Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Metals

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Contents

Criticism

Critics attack the Book of Mormon's mention of metal and metalworking in the Americas:

  • they claim no metal use occurred in the Americas prior to A.D. 900.
  • they claim certain metals mentioned in the Book of Mormon were not available in the Americas.

Source(s) of the Criticism

Video

Part(s) of this criticism are addressed in a video segment from a forthcoming FAIR production. Click here to see video clips on other topics.

Response

It is important first of all to realize that the Book of Mormon tends to use metals as sources of wealth and for ornamentation, and relatively rarely for 'prestige' weapons (e.g. sword of Laban) or items (e.g. metal plates for sacred records). It does not appear that Nephite society had as extensive a use of metal as the Middle East of the same time period. Attempting to insist otherwise misrepresents the Book of Mormon.

Presence of metal prior to A.D. 900

The 'conventional wisdom' that metal was not used prior to A.D. 900 cannot now be sustained. Copper sheathing on an altar in the Valley of Mexico dates to the first century B.C. [1] Furthermore, in 1998, a discovery in Peru pushed the earliest date of hammered metal back to as early as 1400 B.C.:

"Much to the surprise of archaeologists, one of the earliest civilizations in the Americas already knew how to hammer metals by 1000 B.C., centuries earlier than had been thought.
"Based on the dating of carbon atoms attached to the foils, they appear to have been created between 1410 and 1090 B.C., roughly the period when Moses led the Jews from Egypt and the era of such pharaohs as Amenhotep III, Tutankhamen and Ramses. 'It shows once again how little we know about the past and how there are surprises under every rock,' comments Jeffrey Quilter, director of Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, a Harvard University research institute in Washington, D.C."[2]

Sorenson also adduces evidence for metals and metalwork through linguistic evidence. Many Mesoamerican languages have words for metals at very early dates; it would be very strange to have a word for something that one did not have or know existed! Some examples:[3]

Language Date of term for metal
  • Proto-Tzeltal-Tzotzil
  • A.D. 500
  • Proto-Mixtecan
  • 1000 B.C.
  • Proto-Mixe-Zoquean
  • 1500 B.C.
  • Huastecan
  • 1500 B.C. (conservatively; it is perhaps even earlier to a limit of about 2200 B.C.)

Metallurgy

As one non-LDS author wrote:

Current information clearly indicates that by 1000 B.C. the most advanced metallurgy was being practiced in the Cauca Valley of Columbia.[4]

Metallurgy is known in Peru from 1900 B.C., and in Ecuador via trade by 1000 B.C. Since Mesoamerica is known to have had trade relations with parts of the continent that produced metals, and because metal artifacts dating prior to A.D. 900 have been found in Mesoamerica, it seems reasonable to assume that at least some Mesoamericans knew something about metallurgy.

Brass

"Brass" is an alloy of copper and zinc. It is a term used frequently in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Some occurrences in the Bible have been determined by Biblical scholars to actually reflect the use of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin), rather than brass.

On the other hand, actual brass has been found in the Old World which dates to Lehi's era, and so the idea of "brass" plates is not the anachronism which was once thought. Either "brass plates" or "bronze plates" would fit.[5]

An interesting point concerning alloys is found in Ether 10:23 in which the Jaredites "did make...brass," (an alloy), but "did dig...to get ore of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper." The Book of Mormon author has a clear understanding of those metals which are found in a raw state, and those which must be made as an alloy.

Copper

This is well-known in a pre-Columbian context.

Gold

This is well-known in a pre-Columbian context.

Iron

Iron is documented among the pre-Columbian peoples. Even if they did not practice smelting (extracting iron from ore), they used exposed iron sources or meteorite iron. Production of iron artifacts from such sources is documented in San Jose Mogote by 1200 B.C.[6] Several tons of Olmec-era iron artifacts are known.[7]

Silver

This is well-known in a pre-Columbian context.

Steel

The steel of the Book of Mormon is probably not modern steel. Steel, as we understand today, was extremyl expensive before the developement of Puddling towards the End of the 17-hundreds, because it had to be produced in a very cumbersome process. Experienced smiths even in ancient times could produce steel by heating and hammering pig-iron or, or earlier still, the never molten iron from a bloomery to loose the surplus of carbon an by doing so to get more or less leastic steel. Early smiths even knew that by quenching hot steel in water, oil or a salt solution the surface could be hardened.

