Jersey Girl,
That question is addressed in the thread I linked earlier about the Olmec. I call this particular strain of apologia the "what would a nephite pot look like?".
I only address arguments made under the LGT umbrella, in the specified area of Mesoamerica. So, given the basics of this argument, a Nephite would be anyone who professed allegiance to and had alliances with the polity that was directed by Nephi and his later direct descendants.
It defies human history to suggest that an immigrant group moved into a new location and became powerful, elite leaders of the most powerful polity in the area (Brant contests that the Nephites were leaders of the most powerful polity in the area, but given what we know about the sizes and social complexity of Mesoamerican polities in that time period, the polity described in the Book of Mormon definitely would have been incredibly powerful, the major force in the region) and yet no trace of their foreign culture exists. The Book of Mormon specifically states that Nephi taught his followers, and being a product of the Old World, he would have taught them Old World skills. There is no evidence of an Old World skill being transplanted to ancient Mesoamerica during the specified time frame.
Anyway, here are some posts I made from the Olmec thread.
I know that this is the new mantra: what would a nephite pot look like? It would actually look like a Judean 600 BC pot. Other archaeologists actually seem to think that you can locate artifacts that signal to us that newcomers moved into an area (and no, they don't have to take over the entire area to be noticeable). I previously cited what seems to be a very pertinent comment from William Dever in "Who Were the Early Israelites and Where did They Come From" page 121:
I would argue that such direct, long-term continuities between earlier Canannite pottery and later Iron I Israelite pottery, readily documented now, cannot be the result of coincidence. Nor can they be explained by continuing to regard the early Israelites as foreigners, newcomers to Canaan from Transjordan and ultimately from Egypt. To defend the latter view, one would have to argue that (1) these intruders brought with them no pottery traditions whatsoever, and (2) that upon arriving they immediately adopted the local pottery repertoire and replicated it exactly. That would be astounding, and also unprecedented in my experience.
I better put a fine point on it. The apologists who assert that one could not recognize a nephite pot are asserting just what Dever says is unprecedented - that a group of people migrated to a new area and immediately adopted the local pottery repertoire and replicated it exactly, bringing no pottery traditions with them whatsoever.
(after this post, the apologists' response was to focus on pots alone)
I responded:
Second, you assert that since the Lehites were rich they wouldn't make pottery. I responded by reminding you that the Dever book addressed far more than pottery, and your assertion that they wouldn't use any of their old ways is directly contradicted by the Book of Mormon itself. 2 Nephi 5:
13 And it came to pass that we began to prosper exceedingly, and to multiply in the land.
14 And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us; for I knew their hatred towards me and my children and those who were called my people.
15 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.
16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.
17 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands.
And so the thread continued into near insanity.
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index. ... 1404&st=80
So to answer your question, Jersey Girl, I am not interested in the DNA make-up of whoever a Nephite was, but I am interested in the fact that Nephi taught them skills that were very useful to them and created the most powerful polity in the area. To suggest that it is reasonable to believe that not ONE TRACE of those Old World skills should exist is illogical. Moreover, as I mentioned on the linked thread, in another essay, Brant also suggests that Nephi taught the natives some valuable new skill and that's why they wanted him as their leader, such as working with metals. But he seems to distance himself from that argument on the linked thread. Could it be because he knows there is zero evidence of Old World skills in mesoamerica?