Because there is a great deal of overlap between the Book of Mormon people of Nephi's family and the Mayans of Central America and Southern Mexico, I thought I'd include a timeline used by archaeologist for dating Mayan sites:
Preclassic Era: about 1200 BC to about 200 AD
Classic Era: about 200 AD to about 900 AD
Post-classic Era: about 900 AD to the coming of the Europeans
Mayan culture began to wane around 1200 AD and was replaced in power by the Aztecs.
What the Book of Mormon says:
Because of a threat to his life, Nephi and those who followed him left the land of their first inheritance and went northward into the mountains for "many days." Once they were safely out-of-reach of his murderous brothers, they pitched their tents and began to grow crops and build a city. Nephi wrote: And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass . . . and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands. (2 Nephi 5: 15-17)
The people wanted to make Nephi a king, but he refused. He was their leader and wise advisor, but only God was king to Nephi. He did, however, allow them to name their city Nephi.
So we are looking for a city several days journey from the coastline and up in a mountain valley. It needs to be existent around 575 BC when Nephi's people would have been there.
In the highlands of what is now Guatemala, there is the city of Kaminaljuyú. It is an ancient site of the Pre-classic period. It was probably first inhabited around 1000 BC. So if this is the site of the city of Nephi, then it was already inhabited when Nephi and his people arrived. So is there any evidence that things changed in anyway around 575 BC? Actually, there is. Mesoamerican archaeologists have found evidence that there was a boom around that time, both in population and cultural advance. It was then that the first irrigation canals were built, connecting the city to the waters of Lake Miraflores. There was also a boom in construction, with larger and more sturdily-made buildings.
Because it is in a volcanic zone, the soils were rich and would have been ideal for growing crops. They had a large source of obsidian nearby, which was the "steel" of Mesoamerica because it could be flaked into very sharp tools and weapons. it also had large crops of cacao (the bean from which cocoa is derived) and sources of jade. The burials uncovered at Kaminaljuyú were found to contain pottery (many cocoa pots!), masks, jade, obsidian, and quartz.
Large stelae began to appear around 500 BC. Some of these figures were six feet tall. At least one of them represents a bearded God (which would not have been of native peoples' origin since they were without beards.) Stela 10 has one of the longest known Pre-classic texts with about 43 legible glyphs, but thus far, they have not been deciphered.
The problem of surviving writings throughout Mesoamerica is a story of power and conquest. When a group conquered another group, the first thing they did was to destroy the records of the vanquished people. We'll talk more about this later on the Couch.
Kaminaljuyú is one of the best-documented, Pre-classical sites in Mesoamerica and the one which most Book of Mormon archaeologists consider to be the City of Nephi.
Major source for this article from An LDS Guide to Mesoamerica by Daniel Johnson, Jared Cooper, and Derek Gasser.
Text copyright July 2013 Gebara Education
Pictures:
Chart from www.people.wku.edu
Map from www.tageo.com
Jade beads and ornaments at Kaminaljuyú from www.industriadeltourism.com
Stela at Kaminaljuyú from www.mayalandterramaya.blogspot.com
Temple-style building at Kaminaljuyú from www.es-touristlink.com
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