Archaeology is a science that attempts to reconstruct history, where no written or oral history exists.   It involves systematic recovery and examination of material evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery, remaining from past human life and culture.   It is a painstaking process of digging in the earth for buried artifacts in hopes of finding evidence of a previous civilization, and of finding articles or relics that might give some clues about the people who left them.  Using the scientific method, archaeologists postulate a theory for the origin of their findings, and test this theory, based on all a priori accepted findings to see if the theory fits the hypothesis for the culture being studied.  When new evidence is unearthed, the theory may need to be modified to fit with the new findings.  It is not an exact science, however, since a great deal of  interpretation and opinion is required in order to come to conclusions about the meaning of the artifacts and their relationship to the area, time period, and application of the civilization which created them.

Anthropology is the scientific study of the origin, and the physical, social, and cultural development and behavior of humans.  Since all recorded human history has included some form of religious beliefs of the cultures being documented, anthropology and archaeology must consider the religious beliefs of the cultures being investigated, and indeed, such scientific study would be incomplete without considering the religious beliefs of these cultures.

But could a religious history, if it existed, be of benefit to the scientific method of investigation?  Most certainly, since archaeological investigation is often an ineffective substitute where no written or oral history exists.  If such a history exists, however, archaeological investigation may serve to corroborate the religious history, lending credence, where some skeptics may doubt the authenticity of the religious history.

Such is the case with the Book of Mormon.   The Book of Mormon, published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, purports to be a religious history of the ancient inhabitants of Central America .  This history begins in Jerusalem , 600 BC, with a Prophet named Lehi, who receives a revelation in a vision, commanding him to preach repentance to the people, telling them of their wickedness, and that if they do not repent, they will be destroyed.  This occurs three years before the Babylonian captivity of the Israelite nation in 597 BC.  Needless to say, Lehi’s preaching was not well received by the people of Jerusalem , and his life was threatened.  The Book of Mormon tells that the Lord then commanded Lehi to take his family and flee Jerusalem , and that he would be lead them to a new promised land.  Lehi’s takes his family on a journey into the wilderness, along the banks of the red sea to an oasis in the desert where his son Nephi is instructed by the Lord in how to build a ship.  The story chronicles the journey of Lehi’s family across the oceans, and describes a new land that closely resembles Central America in its geographical descriptions in the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon describes three different migrations to Central America that correspond remarkably with three civilizations in Central America documented by Archaeologists:  The Olmecs , or Tolteca’s who lived from 2500 BC to 600 BC, the Mayas, who lived from 600 BC to 1519 AD, and the Zapotecs, who lived from 500 BC to 200 BC.  The Book of Mormon, published by Joseph Smith in 1830, long before archaeological discoveries in Central America were available for publication, tells of great highways and aqueducts, fortified cities, cities buried under lakes and oceans by earthquakes and volcanoes, and of the building of ancient temples.  The Book of Mormon covers the Mayan history from 600 BC to 400 AD, and tells of the final destruction of the Nehites and Lamanites, (descendants of Lehi) in 400 AD.

Archaeologists are puzzled about the origin of the ancient Mayas, Olmecs or Tultecas, and the Zapotecs.

Archaeologists spend lifetimes digging in the dirt to find artifacts they hope will help them piece together a possible history of an ancient civilization.  They are thrilled at the discovery of ancient writings or paintings which add greater insights than artifacts.  If a history of the inhabitants of ancient America exists, it would be of enormous worth to archaeologists and anthropologists in recovering ancient history and restoring knowledge of these civilizations.

The stumbling block, which prevents men and women of science from examining the contents of the Book of Mormon for clues to these ancient civilizations, is the method in which the Book of Mormon came into existence.  Joseph Smith, a young farm boy living in up-state New York in 1820, was confused by the many religious revivals occurring in Palmyra , New York .  He appealed to the Bible for answers to these conflicting teachings, and after reading a passage in James 1:5, which reads, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God…”.  In response to this advise, Joseph, then a 14 year old boy, went to a grove of trees near his father’s farm, and prayed to find out which of these conflicting religious groups was correct.  In a vision, where Joseph said he saw God, the Father and His Son Jesus Christ standing above him in the air, Joseph said he was commanded to join none of these sects, and that God had a work for him to do at some future time.  Several years later, Joseph tells that he was visited by an Angel, who told him of an ancient record, written on thin sheets of gold, that contains the history of the ancient inhabitants of  this (the American) continent, and includes the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to these people after his resurrection in Jerusalem.  This angel, whose name was Moroni , and who was the last of the Ancient American Prophets to write in this record, showed young Joseph the place where he had buried these gold plates in a hillside in Palmyra , New York centuries earlier.  The plates were buried in a stone box covered with a stone lid.  After meeting with the Angel Moroni for five years, Joseph was allowed to remove the plates from the stone box at the age of 21, and the ancient reformed Egyptian characters on the plates were translated by Joseph Smith by the gift and power of God.  At the conclusion of the translation, the gold plates were returned to the Angel Moroni, who showed them to three other witness, who saw both the plates and the angel.  The Angel Moroni also allowed Joseph to show the plates to eight different witnesses.  The testimonies of the eleven witnesses are published in the introduction to the Book of Mormon.

Non-believers often stop their study of the Book of Mormon after hearing of this miraculous story.  However, the old adage, “You can not judge a book by its cover,” could not be more profound when applied to the Book of Mormon, whose cover includes the title, and the phrase, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”  Between the covers of the Book of Mormon, in addition to the religious history of the ancient inhabitants of Central America , is a wealth of geographical, social, cultural, and physical information that describes the origin of these three civilizations, the Omecs, the Mayas, and the Zapotecs.  It describes great civilizations, temples, highways, and wars among the people.  It identifies the source of the Hebrew and Egyptian cultures found in Central America .  It explains the origin of the Great White God, Quetzelcoatl, and explains why Cortez so easily conquered Montezuma, who believed that he was this Great White God who had visited his ancestors and promised someday to return.

Evidences of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon as a history of the ancient inhabitants of Central America include 1) Dates and Languages 2) Archaeological, 3) Documentary or traditional histories, and 4) Geographical, as detailed in the book, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, by Dr. Joseph L. Allen, Ph.D. 

Although there is no proof that the Book of Mormon is an authentic history of these people, the collection of evidence is overwhelming.  While many critics cite a lack of archaeological evidence for certain passages of the Book of Mormon, the lack of evidence is often overcome by additional exploration which eventually reveals the evidence long hidden by time and earth.   For a wealth of evidence of the Book of Mormon go to http://www.jefflindsay.com/BMEvidences.shtml