THEZARAHEMLA RECORD /ssueNumber 2 September 1978 "And he that witl not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word..." Alma 9: 18 The MORMON BOOKOF Endof JareditesArrive Jaredite Division and Culture of People- MESOAMERICAN OutlinesCompared: Beginning, Highpointsand Endings First Pottery Endof Olmec Maya Glyphs Appears Culture Begin By RaymondC. Treat The most importanttype of evidenceat the presenttime time range. The first pottery is clatedwithin this range. The so- supportingthe Bookof Mormonis a correlationof the outlines called Pox pottery from Puerto Marquez, Guerrero and the of the Book of Mormon and Mesoamericanarchaeology at Tehuacan Valley is dated 2300-2M B.C. and the newly strategic points along the approximately2800 years of their discovered Swasey pottery from Belize goes back to this time. common history. To understandthe reasonfor this it is Pottery is one of the most important types of evidence in necessaryto understandthat archaeologicalinformation is on- Mesoamericanarchaeology and the first appearanceof pottery ly partialinformation. Therefore, most archaeological informa- is always significant. Mesoamerica itself becomes known as a tion is subjectto morethan one interpretation.There is abun- culture area soon after the appearanceof pottery. dant evidencein Mesoamericanarchaeology supporting the Bookof Mormon,but in manycases a non-believercould offer Highpoint an opposinginterpretation to explainthe evidence.However, Archaeology necessarilydeals with physical things. Therefore the reconstructionof a long culturehistory is lesssubiect to in- an archaeologicalhighpoint is defined in terms of the quantity terpretationsince more data is gatheredto constructit than and quality of materialremains. Spiritual values of a culture are any other single type of archaeologicalevidence. This is much more difficult to detect. Based on written history we becausea chronologicaloutline is the firstthing archaeologists know that spiritual highpoints almost always precede material try to reconstruct.The chronologyis basicto understanding highpoints. Thus there is a time lag between a spiritual high- most other types of archaeologicalevidence. point and its physicalexpression. As impliedin the title, we will limit our discussionto the Again, we do not have exact dates from the Book of Mor- beginning,highpoint and ending of the two major cultures mon, but we do have a genealogy.There is a good correlation representedin the Book of Mormon- the Jareditesand the between the most likely time period for the Jaredite highpoint the name given to the maior ar- combinedMulekite, Nephite and Lamaniteculture (see Figure and Olmec highpoint. Olmec is high- 1). Of course,these last three groups produceddistinctive chaeologicalgroup livingduring the time of the Jaredite period of these coinciding highpoints is culturesa! differenttimes but for the purposesof this article point. The time (see p. they can be consideiedas one culturesince they mergeddur- 1400-1200B.C. Peoples, Places and Prophecies 371. genealogy ing the GoldenAge. These dates line up well with Old World history, the of Ethel qnd Olmec archaeology. The first recognizedOlmec phase begins at 1200 B.C. at the assume the THEJAREDITES site of San Lorenzo, Veracruz. Therefore, We provided impetus for Olmec material Beginning spiritualclimax which the preceded it. We do not know the exact date for the arrival of the culture at 1200 B.C. must have Jareditesto the New World but 2500-2350B.C. is probablythe most reasonablerange of time to consider(see People, Places (Continuedon pafie 2) and Propheciesby VerneilW. Simmons,p. 26l-.The evidence ^,^ll .^,i+k +Li^ Page 2 The Zarahemla Record September 1978 OUTLf N ES rconrinuedrrom pse t.) B.C.for the Mulekites.Without going into details, it is possible to detecta significantculture change in Mesoamericaat this time. Thiscan be seenin the architectureand ceramics.There t." *, t* is a definitebreak in ceramictraditions around 550 B.C. Ceramicvesselfrom Vistahermosadated ahout ffi B.C. This vesselrepresents ceramics from the post-Olmec period, most likely from the Mulekite culture. Highpoint and Ending The dateof 300A. D. haslong beenaccepted as the beginn- ing of the ClassicMaya, the beginningof the Mayahighpoint. Thisdate of 300A. D. was basedon the Thompsoncorrelation of the Mayaglyph dates. However, according to the Book of Mormon,the beginningof the highpoint(Golden Age) occur- redsome 250 years earlier. For this reason,many Book of Mor- mon scholarsrejected the Thompsoncorrelation in favorof the The two most common ceramic forms used during Olmec times. Spindencorrelation, which was 260years earlier. We can now Upper: tecomate or neckless jar, used mostly for cooking. Lower: flat bottomed bowlwith outflaring sides, probably