Don't Trust In the Arm of Flesh-Do Your Own Research

"They have cradled you in custom. They have primed you with their teaching. They have soaked you with convention through and through. They have put you in a showcase. You're a credit to their teaching. But don't you hear the truth? It's calling you."











Saturday, May 7, 2011

Book of Mormon Iron Mines Discovered!

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.



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.? 


Jarom 1:19 And we multiplied exceedingly and spread upon the face of the land, And became exceeding rich in gold and in silver, and in precious things, and in fine workmanship of wood, in buildings and in machinery, and also in iron and copper and brass and steel, Making all manner of tools of every kind to till the ground, And weapons of war-
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 7:6 And he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed: A fifth part of their gold and of their silver, And a fifth part of their ziff and of their copper and of their brass and their iron, And a fifth part of their fatlings, And also a fifth part of all their grain;

Can you imagine building this structure without the aid of steel or Iron?
Mosiah 7:11 And it came to pass that King Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings, And he ornamented them with fine work of wood, And of all manner of precious things- of gold and of silver, and of iron and of brass, and of ziff and of copper;

What ever the Mayan Indians did not have, Iron and steel was not one of those
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 4:71 And they did work in all manner of ore, And they did make gold and silver and iron and brass and all manner of metals; And they did dig it out of the earth; Wherefore, they did cast up mighty heaps of earth for to get ore of gold and of silver and of iron and of copper;
Now The Evidence Headlines:

Archaeologist 'strikes gold' with 

finds of 

ancient Nasca iron ore mine in Peru

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - 
Kevin J. Vaughn Download photo caption below
A Purdue University archaeologist discovered an intact ancient iron ore mine in South America that shows how civilizations before the Inca Empire were mining this valuable ore.
"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)
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
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.









Friday, May 6, 2011

Book of Mormon Horses



Found!
Book of Mormon Horses In America! 



Earthshaking discovery of Book of Mormon horses ( Hagerman Horse )
found within Smithsonian Institute. 



What! Horses in North American before Hernado Cortez? Nah you gotta be kidding me!
This is the typical response many Book of Mormon believers face from skeptics.
Yet if we search the Book of Mormon, we will find at least 13 verses saying horses existed alongside mankind in Ancient America. Can this be true?

Let's examine the 13 Book of Mormon passages which records horses living alongside Pre-Historic man, prior 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.


Book of Mormon Records of American Horses



2 Nephi 8:23 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots;


2 Nephi 8:98 Whose arrows shall be sharp, and all their bows bent, and their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind, their roaring like a lion.
Enos 1:34 And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the land, and raise all manner of grain, and of fruit, and flocks of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle, of every kind, and goats, and wild goats, and also many horses.
Alma 12:76 And they said unto him, Behold, he is feeding thy horses.
Alma 12:77 Now the king had commanded his servants previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi:
Alma 12:79 Now when King Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots, he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying,
Alma 12:82 And it came to pass that when Ammon had made ready the horses and the chariots for the king and his servants, he went in unto the king, and he saw that the countenance of the king was changed; therefore he was about to return out of his presence;
Alma 12:188 Now when Lamoni had heard this, he caused that his servants should make ready his horses, and his chariots.
3 Nephi 2:30 And they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance,
3 Nephi 2:44 And the Nephites being in one body, and having so great a number, and having reserved for themselves provisions, and horses, and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years,
3 Nephi 3:1 And now it came to pass that the people of the Nephites did all return to their own lands, in the twenty and sixth year, every man, with his family, his flocks and his herds, his horses and his cattle, and all things whatsoever did belong unto them.
3 Nephi 9:101 Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots, and I will cut off the cities of thy land and throw down all thy strongholds;
Ether 4:21 And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants, and cureloms, and cumoms: all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants, and cureloms, and cumoms.


Mainstream Christianity would have all Book of Mormon believers think Joseph Smith was a fraud, a liar or the devil in incarnate. Is this truly so? Upon what evidence should we convict Joseph Smith for perjury? Could Joseph Smith have been telling the scientific truth 180 years ago? 


Many Book of Mormon critics, have said horses didn't arrive in America till about 500 years ago, around the time of Hernando Cortez. This post dispels that myth by using recognized sources of authority.


