Horses
The panic-stricken
Indians remaining in the square, terrified at the firing of the guns and at the
horses – something they had never seen – tried to flee from the square by
knocking down a stretch of wall and running out onto the plain outside. Our
calvary jumped the broken wall and charged into the plain, shouting, ‘Chase
those with the fancy clothes! Don’t let any escape! Spear them!’”
“The governor then gave
the signal to Candia, who began to fire off the guns. At the same time the
trumpets were sounded, and the armored Spanish troops, both cavalry and
infantry, sallied forth out of their hiding places straight into the mass of
unarmed Indians crowding the square, giving the Spanish battle cry, ‘Santiago!’
We had placed rattles on the horses to terrify the Indians. The booming of the
guns, the blowing of the trumpets, and the rattles on the horses threw the
Indians into panicked confusion. The Spaniards fell upon them and began to cut
them to pieces. The Indians were so filled with fear that they climbed on top
of one another, formed mounds, and suffocated each other. Since they were
unarmed, they were attacked without danger to any Christian. The calvary rode
them down, killing and wounding, and following in pursuit. The infantry made so
good an assault on those that remained that in a short time most of them were
put to the sword…
eyewitness account from Guns, Germs, and Steel page 73
One of the more obvious anachronisms contained in the Book of Mormon is the presence of horses. There are many other anachronistic plants and animals present in the Book of Mormon, such as wheat, cattle, ox, sheep, elephant and the ass. I consider the horse the most interesting of these anachronisms, due to the impact of the horse on societies that actually possess them.
For reference, the following are the horse verses from the Book of Mormon.
Alma 20:6 Now when Lamoni had heard this he caused that his servants should make
ready his horses and his chariots.
3 Ne. 3:22 And it came to pass in the seventeenth
year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone
forth throughout all the face of the land, 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, and did march forth by thousands and by
tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been
appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves
against their enemies.
3 Ne. 4:4 Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to
obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the Nephites; 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, in the which time
they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land; and thus the
eighteenth year did pass away.
3 Ne. 6:1 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 Ne. 21:14 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;
Ether 9:19 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.
Book of Mormon scholars concede that there is no evidence of the existence of the horse in the New World during the specified Book of Mormon time period, although some hint at some future supporting evidence yet to appear, or the possible development of dated references.
Given the fact that schoolchildren in the United States have long been taught that the Europeans introduced horses to the New World, it seems surprising that so many believing LDS read these passages in the Book of Mormon without protest or question. In my opinion, this is likely due to the fact that human beings rely on a different part of their brain in religious contexts than they do in other non-religious contexts. It just doesn’t “connect”. Moreover, this flaw did not “connect” with other nineteenth century authors, either. Solomon Spalding, in Manuscript Story, mentions horses in connection with the inhabitants of the New World.
“As the whole of this
parade indicates no flight of Elseon & Lamesa, we might now view them, with
their select company of friends setting out on a short journey. All mounted on
horses, they rode about twenty miles to a village were they halted. An elegant
supper was provided. They were cheerful & sociable, none appeared more so than
Elseon & Lamesa. The next day Elseon requested the company of his dear cousins a
short distance on his journey. When they had rode about two miles they halted &
proposed to take their leave of each other. Lamesa & her friend without being
perceived by the company rode on. It was a place where the road turned & by
riding one rod they could not be seen. The rest of the company entered into a
short conversation & passed invitations for reciprocal visits & friendly office.
They then clasped each others hands, & bowing very low took an affectionate
farewell. But where are Lamesa & her friend? During these ceremonies their
horses moved with uncommon swiftness, her heart palpitates with an apprehension
that she might be overtaken by her brother. But now a friend more dear, her
beloved Elseon, with his companions, outstrip the wind in their speed, & within
one hour & half they overtake these fearful damsels. They all precipitate their
course casting their eyes back every moment to her pursuers.” (chapter XI)
"Corn, wheat, beans, squashes, & carrots they
raised in great abundance. The ground was plowed by horses & generally made very
mellow for the reception of the seed.” (chapter V)
Part of the difficulty is that the fact that the Native Americans soon adopted and adapted their entire culture to the horse, once it was, in fact, introduced by the Europeans. The Indian and his horse is so embedded in our conceptions of Indians that it is a challenge to extricate the two.
Diamond emphasizes this fact, on page 75.