Any Mesoamerican production likely depended upon the first method, which requires lower temperatures and less sophistication. Laban's "steel sword" is not anachronistic; Middle Eastern smiths were making steel by the tenth century B.C.[8]

As John Sorenson noted in 2008:

[One author wrote that] "the ancients possessed in the natural (meteoric) nickel-iron alloy a type of steel that was not manufactured by mankind before 1890." (It has been estimated that 50,000 tons of meteoritic material falls on the earth each day, although only a fraction of that is recoverable.) By 1400 BC, smiths in Armenia had discovered how to carburize iron by prolonged heating in contact with carbon (derived from the charcoal in their forges). This produced martensite, which forms a thin layer of steel on the exterior of the object (commonly a sword) being manufactured. Iron/steel jewelry, weapons, and tools (including tempered steel) were definitely made as early as 1300 BC (and perhaps earlier), as attested by excavations in present-day Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Israel, and Jordan. "Smiths were carburizing [i.e., making steel] intentionally on a fairly large scale by at least 1000 BC in the Eastern Mediterranean area."[9]

Linguistic issues

"Steel" in Joseph Smith's day also referred to simply "making hard," and not necessarily to the specific metal with which we now associate the term. This is consistent with ancient usage and conflations of metals (e.g. copper and iron among the Egyptians) modern readers now consider to be separate entities.[10] Consider the entry from Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary of American English:

STEEL, n. [G.]
1. Iron combined with a small portion of carbon; iron refined and hardened, used in making instruments, and particularly useful as the material of edged tools. It is called in chemistry, carburet of iron; but this is more usually the denomination of plumbago.
2. Figuratively, weapons; particularly, offensive weapons, swords, spears and the like...
4. Extreme hardness; as heads or hearts of steel. off-site

Ziff

"Ziff" is a metal of uncertain identity. "Ziff" as a Hebrew word suggests two meanings, either "shining" or "to be plated." Sorenson suggests that this could be 'tumbaga' (a mixture of gold and copper which was both cheaper and lighter than gold), tin, or mercury.[11]

Conclusion

Metal and metallurgy was more common and of earlier date in Mesoamerica than has been assumed. Critics also sometimes read the text anachronistically, inserting 21st century ideas about metals (such as steel) into Joseph Smith's 19th century context, and the Book of Mormon's pre-Christian context. Not every issue concerning metals can at present be correlated with archeological data, but the case has been strengthened considerably even in the last 50 years. Given the linguistic evidence for metal at an early date, it is premature to suppose that no physical evidence of metal will turn up for those periods still in question.

Rejecting the Book of Mormon on these grounds commits a fallacy in which the absence of evidence is turned into evidence of absence.

Endnotes

  1. [back]  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]), 278. ISBN 1573451576. (subscript. required) GospeLink
  2. [back]  Available on ABCnews.com; original story from Richard L. Burger and Robert B. Gordon, "Early Central Andean Metalworking from Mina Perdida, Peru," Science 282:5391 (6 November 1998) :1108–1111. Cited by jefflindsay.com off-site
  3. [back]  Adapted from data in 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]), 278–280. ISBN 1573451576. (subscript. required) GospeLink Similar arguments in a later source can be found in John L. Sorenson, "Steel in Early Metallurgy," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15/2 (2006): 108–109. off-site PDF link wiki
  4. [back]  Source: Archaeology (Nov/Dec 1985): 81. PDF link
  5. [back]  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]), 283. ISBN 1573451576. (subscript. required) GospeLink
  6. [back]  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]), 285. ISBN 1573451576. (subscript. required) GospeLink
  7. [back] :Richard A. Diehl, The Olmecs: America's First Civilization (Thames & Hudson, 2004), 93–94. FAIR link
  8. [back]  Matthew Roper, "Right on Target: Boomerang Hits and the Book of Mormon" FAIR link
  9. [back] John L. Sorenson, "Steel in Early Metallurgy," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15/2 (2006): 108–109. off-site PDF link wiki (References silently omitted.)
  10. [back]  William J. Hamblin, "Steel in the Book of Mormon," FAIR link
  11. [back] Roy W. Doxey, "I Have A Question: What was the approximate weight of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated?," Ensign (December 1986): 64. off-site

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Book of Mormon "Anachronisms"

FAIR web site

  • FAIR Topical Guide: Metal and metal plates FAIR link
  • Michael R. Ash, "Metals and Metallurgy" FAIR link
  • William J. Hamblin, "Steel in the Book of Mormon" FAIR link
  • Matthew Roper, "Right on Target: Boomerang Hits and the Book of Mormon" FAIR link

External links

  • Roy W. Doxey, "I Have A Question: What was the approximate weight of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated?," Ensign (December 1986): 64. off-site
  • John L. Sorenson, "Steel in Early Metallurgy," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15/2 (2006): 108–109. off-site PDF link wiki
    Steel in an Old World context circa 600 B.C., and in a pre-Columbian context

Printed material

  • 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]), 278–288. ISBN 1573451576. (subscript. required) GospeLink (subscript. required) GospeLink
  • John L. Sorenson, "The 'Golden' Plates," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 275–277. ISBN 0875796001 off-site FAIR link (subscript. required) GospeLink
  • John L. Sorenson, "Indications of Early Metal in Mesoamerica," University Archaeological Society Bulletin 5 (Provo, Utah, 1954): 1–15.
  • John L. Sorenson, "Metals and Metallurgy relating to the Book of Mormon Text" (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992).
  • John L. Sorenson, "Preclassic Metal?" American Antiquity 20 (1954): 64.
  • John L. Sorenson, "A Reconsideration of Early Metal in Mesoamerica," Katunob 9 (March 1976): 1-18.
  • John W. Welch, "Lost Arts," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 101–103. ISBN 0875796001 off-site FAIR link (subscript. required) GospeLink(subscript. required) GL direct link
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