Introduction
Years ago as a child and later a young man I was a horse nut! I rode, read and breathed anything horses. As you see above I did well in show competition! When I began to answer my priesthood calling in the RLDS Church, I began meeting people who didn't know horses originated from America... It took a while, but over time I remembered something I had read as a boy about horses. I couldn't put my finger upon it at first, but then  I remembered reading a school text book about prehistoric horses in America.


I've compiled this information into one post.... I hope you enjoy. Never let it be said, Joseph Smith was never a prophet, or that he was a liar.... Joseph Smith told the truth. But the worlds  knowledge of Ancient American archaeology is just now beginning to catch up with what the Book of Mormon declared and Joseph Smith knew and announced to the world 180 years ago.


Below is the compiled information:


Evidence Book of Mormon History Is Accurate


2014 Book of Mormon Horse News Update! 

Cave Dig Unearths Bones of Ancient Horses, Cheetahs and Bison

Excavations of an ancient Wyoming sinkhole containing a rare trove of fossils of Ice Age mammals have unearthed hundreds of bones of such prehistoric animals as American cheetahs, a paleontologist said on Friday.

 By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - Scientists excavating an ancient Wyoming sink-hole containing a rare trove of fossils of Ice Age mammals have unearthed hundreds of bones of such prehistoric animals as American cheetahs, a palaeontologist said on Friday.
The two-week dig by an international team of researchers led by Des Moines University paleontologist Julie Meachen marked the first exploration of Natural Trap Cave at the base of the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming since its initial discovery in the 1970s.

Meachen said the extensive excavation that began late last month uncovered roughly 200 large bones of animals like horses that roamed North America from 12,000 to 23,000 years ago and an uncounted number of microfossils of creatures such as birds, lizards and snakes.

Read full story here: 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wyoming-cave-dig-unearths-bones-of-ancient-horses-cheetahs-and-bison/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciam%2Farchaeology-and-paleontology+%28Topic%3A+Archaeology+%26+Paleontology%29


Horses before "mules" at the Panama Canal

June 15, 2009
Story written and first posted
By the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute


Evidense for those who doubt the Book of Mormons claimes.





Aldo Rincón, STRI paleontology intern, unearthed a set of fossil teeth in the Panama Canal that Bruce MacFadden, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, describes as belonging to Anchitherium clarencei Aldo Rincón, STRI paleontology intern, unearthed a set of fossil teeth in the Panama Canal that Bruce MacFadden, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, describes as belonging to Anchitherium clarencei, a three-toed browsing horse the size of the modern donkey, living 15 to 18 million years ago.
Once processed, the fossil will return to Panama.Expanding the Panama Canal to make way for super-sized ships is providing geologists and paleontologists with rare finds. Carlos Jaramillo, STRI stratigrapher, has, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the Panama Canal Authority, organized a team of researchers and students who move in following dynamite blasts to map and collect exposed fossils.
"This is one of very few places in the tropics where we have access to fresh outcrops before they are washed away by torrential rains or overgrown by vegetation, and we expect the fossils that we have been salvaging to resolve some major scientific mysteries," said Jaramillo."What geological forces combined to create the Panama land bridge? Were the flora and fauna of Panama before the land bridge closed similar to those of North America, or did they include other elements?"

The latest finding appears in the Journal of Paleontology, vol. 83: 489-492.



Hagerman "Horse" - Equus simplicidens

NPS.GOV




What makes the Hagerman Horse so important? First, the discovery from Hagerman is the largest sample of this extinct species from one locality. Over two hundred individuals of both sexes and all ages were recovered by the Smithsonian. Included are complete skeletons as well as skulls, jaws and detached bones. They were about the size of the present day Arabian horse, and had a single toe (hoof). Vertebrate paleontologists must often work with single, isolated bones or teeth. So it is often difficult to assign them to an already described species when differences in sex or age of an individual are taken into consideration. The large number of individuals recovered at the Hagerman Horse Quarry simplifies this problem here.

Despite the popular use of the name, Hagerman Horse, it is actually more closely related to the zebras. Although we don't have fossil evidence of stripes, the pattern of the chewing surfaces of the teeth and details of the skull and rest of the skeleton indicate that this animal was more closely related to the living Grevy's Zebra of Africa than to horses. So the next time you're at the zoo, take a good look at the zebras on display and you'll have an opportunity to see a close relative of one of the earliest residents of the Hagerman area.