“The sole Native Americans able to resist European
conquest for many centuries were those tribes that reduced the military
disparity by acquiring and mastering both horses and guns. To the average white
American, the word “Indian” conjures up an image of a mounted Plains Indian
brandishing a rifle, like the Sioux warriors who annihilated General George
Custer’s US Army battalion at the famous battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
We easily forget that horses and rifles were originally unknown to Native
Americans. They were brought by Europeans and proceeded to transform the
societies of Indian tribes that acquired them. Thanks to their mastery of
horses and rifles, the Plains Indians of North America, the Araucanian Indians
of southern Chile, and the Pampas Indians of Argentina fought off invading
whites longer than did any other Native Americans, succumbing only to massive
army operations by white governments in the 1870s and 1880s.”
Despite the firm modern association of the horse to the Native American, it is universally accepted among mainstream archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians that there is no evidence of the existence of a pre-Columbian horse, excepting the long-extinct species. How have they arrived at this conclusion?
There are several ways that scientists can fairly accurately ascertain the existence of past animals. The easiest method is, of course, through fossilized remains and bone remnants. Horses are one of the best candidates. From Horses Through Time, published by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, edited by Sandra L. Olsen, page 13:
Paleontologists have been analyzing the equid fossil record for well over 150 years, continually making new discoveries, describing new species, reinterpreting old data, and in general learning more about the evolution, anatomy, and ecology of this group. For example, paleontologists named an average of three new species of horses between 1973 and 1987. Many paleontologic interpretations are controversial, with contending or alternative hypotheses and theories held by different specialists. As new specimens are found and more data accumulate, some of these ideas are proven unlikely, whereas others are corroborated or totally new hypotheses are proposed. By this method paleontologists progressively gain greater understanding of the evolutionary history of the horse, as well as other organisms.
The fossil record of the horse has an important role in the history of science, in particular the study of biologic evolution. In the late 1800s horses became the first group of mammals that paleontologists could place in a reasonably plausible sequence of ancestors and descendants from a living species back to the beginning of the Age of Mammals, 65 million years ago. Although we now know this sequence was grossly oversimplified, incomplete, and in places simply wrong, it was still an important achievement for the time. With the wide availability of fossil specimens, most natural history museums had the resources to display an exhibit on the evolution of the horse and scores of biology and geology textbooks used the horse as an example for an evolutionary sequence.”
Using such fossils, scientists have, indeed, constructed a timeline for the existence of and subsequent extinction of the horse species in the American continent.
North American Equus
also dispersed to other continents. It first appeared in South America in the
middle Pleistocene and successfully spread throughout the continent. There it
coexisted with Hippidion and Onohippidium until the end of the
Pleistocene. Then, as in North America, all South American horses became
extinct.” (page 31)
“Without getting into details, which are murky
to begin with, starting in the very late Pliocene, about 2.5 million years ago,
most North American fossil faunas contained two to four species of Equus.
Often there was a small, pony-sized type coexisting with a larger form, both
with relatively stout limbs. An additional, very slender-legged, usually
medium-sized species probably related to the Asiatic asses was occasionally
present as well, especially in the early and middle Pleistocene. There are more
Pleistocene fossil localities than from any other age, because this period is
the most recent, and Equus is common in almost every locality that
contains large mammals. This situation continued until near the end of the
Pleistocene, about 11,000 years ago, when many North American mammals became
extinct over a short period of time. Victims of this mass extinction event
included mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, camels, tapirs, and horses among
the large herbivores as well as the large carnivores that preyed upon them, such
as lions, saber-toothed cats, and dire wolves. There is an ongoing controversy
as to the immediate cause of this event, with rapid climatic and ensuing
vegetational change, and overhunting by humans being the two opposing views. In
either case the 57-million –year history of the horse in North America came to
an end, at least until the introduction of domesticated horses and donkeys by
European explorers and colonists.
Admittedly some climates are more conducive to the preservation of animal bones than others. Mesoamerica, while not the best climate for such preservation, does, indeed, offer many examples of other animal bones. In fact, there is an abundance of animal bones in Mesoamerica, even from the Pleistocene era. The following are just a few of many references to excavated bones in Mesoamerica.
pollen, and fauna were included in their study. A suite of radiocarbon dates was obtained, seventeen of which fall between 33,000 and 14,000 years b.p. The investigators accept as representative a determination of 21,700 +/- 500 years b.p. on carbon and soil from a circular hearth, about 1.15 meters in diameter, within and adjacent to which were found stone tools and abundant animal bones, many from now extinct Pleistocene mammals. Two other cooking areas, one radiocarbon dated at 24,000 +/- 4000 years b.p., provide addition evidence for what appears to be a series of temporary campsites along the ancient Chalco lakeshore.”
The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas: Volume 2, Mesoamerica, Part 1, by Richard E Adams, page 43.
