Although pre-Columbian scripts have been found throughout the Americas, the largest concentration of writing was found in Mesoamerica. There Indians inscribed their history in various ways in their art work, but more particularly accordion-like manuscripts called codices. Was the practice of record-keeping instilled in them by their ancestors from the Old World? The Hebrews were renowned from the careful way they kept their records. So were these early Mesoamericans. Semitic peoples also used various materials on which to inscribe their words. They even used metal plates as was done by the Book of Mormon record keepers.

. . .

Conclusions

In the Old Word, there was a long tradition of concealing metallic documents in stone boxes.

The plates of Darius, in particular, were prepared at about the same time that Nephi inscribed the history of his people on metal plates.

Tumbaga, an alloy of gold and copper, was used in Mesoamerica and may have been used to make the plates on which the Book of Mormon was inscribed.

Indians, at the time of the of the Conquest, were aware that their ancestors kept golden books.

Stone boxes have recently been found in both the Old and New World boxes completely unknown in Joseph Smith’s time and not discovered until many years after his untimely death.