Ancient American History Conference
March 31 -April 1
I’m enjoying the presentations being given at the 2nd Annual Ancient American History Conference, Seeking the Origins of Native Americans.
You can read my notes on the conference presentations here.
I have long been aware of the two main schools of thought regarding Book of Mormon geography: The predominant Mesoamerican school and the New York Cumorah school. Adherents to the latter camp often refer to themselves and “one hillers,” meaning that they believe in only one Hill Cumorah. When the Nephites are destroyed by the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon, circa 421 A.D. they fought their last battle where hundreds of thousands of Nephites were killed, around a hill called Cumorah. One Hillers believe this battle took place in upstate New York, around the same hill where Moroni buried the gold plates. Proponents of a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon generally believe that the Hill Cumorah was in southern Mexico and that Moroni transported the Book of Mormon record from there to upstate New York where he left it buried in the hill.
I’m currently enjoying the book Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, Second Ed., by Joseph and Blake Lovell. This 900 page book is written by Mesoamerican tour guides from the United States, who take LDS tourists on tours of Southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, visiting proposed Book of Mormon sites. Their evidence and theories are very convincing.
Until today I’ve been solidly a member of the Mesoamerican camp. I’m not wavering too much but today has really caused me to think long and hard about the arguments made by the One Hill camp. Regardless, it is all fascinating and I love it.
