Evidences of Mormon
A compilation and review of the claims made by the Book of Mormon compared against non-apologetic data

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Here is a list of claims made by the Book of Mormon and known, reputable research that also coincides with the claim. They are grouped by claim, organized chronologically according to the earliest available publication date of the related research, and then by reference type. This list is provided by EvidencesOfMormon.org and is authorized for reproduction on the condition that it is in response to someone's inquiry.

1830 - The Book of Mormon is published. A photocopy version of this first edition is available on josephsmithpapers.org.

1840s:

The word cement in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 3):

-Charcoal found at Teotihuacan under concrete slabs under the Temple of the Sun and in nearby mounds radiocarbon date between 50 BC to 110 AD:

-- By peer reviewed journal:
--- Rene Millon and James A. Bennyhoff, A Long Architectural Sequence at Teotihuacan, American Antiquity, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 516-523, April, 1961
-- By a related expert in the field:
---Rebecca Sload, Radiocarbon Dating of Teotihuacán Mapping Project TE28 Material from Cave under Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacán, México (pdf), Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI), 2007

-The term concrete makes its first appearance as a noun in the English language in 1834, four years after the Book of Mormon is published. (Source: Concrete, Online Etymology Dictionary)

-The first publication that indicated cement use in the archeological record appears in 1845 in Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan by John Lloyd Stephens. (Source: John Lloyd Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, pg. 171, 1845)

1870s:

The word silk in the Book of Mormon (Alma 1:29, Alma 4:6, Ether 9:17, Ether 10:24):

-The Hebrew word that ends up as 'silk' in English translations of the Old Testament means 'expensive material for garments' and is not exclusive to silk alone:

-- By a related expert in the field:
--- This is found in both the NAS Concordance of the Bible and the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, both published in the 1900s.

-Pre-Columbian natives had a textile that was 'more silk like than wool' that was a great source of pride in its ownership.

-- By a related expert in the field:
--- Francisco de Xerez, Miguel de Estete, Hernando Pizarro, Pedro Sancho - (Translated by B. Franklin), Reports on the discovery of Peru, 1872

1990s:

Steel in ancient Jerusalem (2 Samuel 22:35, Job 20:24, 1 Nephi 4:9, 1 Nephi 16:18):

-Steel in Jerusalem prior to the invasion of Babylon:

-- By peer reviewed journal:
--- P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., Over the Transom: Three more Arrowheads, Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1999, p.42-43
-- By a related expert in the field:
--- Hideo Akanuma, The Significance of Early Bronze Age Iron Objects from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey (pdf)
-- In the news and other reports:
--- Ironware piece unearthed from Turkey found to be oldest steel

Engravings in metal in ancient Jerusalem:

-Important messages were engraved on metal in Jerusalem prior to the invasion of Babylon (1 Nephi 3:2)

-- By peer reviewed journal:
--- Gabriel Barkay, News from the Field: The Divine Name Found in Jerusalem, Biblical Archaeology Review, Mar/Apr 1983
--- P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., Over the Transom: Three more Arrowheads, Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1999, p.42-43

Horses in the Americas (1 Nephi 18:25, Enos 1:21, Alma 18:9-12, 3 Nephi 3:22):

-Horse remains that radiocarbon date between 1400 AD and 1633 AD in the mid-west:

-- By a related expert in the field:
--- David Eckles, Jeffrey Lockwood, Rabinder Kumar, Dale Wedel, and Danny N. Walker, An Early Historic Period Horse Skeleton From Southwestern Wyoming, The Wyoming Archaeologist, Volume 38, pg. 55-68, Fall 1994

-Horse and donkey remains that show no signs of Spanish ownership 550 miles away from the nearest Spanish mission at the latest possible radiocarbon date variance:

-- In the news and other reports:
--- Centuries-old bones of horses unearthed in Carlsbad

2000s:

The place called Nahom (1 Nephi 16:34):

-An area in the Arabian Peninsula pronounced phonetically as NHM:

-- By scientific journal:
--- Jochen Gorsdorf and Burkhardt Vogt, Radiocarbon datings from the Almaqah Temple of Bar'an, Ma'rib, Republic of Yemen: Approximately 800 CAL BC to 600 CAL AD, University of Arizona, Near East Chronology: Archaeology and Environment. RADIOCARBON, Vol 43, Nr 3, 2001, p 1363–1369 (pdf)
-- By credible author:
--- Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen by the British Museum Press, Chapter 11 - page 166 - cataloged item 207: Three altars were discovered in the Bar'an temple excavation at Ma'rib that identified a location that phonetically sounds out as NHM. It was written in Sabaean, which is a language that has no vowel indicators.
-- The area can be searched on Google maps as 'Naham, Yemen' which will take you the Jibal Naham (Mt. Naham) just west of Ma'rib.

