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Elder Thompson's 1841 report "Now the Nephites were a civilized, industrious people... whereas the Lamanites became an idle, savage, and vicious people delighting in war and bloodshed... Therefore the Nephites had to prepare themselves for self defence which they did by fortifying their cities and casting up banks of earth round about their armies, and sometimes building walls of stone to encircle them about, which accounts for the numerous fortifications and works of defence found so profusely scattered over this land [North America]. And when the people of these nations became numerous they had extensive wars; in some battles thousands were slain who were piled up in heaps upon the face of the land and then earth thrown upon them, and this accounts for the numerous mounds and tumuli found in this country [North America]. " "God stirred up the Lamanites to camp against them round about, and to raise forts against them with a mount, and thus they were brought down. But just before their final overthrow, a man by the names of Mormon took their record containing their history and sacred writings... to come forth in due time for a sign to Israel, that the time of their redemption had come..." ------------------------------------------------------- On 30 October 1830 the editor of the Brattleboro Messenger (Vermont) suggested that the Book of Mormon could have been "designed to explain the ancient fortifications and other things seen at the west."(66) In fact the Book of Mormon does posit answers to the complex of questions about how the ruins which dotted the Americas came to be. It singles out, for example, three centers of settlement which correspond to the three areas of archaeological discovery known commonly in the nineteenth century: first, near the north-western shore of "the land southward" (Al. 22:28); second, on "the narrow neck of land" (Morm. 2-5); and third, in "the land northward" in a region of "large bodies of water and many rivers" (He. 3:4). The Book of Mormon also describes the ruins in these three areas as having been built by a single group of builders whose history resembles that of the mound builders who were supposedly destroyed by the American Indian . The local Indians, Potawatamis, called the mound builders the Yam-Ko-Desh meaning "the prairie people" To give you an idea of how many of moundbuilders populated this area, as the Indians migrated into the area, the legends tell of finding the Priaire People living there and they were ' "thicker than the leaves on a tree". It is believed that the Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Potawatamis formed an alliance to exterminate them. Even the native Indians claimed not to know much about who these people were. . Some recalled old legends that their ancestors had conquered and ousted an ancient civilization which had dug for copper and built mounds Mormon writers have traditionally associated these geographic areas with South America, the Isthmus of Panama, and the Great Lakes region. Accordingly, the NEPHITES landed on the western coast of South America ., founded a civilization, and eventually built the magnificent pyramids and temples found in Peru. According to Mormon History the mound-builder culture commenced in the south and progressed northward . Later the Nephites spread into "the land northward," discovered the remains of the Jaredites, and built the cities in Central America, Mexico, and the Great Lakes region. Again, according to Mormon History, the JAREDITES migrated from the tower of Babel and inhabited "the land northward" (until their destruction shortly after the arrival of the Nephites). The NEPHITES called the region THE LAND OF DESOLATION, being that the JAREDITES and rendered the land desolate of timber . This may have been in part due to clearing of the land for cultivation and also for world exportation of timber . NEPHITES fortified the cities against an impending LAMANITE attacks. When the two nations again clashed, the NEPHITES were forced to flee into the GREAT LAKE REGION to prepare themselves for a last stand and thus we find strings of fortifications. The last stand of the Nephites supposedly took place in the vicinity of Manchester, New York. This of course fits well with the contemporary belief that the mound builders had been destroyed in the Great Lakes region sometime before the arrival of the Europeans. The Book of Mormon describes in very general terms the stone buildings, vast palaces, and huge temples located in the southern and central parts of the land ," Nephi has his people construct a temple "after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things" Several hundred years later, in the same city, King Noah has the people build "many elegant and spacious buildings" (Mos. 11:8), including "a spacious palace" and "a tower near the temple" (11:9, 12). The city of Nephi, like many other Nephite cities, is surrounded by a wall (22:6; see also Al. 48:8, 62:20-23). The Book of Mormon describes, for example, fortifications composed of walls made of earth or stone: [Moroni built] small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands (Al. 48:8). The Nephites had dug up a ridge of earth round about them, which was so high that the Lamanites could not cast their stones and their arrows at them (Al. 49:4). It also describes mounds of earth topped with wooden pickets: [Moroni commanded his people to] commence in digging up heaps of earth round about all the cities, throughout all the land which was possessed by the Nephites. And upon the top of these ridges of earth he caused that there should be timbers, yea, works of timbers built up to the height of a man, round about the cities. And he caused that upon those works of timbers there should be a frame of pickets built upon the timbers round about; and they were strong and high. And he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets, and he caused places of security to be built upon those towers, that the stones and the arrows of the Lamanites could not hurt them. And they were prepared that they could cast stones from the top thereof, according to their pleasure and their strength, and slay him who should attempt to approach near the walls of the city. (Al. 50:1-5) In addition the book describes mounds of earth topped with wooden pickets and fronted by ditches: The Book of Mormon also describes burial mounds. After one battle, for example, the "dead bodies were heaped up upon the face of the earth, and they were covered with a shallow covering" (Al. 16:11; see also Al. 2:38, 28:11; Eth. 2:15; Morm. 11:6). Furthermore, early Mormons pointed with equal pride to the book's account of how these structures were constructed. Most contemporary observers felt that the scale of these buildings necessarily implied a knowledge of metallurgy, and the Book of Mormon connected the construction of buildings with the use of metal. "And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance," writes Nephi soon after his family lands in the new land (2 Ne. 5:15). In fact the Book of Mormon's righteous Jaredites and Nephites are described as advanced metallurgists. Nephi possessed in the Old World a bow "made of fine steel" (1 Ne. 16:18). So in the New World he helped his people make swords patterned after the "sword of Laban," a sword described as having a blade of "the most precious steel" (2 Ne. 5:14; 1 Ne. 4:9). With their knowledge of metallurgy, the Nephites made "all manner of tools of every kind to till the ground, and weapons of war" (Jar. 8). When the Nephites discovered the last battle ground of the Jaredites they found large copper and brass breastplates and swords "cankered with rust" (Mos. 8:10-11). The Jaredites also made "swords out of steel" (Eth. 7:9) and dug metals out of the ground to make both tools and weapons (Eth. 10:23-27). Thus the Book of Mormon's description of the ancient ruins was congruent with contemporary descriptions of the remnants of an advanced civilization which had once peopled the Americas. Every new discovery of a mound or ruin only strengthened Mormon converts in their conviction that the mighty Nephites and Jaredites once occupied the land. Certainly such ruins stimulated speculation about the origin of ancient American cultures. The pyramids of Mexico and Peru reminded some of Egypt. Others compared the Ohio mounds to the high places of Israel. Still others compared the mounds to those constructed by the Tartars of Asia. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE |
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