Archaeology and the Book of
Mormon
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Check out Stan Larson's Quest
for the Gold Plates
"It is the personal
opinion of the writer that the Lord does not intend
that the Book of Mormon, at least at the present time, shall be proved
true by any archaeological findings. They day may come when such will
be the case, but not now. The Book of Mormon is itself a witness of the
truth, and the promise has been given most solemnly that any person who
will read it with a prayerful heart may receive the abiding testimony
of its truth.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers
to Gospel Questions,
1998, v. 2, p. 196
“... our testimony of
the Book of Mormon remain[s] a matter of faith,
and [is] not based upon external proofs found from archaeology.”
-
Duane R. Aston, Return
to Cumorah, 1998
“So far as is known to
the writer, no non-Mormon archaeologist at the
present time is using the Book of Mormon as a guide in archaeological
research. Nor does he know of any non-Mormon archaeologist who
holds that the American Indians are descendants of the Jews, or that
Christianity was known in America in the first century of our era...”
- Ulster Archaeological
Society Newsletter,
no. 64, Jan. 30, 1960, p. 3
“We conclude,
therefore, that the Book of Mormon remains completely
unverified by archaeology. The claims Mormon missionaries have
made are fallacious and misleading.”
- Archaeology and the Book of
Mormon, pamphlet
by Hal Hougey, p. 4-6, 1976
"With the exception of
Latter-day Saint archaeologists, members of the
archaeological profession do not, and never have, espoused the Book of
Mormon in any sense of which I am aware. Non-Mormon archaeologists do
not allow the Book of Mormon any place whatever in their reconstruction
of the early history of the New World.”
- Ulster Archaeological
Society Newsletter,
no. 64, Jan. 30, 1960, p.3
“It is not necessary
here to repeat the passages in the Book of Mormon
which describe such civilization.... It is only needful to show that
nothing could be wider from the truth, unless all ancient American
history is a lie, and its ten thousand relics tell false tales.
“It may be stated in a
general way that there never has been a time
upon this western hemisphere within the historic period, or within
three thousand years past when a uniform civilization of ANY KIND
prevailed over both continents.
“We are to learn now:
1st. That a
Christian civilization has never existed in Central
America, not even for a day.
2nd. The people
of Central America, as far back as their record
has been traced (and that is centuries earlier than the alleged
beginning of Nephite history), have always been an idolatrous
people.... The entire civilization of the Book of Mormon, its whole
record from beginning to end is flatly contradicted by the civilization
and the history of Central America.”
- The Golden Bible, by M.T. Lamb, p. 366,
370,
373
“Let me know state
uncategorically that as far as I know there is not
one professionally trained archaeologist, who is not a Mormon, who sees
any scientific justification for believing the foregoing to be true,
... nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever shown up in any New World
excavation which would suggest to a dispassionate observer that the
Book of Mormon... is a historical document relating to the history of
early migrants to our hemisphere.”
-
Michael Coe, Dialogue:
A Journal of Mormon
Thought, Summer
1973, pp. 42, 46
"The first myth we
need to eliminate is that Book of Mormon archaeology
exists…. If one is to study Book of Mormon archaeology, then one must
have a corpus of data with which to deal. We do not. The Book of Mormon
is really there so one can have Book of Mormon studies, and archaeology
is really there so one can study archaeology, but the two are not wed.
At least they are not wed in reality since no Book of Mormon location
is known with reference to modern topography. Biblical archaeology can
be studied because we do know where Jerusalem and Jericho were and are,
but we do not know where Zarahemla and Bountiful (nor any other
location for that matter) were or are. It would seem then that a
concentration on geography should be the first order of business, but
we have already seen that twenty years of such an approach has left us
empty-handed."
-
Dee F. Green, Mormon archaeologist, Dialogue: A
Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1969, pp. 77-78
“I’m afraid that up to
this point, I must agree with Dee Green, who has
told us that to date there is no Book-of-Mormon geography.... you can’t
set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere – because it is fictional
and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archaeology.”
-
Thomas S. Ferguson, Mormon archaeologist, and
author of Quest
for the Gold Plates,
“Letter to Mr. and Mrs.
H.W. Lawrence,” dated Feb. 20, 1976
“While some people
chose to make claims for the Book of Mormon through
archaeological evidences, to me they are made prematurely, and without
sufficient knowledge. I do not support the books written on this
subject including The Messiah in Ancient America, or any other. I
believe that the authors are making cases out of too little evidences
and do not adequately address the problems that archaeology and the
Book of Mormon present. I would feel terribly embarrassed if
anyone sent a copy of any book written on the subject to the National
Museum of Natural History – Smithsonian Institution, or other
authority, making claims that cannot as yet be substantiated.... there
are very severe problems in this field in trying to make correlations
with the scriptures. Speculation, such as practiced so far by
Mormon authors has not given church members credibility.”
-
Ray T. Matheny, Mormon scholar and BYU professor of
anthropology, letter dated Dec. 17, 1987
“The Book of Mormon
talks about ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical
industries. A ferrous industry is a whole system of doing something.