The same book also discusses animal bones found of Teotihuacan date that included rabbit, hare, and deer bones. (page 91) Also, on page 222, the author demonstrates that scarcity of animal bones is evidence that animals did not play a large part in the diet of the particular group, rather than evidence that the climate would not allow preservation of such bones, as is sometimes claimed by certain Book of Mormon scholars.
Sometimes animal bones are not simply part of household refuse, but are rather evidence of religious rituals such as sacrifice. In Ancient Maya Commoners, edited by Jon C. Lohse and Fred Valdez, Jr. Marilyn A. Masson and Carlos Peraza Lope’s essay Commoners in Postclassic Maya Society: Social Versus Economic Class Constructs, page 206, we read:
“The inventory of elite
residential structure I is otherwise quite similar to all other domestic zones
tested on the island and shore, with the exception of marine shell debris, which
is more abundant than at other contexts. The limited distributions of ritual
artifacts (including sacrificed animal remains) and shrine structures
distinguish a potential social class of elites at Laguna de On from other family
groups.”
http://www90.homepage.villanova.edu/lowell.gustafson/Maya/tikal.html
While, at times, Book of Mormon scholars claim that the damp Mesoamerican climate and the acidic soil explain why there could have been horses who left no remains, (see “Horses in the Book of Mormon”, a FARMS report), this does not stop them from attempting to locate such evidence, nonetheless. John Sorenson offered a controversial reference for such remains, which was then analyzed in The Quest for Gold Plates, by Stan Larson, page 190:
Pleistocene fauna could
not have survived as late as 2000 BC. Dr. Ripley Bullen thought horses could
have lasted until 3000 BC in Florida, and JJ Hester granted a possible 4000 BC
survival date. Let us examine
Sorenson’s three assertions. (1)Paul S. Martin, professor of geosciences at the
University of Arizona, was quoted out of context, for after expressing the
theoretical possibility that Sorenson referred to, Martin then made the
following strong statement: “But in the past two decades concordant
stratigraphic, palynological [relating to the study of pollen], archaeological,
and radiocarbon evidence to demonstrate beyond doubt the post-glacial survival
of an extinct large mammal has been confined to extinct species of Bison.”
(2)Ripley Bullen spoke in general of the extinction of mammals in Florida and
not specifically of the horse as Sorenson asserted. (3)James J. Hester,
professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, did not suggest that
the horse survived until 4000 BC, but rather used a date more than two thousand
years earlier. Hester’s date of 8240 years before the present (with a variance
of +- 960 years) was published in 1967, but the validity of the radiocarbon
dating for these horse remains at whitewater Draw, Arizona, has been
questioned. The next youngest horse of 10,370 +- 350 years ago has a better
quality of material being dated and stronger association between the material
actually being tested and the extinct genus. Clearly, Sorenson’s three
arguments for a late survival of the horse do not hold up under scrutiny.
Certain now extinct species may have survived in particular areas after the Ice
Age. For example, one scholar recently stated that “in one locality in Alberta,
Equus conversidens [a short-legged, small horse] may have been in existence
about 8,000 BP (Before Present). While there may have been small “pockets” of
horses surviving after the Late Pleistocene extinctions, the time period for
such survivals would still be long before the earliest Jaredites of the Book of
Mormon. John W. Welch, professor
of law at BYU, referred to the find in Mayapan or horse remains which were
“considered by the zoologist studying them to be pre-Columbian.” Examination of
Welch’s citation reveals that he misinterpreted the evidence, which does not
date to pre Columbian times (and hence potentially to the BoM period) but rather
to prehistoric Pleistocene times. This find at Cenote Ch’en Mul consists of one
complete horse tooth and fragments of three others, which were found six feet
below the surface in black earth and were “heavily mineralized (fossilized),
unlike any other material in the collections.” Thousands of bones and teeth
were examined at Mayapan, which is a Late Post Classic site established in the
thirteenth century AD, but these four horse teeth were the only ones
fossilized. The reporting scholar did not suggest that the Mayan people hade
ever seen a pre-Columbian horse, but that in Pleistocene times horses lived in
Yucatan, and that “the tooth fragments reported here could have been transported
in fossil condition by the Maya as curiosities. Thus, Welch’s assertion about
pre-Columbian horses must be corrected to refer to ancient Pleistocene horses,
since these fossilized horse teeth at Mayapan date to thousands of years before
the Jaredites.” (p. 190-191)
“Sorenson, in an effort
to support his position that the horse might have survived into Book of Mormon
times, stated the following:
Updated Information:
The Alberta remains' dating has been corrected. The following information is obtained from an abstract for an article called "New Radiocarbon Dates for Columbian Mammoth and Mexican horse from Southern Alberta and the Late Glacial Regional Fauna":
New
radiocarbon dates on Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) and Mexican horse (Equus
conversidens) specimens from southern Alberta are 10,930±100 BP and 10,870±45
years BP, respectively—older than originally thought. These specimens are
reviewed in the light of 10 other sites in southern Alberta that have yielded
large mammal remains radiocarbon dated to about 11,000 BP. Thus, the regional
fauna includes at least 11 mammalian species. This fauna was not restricted to
the foothills, but extended well onto the plains and may prove useful in
correlating foothills terraces with those of the plains.