Many different scientific names have been applied to this horse. James W. Gidley, the Smithsonian paleontologist, who led the initial excavations at Hagerman in 1929, felt that the horse being uncovered was different enough in its skeleton that it represented a new species distinct from any other known fossil horse. He proposed the name Plesippus shoshonensis. By placing the Hagerman horse in the genus Plesippus, he considered it to be closely related to another fossil species, Plesippus simplicidens, from Texas. Although another horse, Equus idahoensis, had been described from elsewhere in this region, Dr. Gidley considered his new species to be more primitive. Since the early work of Gidley, many other studies on fossil horses have been made and the consensus is that the horse at Hagerman does belong in the modern genus Equus and that it is the same as the extinct species from Texas, simplicidens. So today most paleontologists refer to the Hagerman Horse by the scientific name of Equus simplicidens.
The Hagerman Horse also has the distinction of being the earliest record of Equus, the genus that includes all modern horses, donkeys, and zebras.


Even though the species found at Hagerman, Equus simplicidens, is known from elsewhere such as Nebraska, Florida, and Texas, all of the other records are much younger, making the sample from Hagerman the oldest.





Did You Know?Hagerman Fossil Beds is one of only three units in the National Park system that contains portions of the Oregon National Historic Trail.

http://www.nps.gov/hafo/naturescience/hagerman-horse.htm







Remains Show Ancient Horses Were Hunted for Their Meat

Hillary Mayellfor National Geographic News
May 11, 2001


Scientists have found the first definitive proof that early humans in North America hunted horses for their meat.

Prehistoric horses, which were much smaller than today's horses, standing about 4.5 feet (1.5 meters) high at the shoulder, became extinct about 10,000 years ago. Scientists considered it likely that hunting by humans was a factor in their extinction, but until now there was no hard proof.

The first conclusive evidence comes from spearheads tainted with the residue of horse protein. They were found along with other animal remains on the river plain of St. Mary's Reservoir in southern Alberta, Canada.

"In the past, we could really only attribute the demise of these ancient horses to climate and environmental changes," said Brian Kooyman, an archaeologist at the University of Calgary and the lead scientist at the dig.

"There has been suggestive evidence at other sites—Lubbock Lake in Texas, for instance—that early peoples were utilizing horses," he said. "But this discovery raises the very real possibility that overhunting by the Clovis people played a significant role in the extinction."
European explorers reintroduced horses to the New World several thousand years after the ancient ones died out.

Prehistoric Detective Work

The floor of the reservoir is covered with animal tracks of mammals, including wooly mammoths, camels, giant bison and helmeted musk oxen. "Clovis points," the spearheads associated with some of the first humans to reach the continent, found in the river plain have been dated to between 11,000 to 11,300 years old.

"The area where the remains were found is large—3 to 4 square kilometers [1 to 1.5 square miles]," Kooyman said. "We uncovered the remains of a prehistoric horse with several smashed vertebrae and bones that bore evidence of butchering, and then two of our students found several Clovis points around 550 yards (500 meters) away."

Laboratory analysis showed that the spearheads had the residue of horse protein on them; they apparently had been thrust into the horse.
"It was a near miss," Kooyman said of the discovery. "We weren't going to bother testing them [for horse protein residue]. We'd had similar findings before and the points all came back from the lab clean. But the two graduate students kept insisting we send them in, and we're glad they did."
As the ice began to retreat on the North American continent 14,000 to 12,000 years ago, humans made their way to the New World. A massive extinction of megafauna—animals weighing more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms)—occurred in North America about 10,000 years ago.
The role of humans in the extinction is the subject of debate among scientists.
"Retreating ice would cause changes in temperature, vegetation bands and probably a patchiness in vegetation and loss of habitat," said Paul McNeil, a Ph.D. candidate in paleontology at the
University of Calgary who has been working the site. "This would stress the animal populations, and it wouldn't take much to push them over the edge to extinction."
"Environment and climate change were definitely factors in the extinction event, but there had been numerous instances of glaciers advancing and retreating during the Pleistocene, and this is the only time we see a megafaunal extinction. The arrival of humans is the only real new factor," he said.