It’s just not an esoteric process that a few people are involved in,
but ferrous industry.., means mining iron ores and then processing
these ores and casting [them] into irons.... This is a process that’s
very complicated...it also calls for cultural backup to allow such an
activity to take place.... In my recent reading of the Book of Mormon,
I find that iron and steel are mentioned in sufficient context to
suggest that there was a ferrous industry here.... You can’t refine ore
without leaving a bloom of some kind or impurities that blossom out and
float to the top of the ore... and also the flux of limestone or
whatever is used to flux the material.... [This] blooms off into
silicas and indestructible new rock forms. In other words, when you
have a ferroused metallurgical industry, you have these evidences of
the detritus that is left over. You also have the fuels, you have the
furnaces, you have whatever technologies that were there performing
these tasks; they leave solid evidences. And they are indestructible
things.... No evidence has been found in the new world for a ferrous
metallurgical industry dating to pre-Columbian times. And so this is a
king-size kind of problem, it seems to me, for the so-called Book of
Mormon archaeology. This evidence is absent.”
-
Ray T. Matheny, Speech at Sunstone Symposium 6,
"Book of Mormon Archaeology," August 25, 1984
"I really have
difficulty in finding issue or quarrel with those
opening chapters of the Book of Mormon [i. e., the first 7 chapters
which only relate to Lehi and his family around the area of Jerusalem].
But thereafter it doesn't seem like a translation to me.... And the
terminologies and the language used and the methods of explaining and
putting things down are 19th century literary concepts and cultural
experiences one would expect Joseph Smith and his colleagues would
experience. And for that reason I call it transliteration, and I’d
rather not call it a translation after the 7th chapter. And I have real
difficulty in trying to relate these cultural concepts as I've briefly
discussed here with archeological findings that I'm aware of....
"If I were doing this cold like John Carlson is here, I would say in
evaluating the Book of Mormon that it had no place in the New World
whatsoever. I would have to look for the place of the Book of Mormon
events to have taken place in the Old World. It just doesn't seem to
fit anything that he has been taught in his discipline, nor I in my
discipline in anthropology, history; there seems to be no place for it.
It seems misplaced. It seems like there are anachronisms. It seems like
the items are out of time and place, and trying to put them into the
New World. And I think there’s a great difficulty here for we Mormons
in understanding what this book is all about."
-
Ray T. Matheny, Speech at Sunstone Symposium 6,
"Book of Mormon Archeology," August 25, 1984
“The American Indians
are physically Mongoloids and thus must have
originated in Eastern Asia. The differences in appearance of the
various New World tribes in recent times are due to (1) the initial
variability of their Asian ancestors; (2) adaptations over several
millennia to varied New World environments; and (3) different degrees
of interbreeding in post-Columbian times with people of European and
African origins.”
-
“Origins of the American Indians,” National Museum
of Natural History – Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., 1985, p. 1
“Your recent
inquiry concerning the Smithsonian Institution's
alleged use of the Book of Mormon as a scientific guide has been
received in the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology.
The Book of Mormon is
a religious document and not a scientific guide.
The Smithsonian Institution has never used it in archeological research
and any information that you have received to the contrary is
incorrect. Accurate information about the Smithsonian's position is
contained in the enclosed "Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon,"
which was prepared to respond to the numerous inquiries that the
Smithsonian receives on this topic.
"Because the
Smithsonian regards the unauthorized use of its name to
disseminate inaccurate information as unlawful, we would appreciate
your assistance in providing us with the names of any individuals who
are misusing the Smithsonian's name.”
-
Statement by the National Museum of Natural
History, Smithsonian Institution, Spring 1986, available online at: http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/smithsonianletter.htm
“... our testimony of
the Book of Mormon remain[s] a matter of faith,
and [is] not based upon external proofs found from archaeology.”
-
Duane R. Aston, Return to Cumorah, 1998
“I haven’t changed my
views about the Book of Mormon since my 1973
article. I have seen no archaeological evidence before or since that
date which would convince me that it is anything but a fanciful
creation by an unusually gifted individual living in upstate New York
in the early nineteenth century.”
-
Michael Coe, correspondence between Bill McKeever
and Michael Coe
“In 1949 [actually
1946] California lawyer, Tom Ferguson, rolled up his
sleeves, threw a shovel over his shoulder, and marched into the remote
jungles of southern Mexico. Armed with a quote by Joseph Smith that the
Lord had ‘a hand in proving the Book of Mormon true in the eyes of all
people,’ Ferguson’s goal was: Shut the mouths of the critics who said
such evidence did not exist. Ferguson began an odyssey that included
twenty-four trips to Central America, eventually resulting in a
mountain of evidence supporting Book of Mormon claims.”
-
Steve Johnson, transcript of the advertisement for The
Messiah in Ancient America by Thomas Ferguson, 1988
“After many years of
careful study, the real importance of Book of
Mormon archaeology has dawned on me. It will take but a moment to
explain. The Book of Mormon is the only revelation from God in the
history of the world that can possibly be tested by scientific physical
evidence.... To find the city of Jericho is merely to confirm a point
in history. To find the city of Zarahemla is to confirm a point in
history but it is also to confirm, through tangible physical evidence,
divine revelation to the modern world through Joseph Smith, Moroni, and
the Urim and Thummim. Thus, Book of Mormon history is revelation that
can be tested by archaeology.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to the First Presidency, April 10,
1953, Ferguson Collection, BYU
“One cannot fake over
3000 years ... of history and have the fake hold
water under the scrutiny given the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon
is either fake or fact. If fake, the cities described in it are
non-existent. If fact – as we know it to be – the cities will be there.
