Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Animals/Silkworms

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Book of Mormon anachronisms: Silkworms


Supporting Data

Silk

(i.e. mulberry leaves and silkworms)

The production of Old World "silk" requires both silkworms and the mulberry trees upon whose leaves they feed, which critics have charged is impossible.

However, there are several examples of silk or silk-like fabric in pre-Columbian America:

  • wild silkworms do exist, and some commentators insisted that the Amerindians spun and wove it from their cocoons
  • hair from rabbit bellies was also spun into a cloth dubbed "silk" by the Spanish conquerors
  • floss from the ceiba (silk-cotton) tree was made into a "soft delicate cloth," kapok.
  • fibers from the wild pineapple were also prized for their ability to be woven into a fine, durable fabric
  • cotton cloth in Mexico from A.D. 400 is "even, very fine, and gossamer-thin."[1][2]

Endnotes

  1. [note]  John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1996 [1985]), 232. ISBN 1573451576. GospeLink (requires subscrip.)GL direct link
  2. [note]  Sorenson, Ensign (April 1992): 62.

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