The lakebed where the footprints, animal skeletons and artifacts were found is usually flooded. Currently, however, the region is undergoing a drought. St. Mary's reservoir is expected to fill with water again, perhaps soon, so the scientists are working feverishly—sometimes in the midst of brutal sandstorms—to document the tracks and continue the archaeological excavations.

From a preservation standpoint, McNeil noted, the tracks are better protected under water. "One of the results of glaciations is a denuded countryside, with lots of dust and sand and silt. So when the wind blows it can be fierce enough to erode meters at a time," he said.
The researchers are excited by their discoveries at the site and how they are helping to fill in details of the past. "It's an amazing sight, like a snapshot of what life was like in the late Pleistocene, 10,000 years ago," said McNeil.

"The tracks represent living animals and a living ecosystem. In your mind you can see the animals cohabitating, gathering in the same place," he said. "We've found the only camel tracks we know of in North America—at one place you can see where five of them were walking next to each other."

Threatened by the filling of the lake, Kooyman said: "Right now we're just scrambling to do the really critical things."







Ancient Horses In America


Academy Natural Sciences Give Evidence



Book of Mormon History Accurate




Horses were introduced into the Americas during the 16th Century by the Spanish Conquistadors. Escapees from the Spanish stocks thrived and quickly established large wild populations. The absence of these "noble animals" before the colonization of the New World and the horse's success thereafter were seen by some Europeans as one more bit of evidence that the American fauna was inferior to that of the Old World (1).

The Old World pedigree of the horse was first challenged by the discovery of fossil teeth in South America which had been collected by a young Charles Darwin and examined by Richard Owen in 1840 (2).

There had been scattered reports of fossil horse teeth from the United States, but these were either dismissed or ignored by the European scientific community.
In 1848, Joseph Leidy settled the question of ancient horses in North American by publishing a systematic examination of Pleistocene (Ice Age) horse fossils from the collections at the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia and elsewhere (3).

He concluded that there were at least two North American horses species and that both were different from Old World species (4).








Top view of four molars of Equus occidentalis. This image is a detail from a lithograph in Extinct Fauna of the Western Territories (1873). Click here or on the fossil to view the full lithograph.
The implication of ancient horses in the Americas was significant. After all, if wild horses were present during the Pleistocene (Ice Age) and thrived once they were re-introduced by the Spaniards, why were they missing when the Spaniards arrived? In 1848 Leidy wrote:

"For it is very remarkable that the genus Equus should have so entirely passed away from the vast pastures of the western world, in after ages to be replaced by a foreign species to which the country has proved so well adapted: and it is impossible, in the present state of our knowledge, to conceive what could have been the circumstances which have been so universally destructive to the genus upon one continent, and so partial in its influence upon the other." (5).



In later years Leidy had the opportunity to examine and describe other fossil horses. Some were the same or closely related to the Pleistocene species he wrote about in 1848. Others were much older. The most notable of these were the Pliocene horses from the Niobrara River area of Nebraska and the Miocene horses from the White River Badlands of South Dakota. By the end of his career Leidy had described and named several new species of horses belonging to Equus, Anchippus, Anchitherium, Hipparion, Hippodon, Merychippus, Parahippus and Protohippus (6).






Top view of the molar teeth of Protohippus perditus(top) and Merychippus mirabilis (bottom). These images are details from a lithograph published in On the Extinct Mammalian Fauna of Dakota and Nebraska (1869). Click here or on the teeth to view the full lithograph.
Leidy provided detailed descriptions of these fossil horses and compared the anatomies of the different species. He noted patterns of increased crown height and structural complexity in horses teeth. Although most of the material at his disposal were teeth or jaw fragments, he was also aware that some ancient horses such as Hipparion had three toes rather than one. However, Leidy —ever reluctant to theorize— never published on the evolutionary relationships of horses.
That task would be acomplished by O. C. Marsh a few years after Leidy had abondoned paleontology. Marsh was guilty of oversimplification, (7) but his sequence of transitional fossils was a stunning achievement instrumental to the acceptance of Evolution among scientists and the public.

