4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble Published on Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum (http://www.bmaf.org) Home > A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble A Witness of Cumorah by Edwin Goble Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who helped me in any way or form on this subject. Some helped by taking time to answer my emails or meeting with me and talking to me. Others gave substantive feedback and helped in other ways over the years in my research on the subject of Book of Mormon Geography and Archaeology on the various projects I have worked on. Some collaborated with me. The following is a partial list: Wayne May (Ancient American Magazine/Ancient American Archaeological Foundation), Rodney Meldrum (LDS Researcher/FIRM Foundation), Brant Gardner (FAIR/Interpreter), Dr. John Sorenson (BYU), Dr. John Clark (BYU), John Tvedtnes (BYU), Joshua Mariano (Independent Researcher), Joe Andersen (BMAF), Douglas K. Christensen (BMAF), Steven L. Carr (BMAF), Tyler Livingston (FAIR/BMAF), Jeff Holt (Hopewell/Adena Archaeologist) and J. Sherman Feher (Book Reviewer). I can be contacted at [email protected] [1] Table of Contents Introduction Chapter One ­ The Hopewell Sphere of Influence and Mesoamerican Influence in Hopewell Territory Chapter Two ­ Mormon and Moroni as Hopewellian Nephites And Cumorah's Internal Geography http://www.bmaf.org/print/325 1/49 4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble Chapter Three ­ Criteria for the Ancient Cumorah of the Nephite Destruction Chapter Four ­ The New York Hill and Archaeology Introduction I will start with some basic definitions. “Mesoamerica,” (meso meaning middle) is a technical term in archaeology that refers to an area somewhat synonymous with “Central America.” It is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre­Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. Above is a general map of Mesoamerica so the reader can visualize it. A popular theory today in the Church is the “Limited” Mesoamerican theory that places Cumorah within this limited area. That is not what I believe. The Hemispherical theory places Book of Mormon territory covering all of North and South America, with a Narrow Neck of Land at the Isthmus of Panama. This is not what I believe either. The following map represents the hemispherical theory: http://www.bmaf.org/print/325 2/49 4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble As you can see on this map for the Hemispherical theory, we have (1) Cumorah in New York, (2) Panama as the Narrow Neck of Land, and (3) Colombia as Zarahemla, and (4) somewhere along the coast of Chile as Lehi's landing­place. The only thing correct in this theory is that Cumorah was actually in New York. Next we have the “Heartland” theory: http://www.bmaf.org/print/325 3/49 4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble In this case, we have (1) Cumorah in New York, with (2) Zarahemla in the Midwestern US. I used to believe in this theory, but I have changed my mind.2 The purpose of this book is to promote a Mesoamerican setting of the Book of Mormon as the Land of Zarahemla. But I am placing Cumorah in New York still. The following is a map of my proposal: http://www.bmaf.org/print/325 4/49 4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble So now, in my proposal, we have (1) Cumorah in New York, (2) the Northern Nephite domain in the Midwestern US. This is not Zarahemla, but is an area that was inhabited by Nephites later in their history. And then we have (3) the Narrow Neck of Land and Zarahemla in Mesoamerica. This is not hemispherical, because it doesn't take up the whole hemisphere. It isn't so limited as to place everything in Mesoamerica. But the Northern Nephite domain extends into the Midwest, all the way to New York. I believe that most of the Book of Mormon story takes place in the area marked as number three here, in Mesoamerica. It was only later in their history that the people of the Book of Mormon extended outward into these northern areas. The Midwestern US that is the archaeological heartland of what is called the “Hopewell­Adena” culture. This was the central population center of the Nephite Culture in the Land Northward, in Illinois and Ohio, with New York being the “fringe” of their territory. The New York Cumorah is the place not only where Moroni ultimately buried the plates of the Book of Mormon, but also the place of the Nephite and Jaredite destructions. I do not believe that there are two separate hills with the name Cumorah. Andrew Hedges, one of the scholars on the Joseph Smith Papers project, and a former editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, wrote several articles on the subject of Book of Mormon geography. In one of Hedges’ articles, he examines eleven http://www.bmaf.org/print/325 5/49 4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble documents directly tied to the prophet Joseph Smith that seem to show the geographical setting that the Prophet may have had in mind. Hedges writes: [N]one of [the documents] . suggest the fully hemispheric view of the book’s geography that Sorenson suggests most Church members held . Nor can any of them . be interpreted to support the idea . [of] a limited Mesoamerican geography . as John Clark has recently suggested . [T]he view . is one that has Book of Mormon peoples, during at least part of their histories, inhabiting parts . of the eastern United States; the final battles of the Nephites and Jaredites taking place in upstate New York; and the centers for both . civilizations being located . in Central America . The documents . suggest an understanding . lying somewhere between a fully hemispheric model . and a limited model . which we might dub a “limited hemispheric” or “northern hemispheric” view . 3 So, as you can see, Hedges' analysis seems to suggest that the very type of geography I am suggesting here (i.e. a “limited hemispheric” one so to speak) may have been the one the early saints, including Joseph Smith, had in mind, rather than the traditional hemispheric model. My concern, therefore, is about Adena and Hopewell period artifacts and sites, dating to the Book of Mormon time period. Some of the things presented in other writings by other New York theorists may date to the wrong time period. Indeed, as some have noted, the critical question is, what do they date to?4 The bottom line is that each fort and site and artifact found in the Cumorah area must be dated archaeologically by real archaeologists to ascertain the truth of the situation. So I invite you to enter into a journey with me in rediscovering the Land Northward of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon describes an exceedingly great distance from Mesoamerica to Cumorah, assuming Mesoamerica was the Land of Zarahemla. The land of Cumorah was an exceedingly great distance from Mesoamerica, a place with large bodies of water, and Cumorah is just barely to the south of one of these large bodies of water, according to the text.The Great Lakes region fits perfectly. Cumorah in New York is a perfect fit. And the idea that Coriantumr couldn't have walked from New York to Mesoamerica is just not really a problem, just as it wasn't a problem for Moroni to go in the other direction for the Mesoamericanist theory. Just like any other situation where the Book of Mormon says that the people went into the Land Northward. Archaeology shows much Mesoamerican influence in the Great Lakes Region, and for those people to have come is no different from Coriantumr, or the people of Limhi (that is, if they went that far, which the text does not say), or even the Nephites to Cumorah. Archaeology shows the plausibility for hundreds of thousands of Mesoamericans to be pushed from Tehuantepec to New York. Other people did it as recorded in the archaeological record, and there is no reasonable reason why they could not have done it. Many armies did that type of thing in http://www.bmaf.org/print/325 6/49 4/8/2015 A Witness of Cumorah By Edwin Goble antiquity, and the Lamanites gave the Nephites four years to gather together. In the United States, as far as sites that date to the Book of Mormon time period go, I am not looking for cities with the same degree of urbanization as those found in Mesoamerica, because a rural hinterland simply is not an urban area. Some advocates of a Great Lakes Setting for the Book of Mormon make arguments that the large cities have disappeared or something, and that much of the evidence has disappeared. I, on the other hand, am saying that the archaeology of the Great Lakes region is sufficient. Large cultural centers with lots of population were located primarily in Illinois and Ohio. This was their heartland in the area. So this is why I call this the “Two Heartland” theory, to contrast it from the US Heartland theory. Because there were two heartlands of the Book of Mormon lands, one in the Land Southward, and one in the Land Northward. New York fits nicely and comfortably within the sphere of influence of those cultural centers in Ohio and Illinois.