Book of Mormon Iron Mines Discovered!
Many have doubted the Book of Mormon as an historical account because it mentions ancient America's inhabitants having wrought implements of iron. Critics have often used the lack of ancient iron artifacts in Native America as proof the Book of Mormon was a hoax. Until Purdue University and ( National Geographic Feb 11th 2008 ) reported the discovery of a 2000 year old Peruvian iron mine.
The 5 Books In the Book of Mormon Making Claims of Iron
In Ancient America:
2 Nephi 4:21 And I did teach my people that they should build buildings, And that they should work in all manner of wood, and of iron and of copper, and of brass and of steel, and of gold and of silver, and of precious ores which were in great abundance.
Critics of the Book of Mormon will staunchly declare the ancient American Indians did not have steal or iron.
Yet they cannot explain how the Mayan Indian built fantastic squared stone structures. It takes steel or iron to square a stone.
Yet they cannot explain how the Mayan Indian built fantastic squared stone structures. It takes steel or iron to square a stone.
Who carved the Temple of the Cross Tablet? A Mayan with a super hardened finger nail and wood chisel?
Or a Mayan with the finest set of iron stone carving chisels money could by around 690 A.D.?
If the Ancient American Indian didn't have iron or steel, how did they do such intricately carved stone sarcophagus lids? When one bothers to think about the issue, it become very obvious the ancient Book of Mormon peoples had steel and iron, yes even Iron mines.
Mosiah
Mosiah
things. Without iron, Book of Mormon peoples could not have built stone structures which scientists and archaeologists today freely admit rival and even surpass
Egypt's great pyramids.
Ether
Now The Evidence Headlines:
Archaeologist 'strikes gold' with
finds of
ancient Nasca iron ore mine in Peru
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -
 |
"Archaeologists know people in the Old and New worlds have mined minerals for thousands and thousands of years," said Kevin J. Vaughn, an assistant professor of anthropology who studies the Nasca civilization, which existed from A.D. 1 to A.D. 750. "Iron mining in the Old World, specifically in Africa, goes back 40,000 years. And we know the ancient people in Mexico, Central America and North America were mining for various materials. There isn't much evidence for these types of mines.
"What we found is the only hematite mine, a type of iron also known as ochre, recorded in South America prior to the Spanish conquest.
This discovery demonstrates that iron ores were important to ancient Andean civilizations."
In 2004 and 2005, Vaughn and his team excavated Mina Primavera, which is located in the Ingenio Valley of the Andes Mountains in southern Peru. The research team performed field checks and collected some samples in 2006 and 2007. The findings of the excavation are published in December's Journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.
The researchers determined that the mine is a human-made cave that was first created around 2,000 years ago. An estimated 3,710 metric tons was extracted from the mine during more than 1,400 years of use. The mine, which is nearly 700 cubic meters, is in a cliffside facing a modern ochre mine.
Vaughn hypothesizes that the Nasca people used the red-pigmented mineral primarily for ceramic paints, but they also could have used it as body paint, to paint textiles and even to paint adobe walls. The Nasca civilization is known for hundreds of drawings in the Nasca Desert, which are known as the Nasca-Lines and can only be seen from the air, and for an aqueduct system that is still used today.
Vaughn and his team discovered a number of artifacts in the mine, including corncobs, stone tools, and pieces of textiles and pottery. The age of the items was determined by radiocarbon dating, a process that determines age based on the decay of naturally occurring elements.
"Archaeologists have a very good sequence of pottery from this region, so I can look at most pots from this region and determine a date within a century that is based on stylistic changes of the pottery," Vaughn said. "Even before the dating, we knew this was an ancient mine because of the ceramic pieces. These very small fragments, about the size of a penny, had distinct designs on them that are characteristic of the early Nasca civilization."
The artifacts from the excavation are being curated by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura of Peru at its museum in Ica, Peru.
Now that there is archaeological evidence that ancient cultures in the Andes were mining iron ore, it is important to give credit to New World civilizations, Vaughn said.
"Even though ancient Andean people smelted some metals, such as copper, they never smelted iron like they did in the Old World," he said. "Metals were used for a variety of tools in the Old World, such as weapons, while in the Americas, metals were used as prestige goods for the wealthy elite."
This excavation was part of Vaughn's Early Nasca Craft Economy Project, a multiyear National Science Foundation-funded study of Nasca ceramic production and distribution. The project's goal is to better understand the origins of inequality and political economy in this ancient culture.
Vaughn says material scientists and engineers, as well as mineralogists, will be interested in this discovery.
"This study of mining is a great example of how archaeology bridges the social and physical sciences," he said.
The National Science Foundation and the Heinz Foundation funded the Mina Primavera excavation. Next, Vaughn will be excavating a habitation site that has a 4,000-year occupation in hopes of understanding the long-term settlement history of the region.