The honors assocated with the elucidation of horse evolution would rightly go to Marsh, but it was also Leidy who alerted the world to the riches in fossil horses to be found in North America. In his 1869 monograph, On the Extinct Mammalia of Dakota and Nebraska Leidy took delight in noting that all of the eight genera of fossil horses then known to sciencecould be found in North America while only three were known from the Old World. In addition he commented:

"The Solidungulates [horses and their close relatives] are better represented than in the recent fauna of any part of the world, and indeed the Pliocene deposits of the Niobrara would appear to indicate that the North American Continent was at one time emphatically the country of Horses."
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Websites:
Florida State Museum's Fossil Horse Cybermuseum:www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/firstCM.htm

Kathleen Hunt's web page on Horse Evolution:www.talkorigins.org/faqs/horses/horse_evol.html
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Notes:
The idea of the inferiority of the New World's fauna was shared by many Europeans, including some scientists. The formalized by the great French scientist de Buffon (1707-1788) during the 1760s. He theorized that the lack of superior animals such as the horse, lion or elephant in the New World was caused by its harsher climate. Buffon de-emphasized the theory later in his long and productive career, but many Europeans continued to perceive an inferiority in the American fauna; a notion readily reinforced by comparisions with the Eurasian and African faunae. Fossil discoveries by Leidy, O.C. Marsh, E.D. Cope, among others, thoroughly discredited any notion of Old World monopoly on impressive animals. [go back]

Charles Darwin collected the fossil horse teeth during his voyage on the Beagle. He forwarded the fossils to Richard Owen, the great British paleontologist and anatomist who first coined the word "Dinosauria". Owens concluded that the South American horse was distinct from the Old World species and named it Equus curvidens.[go back]

On the fossil horses of America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 3(11): 262-266.[go back]

Leidy identified two species. The first was the same species named by Richard Owen, Equus curvidens. The second was a new species which Leidy first named Equus americanus. Ten years later, Leidy discovered that the name "americanus" had already been used for another South American fossil horse, so he renamed his species Equus complicatus.[go back]


Leidy wondered why the horse become extinct in the Americas when its successful reintroduction by the Spaniards demonstrated that the New World was a favorable environment. Darwin asked the same question (in nearly the same way) 11 years later. Today's scientists still grapple with this question. Most consider climatic change, over-hunting by newly arrived humans or a combination of the two as the most plausible explanations for the extinction of the American horse (and other large mammals) at the end of the Pleistocene.[go back]

Etymology:Equus (EH-kwis) = horseAnchihippus (ANK-ee-HIP-us) = near or close to horseAnchitherium (ANK-ee-THEER-ee-um) = near or close to beastHipparion (hih-PAIR-ee-on) = pony Hippodon (HIP-oh-don) = horse toothMerychippus (MARE-ee-HIP-us) = ruminant-like horseParahippus (PAR-ah-HIP-us) = near horseProtohippus (PRO-toe-HIP-us) = first horse[go back]

O. C. Marsh, with considerable encouragement from Thomas Huxley, presented the story of horse evolution as a simple, linear progression from a small forest mammal with generalized teeth and multi-toed feet to the large and fleet horse with single-toed feet and teeth specialized for feeding in the open grassland. This scenario reinforced the widespread perception of progressive evolution. Although it was first proposed as a demonstration of Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection, this linear progression later prompted some notable paleontologists, including Henry Fairfield Osborn and William B. Scott, to propose orthogenesis (innately directed evolution) as more plausible than Darwin's natural selection in explaining evolution. It wasn't until the middle of the 20th century, George Gaylord Simpson demonstrated a more complicated and considerably less progressive history of horse evolution, that Darwinian natural selection became the central mechanism for evolution.


