(Supposed)
Book of Mormon Anachronisms
(c) Copyright Michael R. Ash 1996. All rights reserved
The term “silk” is mentioned only once in the Book of Mormon (Alma 1:29), but it is included among the critics listed of supposed Book of Mormon anachronisms. “Silk,” writes one critic, “is erroneously mentioned as being produced in the Americas at that time.” (Key, 1.) “‘Thus far,‘” writes another critic, “‘no... silk [has] ...ever been found in pre-colonial archaeological sites.’” (Martin, 163.) Although the type of silk with which we are familiar was not to be found, other types of “silk” were known in the ancient New World. The Spanish reported several kinds of “silk.” One kind of silk was spun from the hair of rabbits bellies, another may have come from a wild silkworm, and yet a third came from the pod of the ceiba tree. Spanish chronicles report that types of “silk” were spun and woven in Mesoamerica before their arrival. (Sorenson, 1985, 232.) Since the arrival of the Spanish, however, these fabrics have disappeared--deteriorated with time. If the Spanish could call these fabrics silk, then why could not the Nephites do the same?
Michael R. Ash
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