"I hope to continue surveying for mines and mining-related sites in the region, and hopefully undertake additional excavations at the mine," he said.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723,apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Kevin J. Vaughn, (765) 494-4700,kjvaughn@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096;purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION:
Kevin J. Vaughn, a Purdue assistant professor of anthropology, holds a pottery fragment he discovered at an excavation site in Nasca, Peru. The piece of pottery is from about the 5th century A.D., which is the same time period as other artifacts he uncovered at Mina Primavera. Vaughn hypothesizes the mine was the source of some of the iron ore pigments used to produce the vibrant colors as seen on this pottery. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
Kevin J. Vaughn, a Purdue assistant professor of anthropology, holds a pottery fragment he discovered at an excavation site in Nasca, Peru. The piece of pottery is from about the 5th century A.D., which is the same time period as other artifacts he uncovered at Mina Primavera. Vaughn hypothesizes the mine was the source of some of the iron ore pigments used to produce the vibrant colors as seen on this pottery. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
A publication-quality photo is available athttp://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2008/vaughn-peru.jpg
National Geographic Publishes In
Favor of Book of Mormon claims:
Ancient Iron Ore Mine
Discovered in Peruvian Andes
Kelly Hearn in Buenos Aires, Argentina
for National Geographic News
for National Geographic News
February 11, 2008
A 2,000-year-old mine has been discovered high in mountains in Peru. The find offers proof that an ancient people in the Andes mined hematite iron ore centuries before the Inca Empire, archaeologists say.
The mine was used to tap a vein of hematite, or ochre—the first such mine found in South America that predates the arrival of Spanish conquistadors, experts note.
The discovery, reported by a U.S. archaeologist, was made in southern Peru in the region once inhabited by the ancient Nasca (often spelled "Nazca") culture.
The rare find adds to a slim body of evidence about New World mining practices, said Kevin J. Vaughn, an anthropologist at Purdue University who reported the find.
"Because mining is an extractive industry, it tends to destroy archaeological evidence," he said.
"There is very little evidence of this type of mine. It demonstrates that iron ores were important to ancient Andean civilizations."
The discovery, reported by a U.S. archaeologist, was made in southern Peru in the region once inhabited by the ancient Nasca (often spelled "Nazca") culture.
The rare find adds to a slim body of evidence about New World mining practices, said Kevin J. Vaughn, an anthropologist at Purdue University who reported the find.
"Because mining is an extractive industry, it tends to destroy archaeological evidence," he said.
"There is very little evidence of this type of mine. It demonstrates that iron ores were important to ancient Andean civilizations."
The discovery sheds light specifically on how hematite was used by the Nasca, who flourished along the Pacific coast from about 100 B.C. to around A.D. 600.
The culture is known for etching giant drawings in the Nasca desert, as well as making textiles, designing irrigation systems, and creating colorful pottery adorned with images of plants, animals, and complex religious symbols.
Some evidence suggests that ancient Andeans smelted metals like copper to make "prestige goods" for the elite classes, but this was not the case for the ochre mined at the newfound site, Vaughn explained.
"Our hypothesis is that the Nasca people used the red-pigmented mineral primarily for ceramic paints," Vaughn said.
"Nasca artisans could have also used the hematite to paint textiles or adobe walls, or even use it as body paint."
Vaughn's team is currently comparing the hematite from the mine to hematite pigment found on pottery samples, he added.
Its shaft is a hand-dug cave covering an area of some 700 cubic meters (24,720 cubic feet).
The mine produced some 3,710 metric tons (8,179,066 pounds) of ore over about 1,400 years of use, according to the researchers.
The site also rendered artifacts—such as beads, corncobs, stone tools, pottery shards, and textiles—that have allowed Vaughn's team link the mine to the Nasca.
Most of the artifacts date to the first few centuries A.D.
A paper describing the excavation appeared in the Journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.
Donald Proulx, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, called the study "a major step forward in our understanding of the nature of Nasca ceramic production.
"Vaughn and his colleagues are really the first to systematically look for the sources of clay and pigments used for Nasca pottery," he said.
"The discovery of the mine is extremely important, not only for showing us one of the major sources for the pigments, but also for demonstrating from the associated artifacts that the miners were members of the Nasca culture."
The discovery sheds light specifically on how hematite was used by the Nasca, who flourished along the Pacific coast from about 100 B.C. to around A.D. 600.
The culture is known for etching giant drawings in the Nasca desert, as well as making textiles, designing irrigation systems, and creating colorful pottery adorned with images of plants, animals, and complex religious symbols.
Some evidence suggests that ancient Andeans smelted metals like copper to make "prestige goods" for the elite classes, but this was not the case for the ochre mined at the newfound site, Vaughn explained.
"Our hypothesis is that the Nasca people used the red-pigmented mineral primarily for ceramic paints," Vaughn said.
"Nasca artisans could have also used the hematite to paint textiles or adobe walls, or even use it as body paint."
Vaughn's team is currently comparing the hematite from the mine to hematite pigment found on pottery samples, he added.
Book of Mormon Hammers Found In Oldest American Iron Mine
7 December 2010
Edited from AFP, The Sydney Morning Herald (6 December 2011)
Oldest mine of the Americas found in Chile
Archaeologists have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in northern Chile, making it the oldest mine yet discovered in all the Americas. The iron oxide mined by the Huentelauquen Indians was used as a pigment in dying cloth and in religious rituals, revealing an unexpected sophistication in what was previously considered a primitive group of people, University of Chile researcher Diego Salazar said.
The ancient mine was discovered near the town of Taltal, in the Antofagasta region, 1,100km north of Santiago, in October 2008, but its antiquity was not determined until tests were conducted this year in US and Polish laboratories. Named 'San Ramon 15', the mine was exploited heavily from 10,000 to 2,000 BCE. It yielded a total of 2,000 tonnes of pigment extracted from 700 cubic metres of rock.
Experts also found a treasure trove of stone and conch mining tools in the area. "We've found more than 1,000 hammers ... but considering the amount of material we have yet to sift through, the real number could rise to several thousands," said archaeologist Hernan Salinas. Before this find, the oldest mine in the Americas was 2,500 years old and located in the USA. The world's most ancient mine is in South Africa and is about 40,000 years old.