Above:
Another Photo of Smithsonian Scientists 
excavating Hagerman horse fossil



Complete Fossil of Ancient Horse Found in Peru
Monday, 24 February 2003
Horses reached the Americas long ago, but eventually died out LIMA: Geologists have uncovered the most complete horse fossil in the Americas, expanding knowledge of an ancient species that had died out on the continent 10,000 years ago.A team from Peru's Natural History Museum told reporters on Friday they had discovered the preserved skeleton of an Equus (Amerihippus) santaeelenae in July 2002 in the arid region of Arequipa, about 1,000 km south of Lima.
The fossil, unearthed in an area of volcanic ash and mud flows, had its head arched back and its front legs splayed out in front of its body. It was to be put on public display in the capital Lima at the end of the month. "Without a doubt, this is the most complete horse fossil that exists in the Americas. Absolutely all the bones have been preserved," said Rodolfo Salas, head of the palaeontology department at the museum. Compared to today's horse, the Equus santaeelenae had a large head, a thick neck and short legs. "It was definitely a good runner ... and lived in open areas like savannahs or pastures," Salas said.
Horses are thought to have arrived in South America about 3 million years ago, making their way across the isthmus of Panama from North America. But its population dwindled and it became extinct about 10,000 years ago - about the same time humans are believed to have settled South America. They were re-introduced following the arrival of Spanish conquistadors and colonists in the 16th century."Horses were reintroduced to South America," he added. "With this (find) we hope to remind people this animal did exist here." Reuters Note for Blog Manager: So you see, the Book of Mormon could well be an inspired work after all!
Other Links and Stories About Horses In North America...


Skeleton of the Oligocene (30 million-year-old) horse, Mesohippus, is a
featured exhibit at the new North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora
By John W. Hoganson




Developers of the recently opened North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame contacted me about having a fossil exhibit in the
new Hall in Medora. Of course, what would be more appropriate than an exhibit interpreting the evolution of the horse? Most
people are under the false impression that horses did not inhabit North America until they were introduced by the Spaniards
during the early days of conquest. But horses are indigenous to North America. Fossil remains of the earliest horse, referred
to as Hyracotherium (or sometimes Eohippus), have been recovered from early Eocene (about 50 million years old) rocks in
North America. In fact, they were some of the most abundant mammals that lived during that time. The fossil record of horses
in North Dakota extends back to the Oligocene, about 30 million years ago, when the diminutive horse, Mesohippus roamed
western North Dakota. Mesohippus was tiny, about the size of a sheep. The adults were only about 20 inches tall at the
shoulder. They also had three toes on each foot compared to the modern horse Equus that has one. Mesohippus was also
probably more of a browsing herbivore compared to the modern grazing horse. We have found many Mesohippus fossils in
North Dakota but no complete skeletons. Consequently, the Mesohippus skeleton on exhibit at the Cowboy Hall of Fame is an
exact cast replica.
We have also found the remains of 50,000-year-old horses in North Dakota indicating that horses lived here during the last
Ice Age. By that time, horses had attained the size and aspect of modern-day horses and are placed in the modern horse genus,
Equus. Horses did become extinct in North America some time near the end of the Ice Age, several thousand years ago. Why
they became extinct in North America and not in the Old World is a matter of debate. Spanish conquistadors did have horses
with them when they arrived in the southwestern part of what is now the United States in the 1500s, but most scholars believe
that Native Peoples in the southwest probably did not have extensive access to horses until the 1600s. Apparently the Mandan
in North Dakota acquired horses by about 1750. The importance of the horse to Plains Indians cannot be overstated. In this
respect, some scholars have referred to the period from the time Native Peoples obtained horses until the near extermination
of the buffalo about 1880 as the “Horse Culture Period.” The importance of the horse on the Great Plains extends to the days
of pioneers and settlers and is equally prominent today in Cowboy culture.
Skeleton (cast) of the 30-million-year-old horse, Mesohippus,
on display at the new North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in
Medora.
Architectural sketch of the new North Dakota Cowboy Hall of
Fame in Medora.





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White Indians In America?

White Indians In America?
Book of Mormon Speaks of the Nephites " White Indians " and Lamanites " Dark Skinned Indians " living in America. South American Murals give evidence the Book of Mormon is an ancient record.

White Skinned Indians Part 2

White Skinned Indians Part 2

White versus Dark Skinned Indians Part 3

White versus Dark Skinned Indians Part 3
The truth cannot be ignored. The Book of Mormon again speaks truly of a white skinned Indian.

NO CAUCASIANS IN ANCIENT SOUTH/CENTRAL AMERICA? HOW ABOUT A BEARDED GOD CARVED IN STONE?