-A burial site in the southern area of the Arabian Peninsula near the previously mentioned NHM where the Frankincense trail turns east(1 Nephi 16:34, 1 Nephi 17:1)

-- In the news and other reports:
--- New discovery in Awam cemetery Marib

2010s:

Middle Eastern DNA in the American Indians (1 Nephi 2:4):

-As of November 2013 National Geographic and The Smithsonian magazine are reporting on a DNA finding published in Nature. The genome is unique to Native Americans and from the Middle East and Western Eurasia with no close affinity to east Asians. It estimates that 14 to 38% of Native American ancestry may originate through this gene flow. The DNA that would be found in the family that leaves the Middle East and ends up in the Western Hemisphere would be indistinguishable from this same genome.

-- By scientific journal:
--- Maanasa Raghavan & Pontus Skoglund, Upper Palaeolithic Siberian genome reveals dual ancestry of Native Americans, Nature, November 20th 2013
-- In the news and other reports:
--- Brian Handwerk, Great Surprise - Native Americans Have West Eurasian Origins, National Geographic, November 20th 2013
--- The Very First Americans May Have Had European Roots, The Smithsonian Magazine, October 25th 2013

Undated:

Geography:

-A valley near the shore of the Red Sea with running water between 2 to 3 days walking distance from the northern-most part of the Red Sea when travelling from Jerusalem (1 Nephi 2:5-8)

-- By satellite imagery:
--- 28.563416 N, 34.808121 E: 75 miles south of the northern-most point of the Red Sea is a valley close to the shore with a river that empties into the sea. According to captions of the photographs provided by Google Maps as of 8/24/2012, there is also a shrine within this canyon. The average walking speed of 2 to 3 mph for 10 hours over 3 days places this canyon in the middle of a 60 to 90 mile range.

The words cow and ox in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 15:25):

-The existence of a member of the bovinae genus which are native to the American continent which are commonly known as a cow and ox, and often classified with the traditional cow in the bos genus:

-- By a related expert in the field:
--- American Bison

-That the above mentioned bison once roamed into Central America, as far south as the Yucatan Peninsula:

-- By peer reviewed journal:
--- Rurik List, Historic Distribution and Challenges to Bison Recovery in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert, Conservation Biology, December 2007
-- In the news and other reports:
--- The caves of Lol-Tun

Bees in the Book of Mormon (Ether 2:3):

-Bees existed in the Near East prior to the common dates scholars attribute to the Tower of Babel:

-- By peer reviewed journal:
--- Michael S. Engel, The Taxonomy of Recent and Fossil Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae; Apis), Journal of Hymenoptera Research, Vol. 8 Issue 2 Pgs. 165-196, 1999

-Bees have been kept for honey in the Near East since the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (3100 - 2700 BC)

-- In the news and other reports:
--- Ancient Egypt: Bee-keeping

-Man made apiaries (beehives) have been found in the Near East that date to 1000 BC:

-- By peer reviewed journal
--- Guy Bloch, Industrial apiculture in the Jordan valley during Biblical times with Anatolian honeybees, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 107 Num. 25 Pgs. 11240-11244, June 22, 2010

Here is a list of things that critics use against the Book of Mormon that aren't actually claimed in the Book of Mormon:

- Bees in the Americas. The Book of Mormon claims bees were north of Babel, which is thought to be present day Iraq. See Ether chapters 1 and 2.

- Magnetic compasses. The Liahona is described in two different sections as 'a compass' in the Book of Mormon, however the Liahona is described as working only according to faith and righteousness (see 1 Nephi 16:28), directing the group south and east. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the Liahona was magnetic other than the word 'a compass'.