Book of Mormon/Anachronisms

Table of Contents

Anachronisms claimed to exist in the Book of Mormon

Summary: "Anachronism" = out of time; something which is not in its proper historical context. It is claimed that a number of items or concepts in the Book of Mormon are not consistent with what is known about ancient American geography, history, or anthropology. These "errors" used as evidence that the Book of Mormon is a 19th century work rather than an ancient record.

Jump to Subtopic:

• What is an "anachronism" and how does it relate to the Book of Mormon?
• Animals or possible animal products referred to in the Book of Mormon
• Alleged biblical anachronisms in the Book of Mormon
• Climate in the Book of Mormon
• Cultural issues in the Book of Mormon
• Book of Mormon Geography
• Items described in the Book of Mormon
• Language questions related to the Book of Mormon
• Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon
• Materials described in the Book of Mormon
• Plants or fibers in the Book of Mormon
• Population and demographics in the Book of Mormon
• Scientific questions related to the Book of Mormon
• Book of Mormon textual issues
• Warfare in the Book of Mormon

What is an "anachronism" and how does it relate to the Book of Mormon?

Summary: Translated documents (which the Book of Mormon claims to be) have many potential sources of anachronism. When trying to decide if something is a true anachronism, and when making judgments about the Book of Mormon's truth based on an assessment of anachronisms, we must take all these factors into account. Critics rarely do so.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Elder D. Todd Christofferson: "The absence of evidence is not proof. Here’s one small example"
• Question: What is an anachronism, and what should be borne in mind when assessing the Book of Mormon (or any other text) for supposed "anachronisms"?

Animals or possible animal products referred to in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Criticisms related to animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon
• Horses in the Book of Mormon
• The ass or donkey in the Book of Mormon
• Bees in the Book of Mormon
• Cattle in the Book of Mormon
• Elephants in the Book of Mormon
• Sheep in the Book of Mormon
• Goats in the Book of Mormon
• Silk or Silkworms and the Book of Mormon
• Swine in the Book of Mormon
• Cureloms and Cumoms in the Book of Mormon
• Serpents in the Book of Mormon

Criticisms related to animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Is it possible that Joseph Smith simply added the Book of Ether to the Book of Mormon as an "afterthought" in order to explain the variety of animals in the New World?

Horses in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why are horses considered an anachronism in the Book of Mormon?
• Question: What is the origin of the modern horse in the New World?
• Verses in the Book of Mormon that talk about "horses"
• Question:What role do horses not play in the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Have any ancient horse remains from the Nephite period been found in the New World?
• Question: Why don't potential pre-Columbian horse remains in the New World receive greater attention from scientists?
• Question: Could ancient Americans have expanded the definition of "horse" to include new meanings?
• "Pottery and other cultural materials were found in levels VII and above. But in some of those artifact-bearing strata there were horse bones, even in level II."
• Martin: "no theoretical reason why a herd of mastodons, horses, or ground sloths could not have survived in some small refuge until 8000 or even 4000 years ago"
• Grayson: "extinct North American mammals...losses began in Mexico and Alaska during the Pleistocene and ended in Florida perhaps as recently as 2000 years ago"
• Bernardino de Sahagun: "Fodder was provided the deer—horses—which the Spaniards rode"
• Sorenson: Horse bones in Yucatan "considered to be pre-Columbian on the basis of depth of burial and degree of mineralization"
• Question: Do Mormon apologists claim that the horse referred to in the Book of Mormon is actually a deer or tapir?

The ass or donkey in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why is the "Ass" (Donkey) mentioned in the Book of Mormon?

Bees in the Book of Mormon

Summary: Among the supposed Book of Mormon anachronisms is the mention of “bees” (Ether 2:3)...It should be noted firstly that the Book of Mormon's use of the term "bees" occurs in an Old World (Jaredite) setting, it is never used in connection with the New World.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Did the Jaredites bring swarms of bees across the ocean in their barges
• Padilla et al.: "The maya codex Tro-Cortesianus shows drawings of bees and parts of honey combs"
• Head: "The indigenous American bee is the melipona (a stingless bee). It produces only about one kilogram of honey per year"
• Ronan James Head, "A Brief Survey of Ancient Near Eastern Beekeeping"

Cattle in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Sorenson: "The Miami Indians, for example, were unfamiliar with the buffalo and simply called them 'wild cows'"
• Miller and Roper: "Bones of domesticated cattle...have been reported from different caves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico"
• Pietro Martire d'Anghiera (1912): "the Spaniards noticed herds of deer similar to our herds of cattle"

Elephants in the Book of Mormon

Summary: Elephants are only present in Jaredite times in the Book of Mormon. Both mammoths and gomphotheres are elephant-like creatures that are plausible candidates which may have lived up until Jaredite times.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: In what context are elephants mentioned in the Book of Mormon?
• Wikipedia: Mammoths "were members of the family Elephantidae"
• Johnson: "Probably it is safe to say that American Proboscidea have been extinct for a minimum of 3000 years"
• Miller and Roper: "This was long enough to bring them (mammoths) to the time of the Jaredites"
• Miller and Roper: "Evidence for the survival of the elephant can be found in Native American myths and traditions"