NO CAUCASIANS IN ANCIENT SOUTH/CENTRAL AMERICA? HOW ABOUT A BEARDED GOD CARVED IN STONE?
Bearded god carved in stone, found in the 24 square mile ruins of Monte Alban in Southern Mexico. Note the figure seems to be in prayer.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAYAN MURALS OF DAILY LIFE DEPICT WHITE AND DARK SKINNED PEOPLE.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAYAN MURALS OF DAILY LIFE DEPICT WHITE AND DARK SKINNED PEOPLE.
Mural clearly depicts people of different skin colors living together, as Book of Mormon claims. National Geographic does not comment upon the skin color, but does tell us where mural came from. To read more click photo!

Monte Alban Mexico

Monte Alban Mexico
Egyption Coptic Cross. Southern Mexico

JESUS CHRIST IN AMERICA BEFORE HERNADO CORTEZ OR CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS?

JESUS CHRIST IN AMERICA BEFORE HERNADO CORTEZ OR CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS?
Latin style cross tombs of Mitla Mexico. Photos taken from The Cruciform Structures of Mitla and Vicinity (1909), copyright expired, public domain.

Evidence Native Americans Knew About Jesus Christ Before the Spanish Inquisition of South America.

Evidence Native Americans Knew About Jesus Christ Before the Spanish Inquisition of South America.
This Blog is about Jesus Christ. About the Book of Mormon which has been much maligned by men who never heard or saw the truth. Even by some who don't want the truth seen by you or I. We of the western world need to open our eyes. We must wake up. We must believe God is real. We must begin to realized we cannot fit God into a small little box with a pretty red bow, only to open it on Sunday so we may have our small controled dose of God. God is everywhere. Therefore His people will be everywhere. Let's find the evidence of the other places Jesus Christ visited besides Jerusalem... The above photo comes from Monte Alban Mexico. The above cross in similitude to an Egyption Coptic Cross. What connections did Egypt and ancient Mexico have?

Wheels of Ancient America

Wheels of Ancient America
A 2000-year old pre-Columbian wheeled artifact displayed at the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in Santiago, Chile.

Wheels of the Book of Mormon

Wheels of the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon declares the ancient inhabitants had horse drawn chariots. Critics have scoffed, because they say no chariot with wheels have been found. The American Indian was not advanced enough they say. So why do the the children's toys in El Salvador have wheels?

Search All Things, Prove All Things True.

Dear reader. To read text articals pertaining Book of Mormon archaeology, scroll half way down.

If the Book of Mormon truly is an ancient history of America, we can search the Book of Mormon, then search archaeology to discover if the Book of Mormon is accurate. 1 Thessalonian's 5:21 states" Prove all things; hold fast that which is good". Only a fool does not test his or her Christian belief to see if it withstands scrutiny and " tough well reasoned questioning". He or she who does not test or question everything in life, religion or career has missed the boat, and the very meaning of life. Which is to find the better way spiritually and temporally, holding fast to that which is good.

The Book of Mormon In Bible Prophecy

The Book of Mormon In Bible Prophecy
The Bible has been much heralded as the inspired word of God by Christianity. But is the Book of Mormon of God? Or just a figment of Joseph Smith imagination?

JOSEPH SMITH FOUGHT POLYGAMY

JOSEPH SMITH FOUGHT POLYGAMY
Latter Day Saint's everywhere need not hang their heads when questioned about Joseph Smith's teaching and practice of polygamy. IT NEVER HAPPENED! Read the legal and historical evidences how men closest the prophet lied in order to justify Utah Mormon Polygamy. Click picture link to read more and decide for yourself if this book will fit your library.

THE BIBLICAL CHRIST CARRYING A SHEPHERDS STAFF

THE BIBLICAL CHRIST CARRYING A SHEPHERDS STAFF
In the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi testifies Christ came to America. Christ, in Gospel of Luke is asked a question by the Apostle Peter most people miss. Peter ask Christ who He was, Christ's reply was, who do YOU/THEY say that I am. Luke 9:20. Native Americans record a white god who walked among them. When asked who He was, His reply was to ask, WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? In ( 1964 ) Pierre Honore wrote a book who's title speaks for it'self. In Quest of the Fair God Pierre Honore illustrates a white God among the Native America, who was named many different names where ever He went. Mr. Honore says, " The legend of a particular white God has survived to our day from all ancient civilizations of Central and South America. The Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico called Him Quetzalcoatl, the Incas called Him Viracocha To the Maya he was called Kulkulcan who brought them all their laws, and also their script, and was worshiped like a God by the entire people. To the Chibchas, he was Bochica, the white mantle of light. To the Aymara of Peru he was Hyustus, and to this day they will tell you he was fair and had blue eyes. Everywhere in the Indian states of Central and South America the legend of the White God is known, and always ends in the same way. The White God left his people with a solemn promise that he would one day come back."

