Filter: Scientific or Geographical Anachronisms
Total chapters: 62
1 Nephi 16
Anachronisms
Nephi's (probably not) steel bow breaks, they find the Liahona. ”And it was prepared ... to point the way we should go into the wilderness,” like a compass, a device not invented in China until after Lehi left Jerusalem, if not much later, centuries after Moroni buried the plates.
1 Nephi 17
Anachronisms
It really would take a miracle of Biblical proportions for a team of amateurs to build a transoceanic vessel in the wilderness, and pilot it safely across two oceans (Indian and Pacific) in 600 BCE. See History of navigation as well as History of shipbuilding. John Larsen discussed this at length in the most entertaining and amazing episode 276 of Mormon Expression Podcast, How to Build a Transoceanic Vessel. To take this idea seriously, you have to dig in like Larsen and his co-hosts do—ideas such as: making a blast furnace (in the wilderness), procurring ore, smelting metal, building tools, finding and felling and working massive trees (including seasoning the lumber: Mark Twain, Roughing It, ch. 16: “They did not wait for the timbers to dry”), probably varnishing or pitching the outside of the ship to waterproof it, etc., etc. Then once they got this miraculous ship on the water, you have to believe that somehow when the very first frightening storm hit, with their captain Nephi tied to the mast, this didn't immediately obliterate and sink their ship and end their journey. It reads like a fairy tale—a harrowing ordeal a carefully functioning, professional, experienced, modern crew could have barely survived—much less a vessel filled with amateurs, women and children, and old men, actively committing mutiny. This reads exactly like a fantastic yarn spun by a mid-twenties landlubbing farmer, not something that actually happened or ever could plausibly happen. It does not read like it was recounted by a group of people that actually experienced it.
1 Nephi 18
Anachronisms
Nephi claims that in the promsied land (the New World) “there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men.” So the wild animals were easily tamed and used as livestock. This would have been news to the Spanish conquistadors, who found no such animals in the Americas. Nephi also mentions that the Liahona was a sort of compass, which was an unknown concept to those in the New World. So the word itself had no meaning, even if we grant that the Liahona was a magical object that is not required to work with the principles of geomagnetism, it still doesn't explain why calling it a compass would be helpful, except as a wink to a modern audience, to break the fourth wall.
2 Nephi 5
Anachronisms
The Liahona is mentioned and refered to as a compass, a concept foreign to the ancient New World.
2 Nephi 23
Anachronisms
The word satyr from the KJV refers to a type of wild goat or demon (other English translations of this verse). However the term satyr from Greek mythology had not made its way to Judea by the time Lehi is said to have left Jerusalem, since the art and poetry of classical Athens (4th and 3rd centuries BCE) and red figure pottery of the 6th century BCE (around 520 BCE) would have been unknown to him. No mechanism could have brought the Greek concept to the New World. In other words, we know that JS Jr. had to have used the English text directly here, and not whatever might have been written on the plates. (It doesn't matter if he had a tome in hand or if he had simply memorized long passages of Isaiah, we can tell from the text itself that Nephi and Mormon or any subsequent figures could not have used the word translated as satyr. Or they used a different word, but JS Jr. clobbered it with the KJV English translation.) Additionally, the next verse mentions dragons which apparently have no equivalent in the cultures of the Americas, tipping us off that this was straight from the English of the KJV.
Jarom 1
Anachronisms
The people continue to practice metallurgy, in the context of making weapons, including brass, steel, gold, silver, and precious ores. Copper and gold (in different distant regions, at different times) may be attested in ancient American archaeology, but probably not brass and steel and certainly no metal weapons, arrow tips, etc.
Mosiah 8
Anachronisms
Mentions the rusted blades of the Jaredite's swords, which implies the use of metal weapons in ancient America. However, the presence of such weapons is anachronistic, as there is no evidence of this kind of metalworking for weaponry or record-keeping among the indigenous peoples of the Americas before European contact. It also implies that the remains of a New World civilization (including evidence of weapons) should be discoverable by future people who live in the New World, which seems to only work in a story but not in actually archaeology.
Mosiah 9
Anachronisms
Mentions flocks in several verses, which implies sheep. But maybe they were flocks of alpacas or llamas, and not the animals mentioned in 1 Nephi 18:25. Also mentions corn, wheat, and barley, as well as neas, and sheum, fantasy grains. Mentions cimeters, see note in Enos 1.
Mosiah 10
Anachronisms
Mentions cimeters, see note in Enos 1.
Mosiah 20
Anachronisms
Dragons are mentioned, which are not a New World concept, something Mormon would not have written about. Also, dragons do not exist, although the word is used throughout the Old Testament and the Book of Revelations in the New Testament.
Mosiah 22
Anachronisms
A plan to trick the Lamanites involves wine, which is something never made by the pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas. Alcoholic beverages were made by such people, who used maize, potatoes, quinoa, pepper tree fruits and strawberries to make alcoholic beverages. Despite the existence of species of the genus Vitis (to which Vitis vinifera belongs) in Venezuela, Colombia, Central America and Mexico, indigenous peoples did not ferment these species and therefore did not make wine. Queue the apologists saying that wine does not mean wine. See also Alma 55.
