Horses and Chariots (Alma 18 & 20)

One of the many anachronisms in the BOM is the existence of horses and chariots in the BOM. While it cannot be absolutely proven that there were no horses in the Americas at the time of the BOM people (it is nearly impossible to prove such a negative!), there is no evidence for their existence at this time. There are ancient fossils that predate this time, but no other artifacts. Knowledgeable LDSs may point to the fact that lions or camels or other animals are mentioned in the Bible but there are no fossils or bones that date back to those time periods either, and thus claim that the Bible suffers from the same sort of problem. The problem with that is that even though there are no bones of some of these animals, there are other artifacts, such as written descriptions, statues, drawings, and the like, showing that the people of the area at that time were indeed familiar with those animals. Mormon apologists need to be able to present something like that, if they want to claim that the BOM is on equal footing with the Bible in this matter.

Similarly, there are no chariots or any remains of chariots — and indeed, one of the typical places where Mormon apologists try to place the BOM is in an area that is too hilly for chariots to have been of any use! Each suggested location for the BOM has its strengths and weaknesses, but there is no single spot that meets all of the criteria. Places that are so inaccessible that they have not been explored are too inaccessible for chariots; places where there is something that might be called a “narrow neck of land” are too far from any place whose ancient people had a form of writing; places with many lakes and fountains or springs of water are too far from the ocean for a person to walk or run across them in the time given in the BOM; etc.

In short, if a Mormon ever provides some article about the ancient Americas or ancient Americans and claims that it supports the BOM, ask something like, “Oh, are you saying that this geographical location is where the BOM takes place? What artifacts have been found in this location that supports the BOM?”

See, Mormons are so desperate for confirmation for the BOM as actual history that they’ll latch onto any connection, no matter how slim, even if it boils down to, “the BOM describes large cities built hundreds of years ago, and the Mayans built large cities hundreds of years ago, so that shows that the BOM peoples theoretically could have built large cities hundreds of years ago”.

If they claim anything — genetics, archaeology, whatever — as proof of the BOM’s historicity, then take it to the logical conclusion and make them show you explicit evidence of it supporting the BOM: Did some Ancient American people group use gold or silver for currency? Ask where the proof is that they fit the BOM description of senines and leahs and such. Did some AA people group build big cities? Ask which BOM cities were discovered — Zarahemla? Manti? How exciting to be the first to recognize what bodies of water are actually meant by the “sea westward” and the “sea eastward”, and what ground is meant by “the narrow neck of land”! And since they have identified at least one BOM location, the others must easily follow, since they are described in relative locations to each other. Then wait for the furious backpedaling,

The best that Mormon apologists can do is to claim that even though there is no evidence, it still happened, and to hope for some evidence to come forward in the future. Sadly for them, there is actually more evidence for The Trojan Horse being real than for the entire BOM (with or without these horses).