Bruce E. Dale on October 15, 2021 at 3:45 pm
Hi Kyler,
In your list of anachronisms, you have “Plausible Geography” #85 as one of the Book of Mormon anachronisms that has not as yet been confirmed. I wonder if you aware of the recent (last year or so) work at Book of Mormon Central to identify a plausible Book of Mormon geography based completely on internal Book of Mormon directions, elevations, etc.
That effort has culminated in an interactive map found at
https://geografia.centralldm.es/
The map can be navigated using Google Earth Pro. The materials are currently in Spanish (apparently to avoid conflict with the Heartland Model adherents, at least for now) but they can be easily translated into English by Google Chrome in case your Spanish is rusty. (More than 50 years after my mission in Mexico, my Spanish is very rusty indeed.)
I spent most of today checking the 246 separate geographical references in the Model Map. It looks to me like they all check out…100% fit makes for a pretty plausible geography in my opinion.
I was particularly impressed by three things:
1) How naturally the sea east, the sea west, the sea north and the sea south (all specifically mentioned in the Book of Mormon) fit into the combined geography of southern Mexico, Belize and northern Guatemala. I am not aware of any other New World location where these geographical correspondences come together in a limited geographical area.
2) The likely location of the Hill Cumorah as Cerro San Martin Pajapan, a 1,180 meter high volcanic mountain complex about 10 km inland from the Bay of Campeche in southern Veracruz, Mexico (i.e., near “many waters” Mormon 6:4). I can imagine many hundreds of thousands of people fighting to the death in this large, well-watered area whereas that many people would not even fit on or around that insignificant drumlin in upstate New York.
3) How well the Usamacinta River matches with the northward-flowing River Sidon, including a few flat areas on its banks where armies could fight.
I think with this work by Book of Mormon Central, we are well on the way to having a very plausible geography for the Book of Mormon. Check off one more anachronism for the Book of Mormon.
You may wish to take a look at that interactive map. I am a map addict, and navigating the map with the Book of Mormon in hand is fun.
Best wishes,
Bruce