Metalworking and Metallurgy

A number of metals and processes associated with producing them are mentioned in the Book of Mormon. In discussing metals, it is important to distinguish between metalworking, "the act or process of shaping things out of metal," and metallurgy, the "science and technology of metals" which may involve such processes as smelting, casting, and alloying. Many groups in both the Old World and the New developed the art of cold-hammering naturally occurring nuggets of copper, gold, and meteoric iron. This art did not require the smelting of ores. The discovery of the properties of metal and their ores in the Old World was likely a gradual one. People first recognized native metals, especially gold, copper, and meteoric iron, then learned that certain ores contained metals, and finally discovered how to smelt the metals (Raymond 1986, 9-10). The references to metals in the Book of Mormon strongly imply an advanced knowledge of metallurgy including the casting and alloying of metals.

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Tents

Tents are one of the most frequently mentioned utilitarian and military items in the Book of Mormon. The word "tent" occurs twenty times, the word "tents" forty-four times. Tents are mentioned in relation to both Jaredite and Nephite/Lamanite peoples, who would have been familiar with tents from the Near East. Because these groups originated in the Near East, the most straightforward meaning of the word "tent" would appear to be a kind of portable collapsible structure made of some textile (often black goat hair in the Near East) stretched and supported by poles, ropes, and pegs. However, Sorenson makes the point that the word tent ('hi) in Hebrew could have many different meanings including hut, family, or tribe, and in the language of the Babylonians, a word from the same root meant city or village.

In the Book of Mormon, the word "tent" rarely appears in a metaphorical sense (see 3 Ne. 22:2//Isa. 54:2) but generally refers to an actual shelter or shelters. Sorenson suggests it is unlikely that the military carried collapsible portable tents through the tropical forest of the setting he has chosen. Instead he posits temporary shelters of brush or other readily available material as "tents." However, several clues in the Book of Mormon itself suggest the more usual meaning of "tent." For example, Lehi and his party took their tents and departed into the wilderness, and after traveling four days, they pitched their tents again (1 Ne. 16:12-13). At this time they were still in the Near East, but after arriving in the promised land, tents are mentioned as being taken in a number of instances. When the Nephites separated from the Lamanites, Nephi notes that he and his followers "did take" their tents and journeyed in the wilderness for many days, where they pitched their tents (2 Ne. 5:7).

This event occurs near the beginning of the Nephite record, but such references continue. Four hundred years later King Noah sent his army to destroy Alma and the people of the Lord, but having learned of the approach of the army, they "took their tents and their families and departed into the wilderness" (Mosiah 18:34). In another example, Alma had his people pitch their tents in the valley of Gideon after a battle between the Nephites and the Amlicites (Alma 2:20). Alma then sent out spies to discover the plans of the Amlicites. These spies reported that the Amlicites had joined a "numerous host" of Lamanites and were moving toward Zarahemla. In response the Nephites took their tents and departed toward Zarahemla (vv. 21-26). This Nephite army was apparently a large one, and tents were considered valuable enough that they took them along in spite of the fact that the enemy was moving toward a Nephite city. On another occasion Moroni took his army and "marched out with his tents into the wilderness, to cut off the course of Amalickiah in the wilderness" (46:31). It is rather difficult to imagine that this army or any of the groups in the previous examples took brush shelters with them as Sorenson speculates. These examples all suggest portable collapsible structures which could be moved from place to place.

Supporting this view of mobile structures is the fact that references to tents in the Book of Mormon most often involve a group "pitching" its tents. There is a verb in Hebrew which means "to pitch a tent" and it refers to a specific kind of activity which would seem to preclude building or assembling a brush shelter.

The rare use of the word "tent" in a metaphorical sense confirms a common meaning of the term. The resurrected Jesus quoting (KJV) Isaiah 54:2 exhorts, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes" (3 Ne. 22:2). Presumably Christ would be calling up a familiar image for his audience—that of the portable and collapsible tent with its supporting cords and stakes.