A Hebrew People In America?

Can there be Hebrews in America? What does the Bible say?



Matthew 15:24



But He ( Jesus ) answered them and said, I am not sent but unto the LOST SHEEP of the house of the house of Israel



Jesus told us He must minister to Israelites " other sheep I have not of this fold then also must I bring ", ( John 10:16 KJV ).



Ezekiel 34:6;11;12-13 declares:



6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.



11For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.



12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day** that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.



** ( in the day means during Christ earthly ministry 2000 years ago )



13And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.



For the Book of Mormon to be a valid history of an ancient people long dead, there must be Biblical evidence such a people exist. The words of Christ and Ezekiel confirm such a people are scattered world wide.

TEMPLE OF THE BEARDED WHITE GOD

TEMPLE OF THE BEARDED WHITE GOD
Picture taken from a wall carving from this temple in Chichen Itza, in the Yucatan peninsula. How could the natives know of a " Bearded White God " if they had never seen one?

JESUS CAME ONLY TO ONE PEOPLE

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24


READ HOW UTAH LDS CHURCH COULD NOT PROVE JOSEPH SMITH A POLYGAMIST IN U.S. COURTS.

READ HOW UTAH LDS CHURCH COULD NOT PROVE JOSEPH SMITH A POLYGAMIST IN U.S. COURTS.
Salt Lake Utah based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claim Joseph Smith gave revelation and taught polygamy as God's law for the church. Read how courts of the United States and U.S. Congressional investigation ( Reed Smoot Hearings ) contradict the Utah LDS Church. Click photo link to read details.

Did Jesus Say Anything About Coming To The People On This Continent?


Jesus said: "I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". ( Mathew 15:24 )

JOSEPH SMITH AND THE GOLD PLATES A FABLE?

JOSEPH SMITH AND THE GOLD PLATES A FABLE?
The BBC World News " gold book discovery " and other sources confirm Joseph Smith did not lie. History since 1830 proves the Book of Mormon record coming with Lehi from Jerusalem could well have been brass, that Joseph Smith could easily have translated the Book of Mormon from gold plates.

Old Negev Alphabet With Corresponding Hebrew Words

Old Negev Alphabet With Corresponding Hebrew Words
Old Negeve Alphabet Translation Sheet

Book of Mormon Evidense? Red Bird Monogram First Century

Book of Mormon Evidense? Red Bird Monogram First Century
"Jesus Christ Son of the Father"

Book of Mormon Claims and the Red Bird Stone

Book of Mormon Claims and the Red Bird Stone
An Ogam rebus in the Gaelic language it means " The Right Hand of God "

Can Book of Mormon be a true ancient record? Los Lunas New Mexico Ten Commandment Stone

Can Book of Mormon be a true ancient record? Los Lunas New Mexico Ten Commandment Stone
Los Lunas Decologue Stone

Medicine Wheel Sedona Arizona

Medicine Wheel Sedona Arizona
Todays modern Churches display what we day would call a Roman Solar Cross. Ironically, the Native American already possesed such a cross long before the White Man came to America.

The Darius Plates

The Darius Plates
Keith Garner of Menlo Park, California, holding one of two gold tablets excavated from the foundation walls of the Audience Hall ( the Apadana ) of the palace of King Darius the great King of Persia ( 521- 486 B.C. ).

The Darrius Plates

The Darrius Plates
Critics say Joseph Smith was a fool to claim he translated the Book of Mormon from gold plates. Discovery of the Darius Plates show ancient man indeed did write upon metal plates. Archaeology has proven the brass plate very well could have come from the far east as the Book of Mormon claims in 1st Nephi in Book of Mormon.