authorities would qualify ... the volumes on the Book of Mormon
Commentary come to mind, I know the great Book of Mormon scholar Elder
George Reynolds so stated it in his complete concordance of the Book of
Mormon. Of recent authors Venice Priddis author of 'The Book and the
Map' has a quite unique slant on limiting all of the Book of Mormon
lands to South America and I have found many of her ideas do support . .
. But I am afraid that most of the authors I am familiar with are of the
more recent opinions that limit the lands to Central American and though
I read their books, which contain many good ideas, I obviously do not
agree with such limits.
>
> What are the key ancient cultures in the place (Colombia) and time period
> (600 B.C. - 200 AD) you are describing?
The Chavin culture of Peru would correlate with that of Nephi's group. The author of Chariots of the Gods has quite an interesting point of view on the matter. He believes the Book of Mormon but not the LDS. He thinks the temple of Chavin matches that of Nephi and is similar to the temple of Solomon and he takes time in one of his books to thoroughly describe it. He further believes that the man of bronze that Ezekiel was taken to see was Nephi and his land. Interesting correlation. Science seems to try to place the beginning of the Chavin society back to 1300 or 2000 BC but the more honest admit that it is a society that just seems to appear about 600 BC. They project it back because they do not accept that it just springs up out of no where.
The Moche and Chimu societies would correlate with the later Land of
Nephi societies and one pottery sample has dark skinned people
dominating light skinned people giving them a bloody nose and having
them on a leash. This reminds me of Limhi's people and their treatment
by the Lamanites in the Land of Nephi.
The societies of Colombia are over shadowed by their later occupants, the
Lamanites, who would likely have actively destroyed everything Nephite,
yet their populous centers match the centers of the middle ages of the
Book of Mormon well. The Magdalena valley which is the wide valley
supports the central societies like the Land of Zarahemla did. The
societies of the Cauca Valley are there but more remote and approximate
Melek and Ammonnihah and Noah. The Orinoco plains match the plains of
Nephihah. There are societies located on the west near the sea as
described in the Book of Mormon in the south. There are societies at
the head waters of the Magdalena that match Manti and what Manti would
be about. There are societies of the narrow neck matching Bountiful.
The twin mountain ranges of the central and western cordilleras seem to
match the descriptions of the lands of 'Her - mounts.' How the narrow
passage works today in the Land of Darien seems to be how the Book of
Mormon describes it as working. Some believe there are two City of
Aaron. I believe there was just one and Alma was leaving the Cauca
river valley and the population centers of the west, giving up on them
and headed the 'low land route' to the population center on the east
rather than just going to the next western city. The Valley of Gideon I
associate with the Bogata area though Bogata is today a raised area, it
may not have been during Gideon's day and when Alma visits it as there
was great changes in the land. Moroni was swallowed up, but as the land
continued to raise, the Sea East - The Amazon basin - was filled up and
raised to connect the Islands of the Phoenician to the Islands of Jacob,
Nephi and Lehi forming the South America of today. Even Darwin is a
contributor to this evidence. Etc. - too long of an answer - sorry
> Do you know of Internet access to secular work on ancient South American
> cultures?
I've visited a number and continue to do so - the most recent gives a
map of ancient Colombian societies which seems to be polluted with later
groups rather than giving many details about the few hundred years of
the Nephite occupation of the lands. I found it by searching for 'maps
of colombia' - see map above)
>
> Do you have information regarding key dates and locations of the known
>South American cultures?
See question above for an initial answer to this - more of an answer
would take too much space at this juncture.
>
> You mentioned that you didn't believe Lehi landed in Chile. I've heard
> something about this and have been curious to get to the bottom of it.
> Tell me what you know about it. Why accept it and why not accept it?
I believe the idea was supported by one of the Pratts - Orsen? He
attributed it to the Prophet and many have quoted it. I believe Joseph
Fielding Smith's book and have recently found added support from 'Big
Warrior' "http://www.xmission.com/~hunter/darien.htm" See the latest.
The Chilean site, though more traditionally plausible due to normal
currents and trade winds is answerable with El Nino. It is also an arid
type land and not the bountiful forested area discribed in the Book of
Mormon. Further there is a 1000 mile desert north of that site to
transverse with animal herds? That makes it improbable to arrive at the
Lands of Nephi which I believe to be in Peru.
Sorry, I've not taken time to review, edit, reread and I've answered in
a hurry so some things are likely poorly stated, spelled etc. - Don
>
> Thanks,
>
>_____________
These answers to this email are short and sometimes fragmented. They where not prepared to be posted as an article but just as some short quick answers to e-mail questions.