Mosiah 25
Anachronisms
Alma establishes Churches and baptizes, which wasn't really something that happened until the Common Era, around the time of Paul (two hundred years later). “There was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance and faith in God”—and baptism, and the coming of Jesus Christ.
Alma 4
Anachronisms
Mentions fine silk, not something the Nephites would have had access to.
Alma 11
Anachronisms
Mentions a complicated base-two-based system of precious metal currency, based on half a measure of barley. The ancient Mesoamerican cultures had their own systems of trade not based on metal currency, with one system even based on cacoa beans, and they did not trade barley because they had none.
Alma 14
Anachronisms
“... even as a goat fleeth with her young from two young lions.” Mountain lions do not hunt together. It seems unlikely that an ancient American author would use such an Old World turn of phrase.
Alma 15
Anachronisms
Mentions horses and chariots. Chariots and the wheel for transportation were unknown in the ancient Americas.
Alma 18
Anachronisms
Ammon feeds some domesticated horses, which was news to the Spanish conquistadors. Domesticated and domesticatable horses were extinct in the New World when the Spanish arrived. What was being prepared, if not a chariot for a horse?
Alma 19
Anachronisms
Did the peoples of the ancient Americas even have sepulchres? (They certainly had burials, burial mounds, and end rites.)
Alma 20
Anachronisms
Make ready exactly which horses and chariots? The point has been made that these were not a New World concern.
Alma 21
Anachronisms
Mentions synagogues, likely an anachronism. Nothing of the sort has been discovered in the Americas, although 800-year-old structures (and older) survive (see Chaco Culture National Historical Park, pyramids at Chichen Itza, and so forth). Kivas, which are ceremonial structures used by some Native American cultures, may be a closer parallel. But nothing of the sort is mentioned.
Alma 26
Anachronisms
Mentions temples and synagogues, as well as stoning as a form of punishment, all Jewish customs with no connection to how various cultures in the New World actually functioned or what they believed.
Alma 31
Anachronisms
Synagogues, again are ahistorical, especially in the Americas. The earliest evidence for the building and use of synagogues dates to before 70 CE, or nearly 700 years after Lehi left Jerusalem, and the first synagogues emerged after the Babylonian Exile of 586 CE, after Lehi left Jerusalem to avoid that unpleasant scene. Here it says that in Egypt, “stone synagogue dedication inscription stones found in middle and lower Egypt, and dating from the 3rd century BCE, are the oldest synagogue fragments found anywhere in the World.”
Alma 32
Anachronisms
Alma says that the rich Zoramites (with “their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented”) esteemed their poor brethren as dross, refering to metal refiner's rejection of dross, or impure metal. But the rich Zoramites could not have had all this gold jewelry, unless they were Aztecs (1300 CE to 1521 CE). The pre-Christian New World audience could not have been familiar with metallurgy, although the Old Testament mentions dross in Isa. 1, Ezek. 22:18—19, Proverbs 25 & 26, and Psalm 119.
Alma 33
Anachronisms
Zenos refers to some supposed pre-Lehi ancient Jewish prophet who says “Thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son,” refering to Jesus Christ. Despite the names of Zenos and Zenock being in print for nearly 200 years, we still haven't found any evidence of these fantasy prophets' existence, much less their inclusion of Jesus' ideas, outside of the Book of Mormon, in a pre-600 BCE context. Maybe some day.
Alma 34
Anachronisms
Amulek explains a spiritual concept by comparing God's rejection to a metal refiner's rejection of dross, or impure metal. The New World audience could not have been familiar with metallurgy, although the Old Testament mentions dross in Isa. 1, Ezek. 22:18—19, Proverbs 25 & 26, and Psalm 119.
Alma 37
Anachronisms
Mentions the Liahona as a compass to explain a spiritual principle, which makes no sense if the ancient American people did not have the concept. It does make sense if the audience is 19th century people.
Alma 38
Anachronisms
The use by Alma of the verb “bridle” makes no sense because they had no horses in the New World, so the idea of putting a bridle on something (spirit controlling the unruly body as a rider controls a horse, as James intimates) makes no sense—when there are no horses, there are no human riders, to make this analogy.
Alma 39
Anachronisms
Mentions the Medieval Spanish name Isabel, which dates to nearly a millenium after Moroni buried the plates. This is a either a silver-bullet bullseye-level anachronism (or a mistranslation, showing that such a thing was possible).
Alma 43
Anachronisms
The practice of metallurgy in order to forge armor (breastplates, arm-shields) is not a pre-Columbian New World concern. Or was this leather armor? The New World peoples did not have domesticated bovines either, but they did know how to work the hides of animals, such as bison, deer, elk, and other animals.
Alma 47
Anachronisms
Mentions Onidah, which is really spelled Oneida, as in Oneida County, after the Oneidah (Iriquois-speaking) Native people of central New York.
Alma 49
Anachronisms
Mentions shields and breastplates, and head-plates, presumably made from metal. Metallurgy for armor was not a New World concern before the Christian era.