If the cities exist, and they do, they constitute tangible, physical,
enduring, unimpeachable evidence that Joseph Smith was a true prophet
of God and that Jesus Christ lives.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to the First Presidency, March 15,
1958, Ferguson Collection, BYU
“Right now I am
inclined to think that all of those who claim to be
‘prophets,’ including Moses, were without a means of communicating with
deity – I’m inclined to think that when Moses was on top of the mount,
he was talking to himself and decided that the only way he could get
the motley crowd at the bottom of the slope to come to order and to
listen to him and to heed him was to tell them that he had talked to
God on the mount. If this view is correct, then prophets are nothing
more than mortal men like the rest of us, except they saw a great need
for change and had the courage to say they had communicated with God
and had received a message for man, and were believed (though false in
the basic claim that the message came from God and not from man)....
Right now I think Hoffer [author of True Believer] comes very close to
the truth about prophets and organized religions. Right now I am
inclined to think that all who believe in ‘prophets’ as true agents of
God are being spoofed – but perhaps for their own good and welfare.
When Joseph Smith crash-landed, a lot came down with him, as I see it.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to Wesley P. Walters, July 6, 1971,
Ferguson Collection, University of Utah; see Mormon Mavericks:
Essays on Dissenters,
p. 263
“All elements of
religion that are supernatural (including endless
string of miracles in the New Testament) are fabrications of men like
Joseph Smith.... Further, I presently believe that Mormonism is as good
a brand of supernatural religion (which sells well) as any other –
including Protestantism. At the present time I am inclined to believe
that supernatural religion, selling as it does, does more good than it
does harm (although this is highly debatable).... In my opinion the
average Protestant and the average Catholic is as blind to basic truths
as is the average Mormon. If I were going to attack Joseph Smith, I
would want to attack your beliefs, involving the supernatural, as well
as the Mormon beliefs.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to Hougey, June 26, 1975, Ferguson
Collection, University of Utah; see Mormon Mavericks: Essays on
Dissenters, p. 263
“Why not say the right
things and keep your membership in the great
fraternity, enjoying the good things you like and discarding the ones
you can’t swallow (and keeping your mouths shut)? Hypocritical? Maybe.
But perhaps a realistic way of dealing with a very difficult problem.
There is lots left in the Church to enjoy – and thousands of members
have done, and are doing, what I suggest you consider doing.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to Mr. and Mrs. Harold W. Lawrence,
February 9, 1976, Ferguson Collection, University of Utah
“Belonging, with my
eyes wide open, is actually fun, less expensive
than formerly, and no strain at all. I am now very selective in the
meetings I attend, the functions I attend, the amounts I contribute
etc. etc. and I have a perfectly happy time. I never get up and bear
testimony – but I don’t mind listening to others who do. I am much more
tolerant of other religions and other thinking and feel fine about
things in general. You might give my suggestions a trial run – and if
you find you have to burn all the bridges between yourselves and the
Church, then go ahead and ask for excommunication. The day will
probably come – but it is far off – when the leadership of the Church
will change the excommunication rules and delete as ground non-belief
in the 2 books mentioned [the Book of Abraham and the Book of Mormon]
and in Joseph Smith as a prophet etc.... but if you wait for that day,
you probably will have died. It is a long way off – tithing would drop
too much for one thing.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to Mr. and Mrs. Harold W. Lawrence,
February 9, 1976, Ferguson Collection, University of Utah
“I wonder what really
goes on in the minds of Church leadership who
know of the data concerning the Book of Abraham, the new data on the
First Vision, etc.... It would tend to devastate the Church if a top
leader were to announce the facts.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to John W. Fitzgerald, March 6,
1976, John Fitzgerald Collection, Special Collections, Milton R.
Merrill Library, Utah State University
“I believe that
Judaism was an improvement on polytheism; Christianity
was an improvement on Judaism (to some degree and in some departments
only); that Protestantism is an improvement on Catholicism; that
Mormonism is an improvement on Protestantism. So I give Joseph Smith
credit as an innovator and as a smart fellow.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to James Still, December 3, 1979;
see Mormon
Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters, p. 269
“Since Oliver Cowdery
was born in 1806 and was in Poultney from 1809 to
1825, he was resident in Poultney from 3 years of age until he was 19
years of age – 16 years in all. And these years encompassed the
publication of View of the Hebrews, in 1822 [1823] and 1825. His three
little half sisters, born in Poultney, were all baptized in Ethan
Smith’s church. Thus, the family had a close tie with Ethan Smith.”
-
Thomas Ferguson to Ronald Barney, January 10, 1983,
Ferguson Collection, University of Utah; see Mormon Mavericks:
Essays on Dissenters,
pp. 270-271
