters, but if I were twenty years younger, I would be diving there to find out.  For now, this is simply my best guess as to the location of these cities that were covered with water.  Wherever the cities were located, I assume there are now large lakes or lagoons in that location.  Plus, I would assume, that like New Orleans, the cities were below or close to sea level, where fresh water could cover them easily.  Having seen how raging rivers can inundate locations in this part of Central America, it is easy to envision changes in the land that then allowed raging rivers, cascading down the steep mountains, to completely inundate and cover these cities.

Although the changes that I have described are pronounced and certainly altered the landscape, I do not see them as changing the shape or general lay out of the lands of the Nephites and Lamanites that significantly.  Some cities had buildings that were toppled, roads were broken up and some cities sank due to earthquakes.  Yet the major mountain ranges appear to have remained the same, the coastal areas remained the same, the narrow neck and pass remained the same, and the basic demarcation between the land of the Nephites and the land of the Lamanites basically remained the same.  It also appears that Bountiful, Desolation and other Pre-Crucifixion boundaries remained unchanged.

I do find it interesting that the Lord destroyed cities and people by wind, earth, water and fire, (the four elements), and buried people under earth, seawater and fresh water.  In other words, with all elements available to him, he buried people in it. 

That is my best judgment and assessment of the changes that took place at the crucifixion, as described by Nephi and the Savior.

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October, 2007 Newsletter

Cities of Gilgal, Onihah, Mocum and Jerusalem

Jerry Ainsworth

Last month I wrote and posted an article about the cataclysmic events that took place during the crucifixion of the Savior.  In that article I referred to 3 Nephi 9:7 in which the cities of Onihah, Mocum and Jerusalem were destroyed.  I mentioned that I did not know where these three cities were located, but then made a guess as to where they may have been.

Once the article was published, I received a response indicating that a BofM tour guide had indicated that the BofM city of Jerusalem was built on the borders of the waters of Mormon, and was now under the waters of Lake Atitlan.  I subsequently responded to this email indicating that the BofM city of Jerusalem was not located by the waters of Mormon, in fact not even in the land of Mormon, but in the land of Jerusalem.  (see the 21^st chapter of Alma)

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Hi Marcel,

For many years, I have contemplated the meaning and method of the vast destruction that took place in the lands of the Book of Mormon at the time of the Savior's crucifixion.

There were huge upheavals in the land, fires that devestaded cities and vapors of darkness so thick that a torch could not be lit. I believe that the Lord works via natural laws. It is certainly possible that there was a hurricane and a volcanic eruption at the same time. Earthquakes and volcanos often coincide.

My question is, " Is there evidence that there was a very large eruption or series of erruptions at the time of the crucifixion? If so, it would explain how a mountain was caused to come up in the stead of a city and how some cities were buried. Any response on this subject would be appreciated.

Regards,
Jim

(Response from Jerry)

 Jim:

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