Alma 55
Anachronisms
The plan to trick the Lamanites involves wine, which is something never made by the pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas. Alcoholic beverages were made by such people, who used maize, potatoes, quinoa, pepper tree fruits and strawberries to make alcoholic beverages. Despite the existence of species of the genus Vitis (to which Vitis vinifera belongs) in Venezuela, Colombia, Central America and Mexico, indigenous peoples did not ferment these species and therefore did not make wine. Queue the apologists saying that wine does not mean wine. See also Mosiah 22.
Helaman 1
Anachronisms
Mentions cimeters, see note in Enos 1.
Helaman 3
Anachronisms
Mentions houses of cement, which does not sound like anything from the Americas. Native Americans and their ancestors certainly had tents, and many built buildings with adobe, or sticks, or even amazing stonework blocks or bricks. However, cement in any form seems foreign to how the New World peoples constructed buildings. Also mentions synagogues, something never discovered in pre-Columbian America.
Helaman 5
Anachronisms
Mentions democracy (“the voice of the people” or vox populi, which originates in ancient Rome), which is anachronistic, especially in the Americas.
Helaman 6
Anachronisms
”They became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites; and they did have an exceeding plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north. ... There was all manner of gold in both these lands, and of silver, and of precious ore of every kind; and there were also curious workmen, who did work all kinds of ore and did refine it; and thus they did become rich.” We are left to wonder what ores besides iron and copper were worked by these workmen, where steel and brass are mentioned explicitly elsewhere. However copper and gold (in different distant regions, at different times than Lehite history) may be attested in ancient American archaeology, but never brass and steel, or even iron.
3 Nephi 3
Anachronisms
Mentions horses and chariots, cattle, flocks, herds. Chariots and the wheel for transportation were unknown in the ancient Americas.
3 Nephi 4
Anachronisms
“The Nephites ... having reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years.” Horses were not available in the New World before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, and domesticated cattle were unknown in the same period. In terms of “flocks of every kind,” we are left to wonder if this means sheep (“lamb-skin” is mentioned in verse 7), goats or swine, mentioned elsewhere in the Book of Mormon. The only remotely domesticated livestock native to the New World were llamas and alpacas, which were used as pack animals, for the wool, and for meat. Wild vicuña were used for the fine wool, but never hunted by the ancient Inca (and the Inca were a thousand years after Moroni buried the plates). A few other camelids were used domestically in South America, but none are mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
3 Nephi 6
Anachronisms
Mentions of horses and cattle, as well as democracy and kings.
3 Nephi 7
Anachronisms
Mentions a dog turning to his vomit, a sow returning to wallowing in the mire (paraphrase of 2 Peter 2:22), something ancient Americans would not have understood as a metaphor for returning to sin, since they did not have swine. One of: Mormon, Nephi (of the time of Christ) or JS Jr. had access to the epistles of Paul and an audience that knew about swine.
3 Nephi 13
Anachronisms
Jesus explains not to throw pearls before swine, which did not exist in the ancient Americas. Note that Jesus changes the unit of money to the earlier mentioned one in Alma 11 & Alma 30 (senine), so why not change this parable about pearls before swine? And if the peoples of the New World kept the Law of Moses–and the Book of Mormon claims over a dozen times that they did— they would not have raised or eaten swine, or been in contact with any civilization that did. (That's why Jesus used swine in this example, in ancient Judea, where the analogy makes sense.)
3 Nephi 18
Anachronisms
Mentions of wine, which is anachronistic. Mentions bread, presumably made from wheat (“Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat”, verse 18) which is anachronistic. Mentions Jewish synagogues, which is anachronistic (none have been found in the New World).
3 Nephi 20
Anachronisms
Jesus keeps quoting Old Testament passages that mention things that are not in the Americas, such as brass and iron. Why would he do that, knowing his audience would not be familiar with these concepts? It only makes sense if he was addressing 19th-century or western audiences.
Ether 2
Anachronisms
Mentions glass and windows, which were not known in the ancient world until the Common Era. Clear-glass-making began, with glass blowers in Alexandria circa 100 AD, through the discovery of the addition of manganese dioxide, after which the Romans began to use glass for architectural purposes. Cast glass windows, albeit with poor optical qualities, began to appear in the most important buildings in Rome and the most luxurious villas of Herculaneum and Pompeii, long after the death of Jesus.
Ether 7
Anachronisms
Mentions steel swords and making them from ore from the hill, a process unknown to the ancient Americas, especially the supposed timeline of the Jaredites: “[Shule] did molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel.”
Ether 9
Anachronisms
Moroni describes a bunch of anachronistic stuff that has never been found in the pre-Columbian New World, not one ounce of this shiz: silk, cattle, oxen, cows, sheep, swine (if the later supposedly Jewish peoples of the New World kept the law of Moses, as the Book of Mormon claims a dozen and a half times, they would not have raised or eaten swine, by the way), goats, horses, asses, elephants, cureloms, cumoms.
Ether 10
Anachronisms
Mentions gold, silver, iron, and copper. Ironworking was not a skill in ancient America, especially that long ago.
Moroni 4
Anachronisms
Probably wheat bread and grape wine were still anachronistic in the New World at this point circa 400 CE, but at this point does it even matter?