131 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
131 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
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This article is an exact reproduction of a letter compiled by The
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Smithsonian Institution that was recieved by Computers for
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Christ, and has been graciously provided free of charge by them.
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For your own copy, write to:
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The Smithsonian Institute
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National Museum of Natural History
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Department of Anthropology
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Washington D.C.
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20560.
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Computers For Christ, Panama City, Fl.
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[Page 1]
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Information from the
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NATIONAL MUSEUM OF OF NATURAL HISTORY
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Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C.
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Your recent inquiry concerning the Book of Mormon has been
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received in the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology.
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The book of Mormon is a religious document and not a scientific
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guide. The Smithsonian Institution does not use it in
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archeological research. Because the Smithsonian Institution
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recieves many inquiries regarding the book of Mormon, we have
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prepared a "Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon," a copy of
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which is enclosed for your information. This statement
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includes answers to questions most commonly asked about the Book
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of Mormon.
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PREPARED BY
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THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTROPOLOGY
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[Page 2]
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STATEMENT REGARDING THE BOOK OF MORMON
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1. The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon
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in any way as a scientific guide. The Smithsonian archeologists
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see no direct connection between archeology of the New World and
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the subject matter of the book.
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2. The physical type of American Indian is basically Mongoloid,
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being most closely related to that of the peoples of eastern,
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central, and northeastern Asia. Archeological evidence indicates
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that the ancestors of the present Indians came into the New World
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-- probably over a land bridge known to have existed in the
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Bering Staight region during the last Ice Age -- in a continuing
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series of small migrations beginning from about 25,000 to 30,000
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years ago.
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3. Present evidence indicates that the fist people to reach this
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continent from the East were the Norsemen who who briefly visited
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the northeastern part of North America around A.D. 1000 and then
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settled in Greenland. There is nothing to show that they reached
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Mexico or Central America.
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4. One of the main lines of evidence supporting the scientific
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finding that contacts with Old World civilizations, if indeed
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they occured at all, were of very little significance for the
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development of American Indian civilizations, is the fact that
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none of the principal Old World domesticated food plants or
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animals (except the dog) occured in the New World in pre-
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Columbian times. American Indians had no wheat, barley, oats,
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millet, rice, cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, donkeys, camels
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before 1492. (camels and horses were in the Americas, along with
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the bison, mammoth, mastodon, but all these animals became
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extinct around 10,000 B.C. at the time the early big game hunters
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spread across the Americas.)
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SIL - 76
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Summer 1982
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[Page 3]
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5. Iron, steel, glass, and silk were not used in the New World
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before 1492 (except for occasional use of unsmelted meteroic
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iron). Native copper was worked in various locations in pre-
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Columbian times, but true metallurgy was limited to southern
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Mexico and the Andean region, where its occurance in late
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prehistoric times involved gold, silver, copper, and their
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alloys, but not iron.
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6. There is a possibility that the spread of cultural traits
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across the Pacific to Mesoamerica and the northwestern coast of
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South America began several hundred years before the Christian
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era. However, any such inter-hemispheric contacts appear to have
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been the results of accidental voyages originating in eastern and
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southern Asia. It is by no means certain that even such contacts
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occured with the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, or other peoples of
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Western Asia and the Near East.
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7. No reputable Egyptologist or other specialist on Old World
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archeology, and no expert on New World prehistory, has discovered
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or confirmed any relationship between archeological remains in
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Mexico and archeological remains in Egypt.
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8. Reports of findings of ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, and other
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Old World writtings in the New World in pre-Columbian contexts
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have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines and sensational
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books. None of these claims has stood up to examination by
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reputable scholars. No inscriptions using Old World forms of
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writing have been shown to have occured in any part of the
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Americas before 1492 except for a few Norse rune stones which
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have been found in Greenland.
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9. There are copies of the Book of Mormon in the library of the
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National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
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For more information see below:
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This file has been brought to you by the ministry of the;
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Southern Maryland Christian Information Service BBS, (SMCIS)
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(301) 862-3160 HST
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P.O. Box 463
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California, MD 20619
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Sysop: Buggs Bugnon
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