Sheep in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Miller and Roper: "there are sheep native to America. The most common type is the Mountain Sheep, Ovis canadensis"
• Wikipedia: Bighorn sheep "crossed to North America over the Bering land bridge"
• Interpreter Foundation Blog, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives"

Goats in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Miller and Roper: "Evidence of goats associated with pre-Columbian man also comes from caves in Yucatan"
• Miller and Roper: "In post-biblical Jewish literature some Jewish writers distinguished between wild and domestic cattle such as goats"

Silk or Silkworms and the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Sorenson: Linen and silk textiles in ancient America
• Armitage: "It is suggested by de Ávila Blomberg that wild silk was used in Oaxaca in pre-Columbian times"

Swine in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why would the Book of Mormon mention swine if they were living the Law of Moses?
• Miller and Roper: "two distinct species of peccary live in Mesoamerica....They were hunted and eaten as early as Olmec times"
• Sorenson: "There is an animal which they call chic, wonderfully active, as large as a small dog, with a snout like a sucking pig. The Indian women raise them"

Cureloms and Cumoms in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Is the mention of "cureloms" and "cumons" a Book of Mormon anachronism?

Serpents in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Does the Book of Mormon accurately represent the behavior of serpents during a drought?
• John Tvedtnes, "Drought and Serpents"

Alleged biblical anachronisms in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Multiple "Isaiahs" and the Book of Mormon
• Nephite burnt offerings and their consistency with Jewish law and practice
• Alleged biblical textual anachronisms in the Book of Mormon
• The Book of Mormon and the location of the birth of Jesus Christ
• Lehi's ancestry and place of residence
• The Book of Mormon contains passages from the King James Bible
• Modification of the italicized text in Book of Mormon Biblical passages
• Translation errors in the King James Bible appearing in the Book of Mormon
• The Book of Mormon and the Documentary Hypothesis

Climate in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Snow in the Book of Mormon

Cultural issues in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• The Nephite calendar
• The description of olive horticulture in the Book of Mormon
• Legal codes in the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon Geography

Summary: The geographical setting of the Book of Mormon has been the subject of serious study and casual speculation since before the book was first published. The Church has been neutral when it comes to issues relating to Book of Mormon geography, as is FairMormon. The articles linked below will describe the various theories and examine the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Book of Mormon Old World Geography
• Book of Mormon geography in the New World
• Statements made by Church leaders on the subject of Book of Mormon geography
• Book of Mormon geography models
• Criticisms related to Book of Mormon geography

Items described in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Chariots in the Book of Mormon
• Cimeters or Scimeters in the Book of Mormon
• Money and the Book of Mormon
• The Book of Mormon mentions the word "compass"
• The Book of Mormon and "gold" plates
• Book of Mormon temples in New World
• Windows in the Book of Mormon

Language questions related to the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Translation questions related to the Book of Mormon
• Language structure in the Book of Mormon
• Hebrew and Native American languages
• The Book of Mormon and "reformed Egyptian"

Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• The Gadianton robbers and Freemasons

Materials described in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Building materials in the Book of Mormon
• The use of metals in the Book of Mormon
• Engraving records on metal plates

Plants or fibers in the Book of Mormon

Summary: Some plants or fibers mentioned in the Book of Mormon are not known to exist in the New World. Is this evidence that Joseph fabricated the text based upon his own cultural background? Not at all: None of the Book of Mormon's plant species causes a problem — Spanish conquerors described pre-Columbian products in exactly the terms used by the Book of Mormon. Barley, silkworms, and grapes were known. One of the terms unknown to Joseph's day (the Akkadian sheum) is impressive evidence for the Book of Mormon's antiquity.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Barley in the Book of Mormon
• Flax and linen in the Book of Mormon
• Neas in the Book of Mormon
• Sheum in the Book of Mormon
• Silk in the Book of Mormon
• Wheat in the Book of Mormon
• Wine and grapes in the Book of Mormon

Population and demographics in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Was the Lehite colony too small to produce the population sizes indicated by the Book of Mormon?
• Question: What was the fate of the original Lehite colonists?
• Question: What was the relative size of Nephite population compared to Lamanite population?
• Question: Why aren't other inhabitants of the America's mentioned in the Book of Mormon?
• John L. Sorenson: "Several puzzles about the history of the Nephites and Lamanites are linked to the question of whether they found others already living in their promised land"

Scientific questions related to the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Description of sweat and skin pores in the Book of Mormon
• Descriptions of physical trauma in the Book of Mormon
• The "three days of darkness" in the New World following Christ's death

Book of Mormon textual issues

Jump to Subtopic:

• Descriptions of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon
• Textual structure in the Book of Mormon

Warfare in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Warfare in the Book of Mormon: Defense
• Warfare in the Book of Mormon: Oaths taken by warriors
• Warfare in the Book of Mormon: Seasonality of Warfare
• Warfare in the Book of Mormon: Tactics and strategy
• Warfare in the Book of Mormon: Secret combinations
• Weapons in the Book of Mormon