The first challenge associated with fitting the description of Nephite tents into a Mesoamerican context concerns the question of what material could have been used for making such tents. Typically a nomad's tent is made of animal hair or skins, which can be replenished while traveling. A trader's tent on the other hand is usually made of a material such as cotton which can be repaired during travel. A sustained military force would plan in advance for special needs. The Book of Mormon mentions tents often enough in the context of military activity to suggest a ready source of supply. In fact both military and civilians traveled with tents, suggesting that a tradition of tentmaking was integral to economic life.

Archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic records from Mesoamerica provide no evidence of a tent-making or tent-using tradition and, even more problematic, suggest no available material for making tents. The Book of Mormon frequently refers to sheep, goats, and other domestic animals, which could have supported a tent tradition, but there is no evidence that such animals were present in southern Mesoamerica before Spanish contact. Wild animals in the area which could have supplied either hair or skins for tent making are so small that they are unlikely candidates. Another possibility for tent material is cotton, but there is no evidence that it was ever used for that purpose. It seems unlikely that such a practical tradition as tentmaking would die out in Mesoamerica. One would expect to find evidence of such a tradition in iconography or other art forms such as painted scenes on pottery or clay models, and in literary references.

Locating evidence of any kind of portable and collapsible structures for the necessary time period in the area embraced by the Limited Tehuantepec models, or even in Mesoamerica, remains a fundamental problem. The peoples of Mesoamerica dwelt in many kinds of houses at the time of the Spanish conquest and earlier. Beginning at least in the Late Preclassic period, the elite in some areas dwelt in elaborate buildings that are classified as palaces. Commoners throughout the area usually inhabited houses made of perishable materials. Some simple perishable structures were constructed for shortterm use. These included field houses to take care of growing crops and structures built to utilize seasonal resources. However, none of these were portable structures.

According to accounts written after the conquest, several sorts of portable structures were in use in Aztec (Mexica) military camps near the time of the Spanish conquest. In Cronica Mexicana, a late sixteenth- century account written by Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, a descendant of the rulers of Azcapotzalco, tiendas (often translated as "tents") are mentioned several times as being used in war camps set up by the Aztecs (Alvarado Tezozomoc 1975). At least some of these small structures apparently were assembled from woven grass mats. One particularly large structure called yaotanalalco was the royal warehouse or depository, where arms and foodstuffs were kept. The presence of these structures at the time of Spanish contact is intriguing. However, they were found in central Mexico rather than in the area of the Limited Tehuantepec model. In addition they were known at the time of the conquest, about one thousand years after the end of the Nephite civilization. Again time and place do not coincide.

It is interesting to note that at the time of the Spanish conquest in the Andean region Inca tents were noted by the Spaniards in the large Inca military camp at Cajamarca.

Based on what the Book of Mormon itself says about tents, the suggestion that the tents it discusses could have been portable woven grass shelters or other temporary shelters assembled from immediately available materials is not convincing. Unless we are willing to believe that an ancient tent-making tradition existed in southern Mesoamerica at the time of the Book of Mormon events of which no trace has been found, it is difficult to place the scene of the Book of Mormon there.

Plants

Many economically important plants are mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and some have proved difficult to locate in a Mesoamerican setting. Plants are mentioned early in the Jaredite account, for the Jaredites took with them "seeds of every kind" (Ether 2:3). Clues about the practice of agriculture among the Jaredites are revealed in several passages. Soon after landing, they "began to till the earth" (6:13), and later they "did make all manner of tools to till the earth, both to plow and to sow, to reap and to hoe, and also to thrash" (10:25). The processing of grains, suggested here, is confirmed elsewhere. The Jaredites are said to have had "all manner of fruit, and of grain" (9:17), and grain is noted as one means of gaining wealth (10:12). Later specific plants, including com, barley, neas, sheum, and the olive tree, are mentioned, as are products which imply the existence of specific plants, including "fine linen," vineyards, and wine presses (1 Ne. 13:7-8; Jacob 5; Mosiah 11:15)

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The view held by most Mesoamerican scholars about the existence of pre-Columbian animals suitable for riding or as beasts of burden is summed up in a recently published volume about the ancient Maya. In discussing the kind of technology available to the Maya, Scheie and Freidel note, "All they accomplished was done by means of stone tools, utilizing human beings as their beasts of burden: No animals large enough to carry cargo lived in Mesoamerica before the coming of the Spanish"