used as a seruing dish. say that the Thompsoncorrelation, almost universallyac- cepted by archaeologists,r.s in essentialagreement with the Book of Mormon.The glyphs,which the Thompsoncorrelation dates, do not representthe highpointof Maya civilization,but the beginningof its downfall.Let us explain. Ending The beginningof the ClassicMaya has traditionallybeen The archaeologicaldate for the the final endingof Olmec defined by the appearanceof three major traits: polychrome phase is around600 B.C.Thus, there is an obviouscorrelation pottery, the corbelledvault techniqueof architectureand betweenthe demiseof the Jareditesas a cultureand the endof hieroglyphicdates. These were all thought to appearat the the olmec. sametime as the glyphdates of 289A.D. (roundedoff to 300 There is also an phase recognized Olmec-related that is A. D.). Recentevidence now allowsMaya archaeologists to say sometimescalled Modified Olmec which follows the endof this that polychromepottery and the corbelledvault began as early "pure" phase. final Olmec Thisis alsoconfirmation of Bookof as 100A. D. Therefore,we cansay that the ClassicMaya began Mormonevidence. The continueduse of Jareditenames and at 100A.D. and not at 300A.D. as previouslythought. Allow- traditionsamong the Mulekitesstrongly suggests that not allof ing for the samekind of time lag as was explainedunder the part the Jareditestook in the final battle. Archaeological Jareditehighpoint, the 100 A.D. beginningis in agreement evidenceindicates that the Olmecgradually lost their identity after600 B.c. (Continued on page 6) MULEKITES,NEPHITES AND LAMANITES THEZARAHEMLA RECORD Beginning is publishedby the ZarahemlaResearch Foundation Thesethree culturesare distinctfrom the Jarediteculture P.O. Box 881,McAllen, Texas 78501. and can be treatedas a singlenon-Jaredite culture for the sake Mail addresschanges to the Foundationaddress. of this article.Their actual arrival to the NewWorld is givenas CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS: 600 B.C. for the combinedNephite-Lamanite group and 587 WayneE. Simmons RaymondC. Treat Photography:Frank E. Frye Distribution:Sharon Francis The ZarahemlaRecord September 1978Page 3 A PATRIARCHALVIEW OF ISRAEL By WayneE. Simmons PARTI This is a good day to talk about our "roots". Alex Haley Manyinspired sermons compare the latterday church with the wrote about his heritagein the memorablebook, Roots, which lsraelites,redeemed from bondagein Egypt,wandering in the has capturedmuch of the presentgeneration's admiration ex- Sinaidesert, led by a prophetand guided by a cloudby dayand pressedin their purchaseof more than a million hardcover a pillarof fire by night.5We, likethem, desireentry into a pro- copies--priced at $12.50each. Haleytells us that his mother misedland. lt is smallwonder that we havecome to identify often seemedembarrassed by referencesto her parents'slave oursefvesas Latter Day lsrael,savoring the promisein which past. His grandmother'sreaction was, "lf you don't carewho ancientlsrael was identifiedas the Lord'speople, special and and whereyou comefrom, well / does."1Many of the rootsof holyin theircalling. lt seemsevident that lsraelwas the Lord's the ReorganizedChurch of Jesus Christof Latter Day Saints churchin formerdays, for from Jacob'stime to Christthere is are identifiedwith lsrael by ancient and modern prophets, no recordof any other that enioyedHis divinepromise. Too, whetherthey talk about her covenantsand inheritance,or her manyin our age havesought their patriarchal blessings, in the promiseof destinyas God's people.Very earlyin the Restora- spiritof the children'shearts being turned to theirfathers, and tion Movement,Joseph Smith in hissecond vision was promp- have been given knowledgeof their spirituallineage from ted to seethe ties betweenhimself and the lsraelitewriters of Abraham,and from lsrael.This is accordingto divinedirection scriptures,when the messenger,Moroni, cited an important offeredto patriarch-evangelistsmore than 75 yearsago.6 passageas fundamentalto the young man'smission: Then, of course,there are many New Testamentscriptures person,no matterwhat his Behold,I will sendyou Elijahthe prophetbefore the comingof the great which attest to the fact that any and dreadfulday of the Lord; And he shallturn the heartof the fathers lineagemight be, is countedas a child of Abrahamthrough to the children,and the heartof the childrento their fathers,lest I come the pro- 2 lsaacand Jacob, and of spirituallsrael, an inheritorof and smite the earth whith a curse. seed This scripture was twice repeated in the Doctrine and misesand covenantsof God madeto Abraham'sfaithful of lsrael Covenants3 and lendsitself to much reminiscenceas to who or posterity.?In fact, Paulwarned that not all who are of the are our fathers,and