The article most often cited to support Sorenson's assertion is a 1956 article from the Museum of Comparative Zoology by Clayton C. Ray. This article cannot be accessed online, but Chris Smith obtained and scanned it.
Hatt records numerous
fragments of Equus ?conservidens from Actun Lara, one of Mercer’s caves, (1953,
Cranbrook Inst. Sci., Bull. 33, pp. 71-72 and map 2). These remains were
tentatively referred to Equus tau by R. A. Stirton (in Hatt, p. 71). Hibbard
regards E. tau as probably synonymous with E. conservidens (1955, Contrib.,
Mus. Paleo. Univ. Mich.,12:61). Although the teeth and bones were in many cases
heavily encased in lime, pottery occurred throughout the deposits and two foot
bones present in the upper layer of two layers in which horse remains occurred
were identified as those of domestic cattle. It is now possible to report
horse remains of probably pre-Columbian age from a new locality in Yucatan. This
material consists of one complete upper molar and 3 fragmentary lower molars,
all preserved in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cat. No 3937), The teeth
constitute a part of a large collection of vertebrate remains obtained by
archaeologists of the Carnegie Institution of Washington during excavation at
the Mayan ruins of Mayapan, Yucatan (20,38N,89,28W). This collection was
submitted to the author for identification, and a checklist of the material is
in preparation. The horse teeth were collected in cenote Ch’en Mul (Section Q,
topographic map of the ruins of Mayapan, Jones, Carnegie Inst. Washington, Dept.
Archaeology, Current Rept. 1, 1952) from the bottom stratum in a sequence of
unconsolidated earth almost 2 meters in thickness. As in the deposits reported
by Mercer and Hatt, pottery occurs throughout the stratigraphic section. The
horse teeth are not specifically identifiable. They are considered to be
pre-Columbian on the basis of depth of burial and degree of mineralization. Such
mineralization was observed in no other bone or tooth in the collection although
thousands were examined, some of which were found in close proximity to the
horse teeth. It is by no means implied
that pre-Columbian horses were known to the Mayans, but it seems likely that
horses were present on the Yucatan Peninsula in pre-Mayan time. The tooth
fragments reported here could have been transported in fossil condition as
curios by the Mayans, but the more numerous horse remains reported by Hatt and
Mercer (if truly pre-Columbian) could scarcely be explained in this manner.
CLAYTON C. RAY, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. Received May
28,1956).
The remains of horses have
been reported from cave deposits in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, on two
previous occasions. Mercer (THE HILL CAVES OF YUCATAN, LIPPINCOTT, PHILA.,
1896, p. 1972 and map opposite title page) found horse remains in three caves in
the Serrania, a low range of limestone hills lying in southwestern Yucatan and
trending roughly parallel to the southwest border of that state. The horse
material was associated with pot sherds and other artifacts and showed no
evidence of fossilization. Cope (in Mercer op. cit. p. 172, footnote) examined
the material and considered it referable to Equus occidentalis on morphological
characteristics but noted absence of fossilization.
Additional information is available to evaluate these original dated findings. The book "Ice Age Faunas of North America" has certain pages available on a google book search, and several of these pages address this event.
Henry C.
Mercer (1896), who explored the cave and dug 2 pits in Chamber 3 in 1895, found
similar ceramic and nonceramic layers. His attempt to locate preceramic
artifacts with extinct fauna in association with Loltun or other nearby caves
was unsuccessful. Some skeletal remains dubiously identified as Ursus (bear)
were found in Loltun in a ceramic layer. Mercer reported the presence of Equus
(horse) teeth and bones on the surface of three different caves. Although
similar to the extinct horse Equus Occidentalis, the remains were identified as
modern horse. Cope (1896) studied the remains of other animals collected by
Mercer in Loltun, including species of opossums, bats, rabbit, mice, peccary,
and deer if two sizes (page 263)
The same text also addresses the Hatt findings.
The most extensive study of
the region was undertaken by Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Hatt, who in 1929 and 1947
explored fourteen “cenotes” and dug in nine of them. (Hatt et al 1953). Two
cenotes near Loltun contained the remains of extinct animals. Pleistocence
Equus conversidens was recovered from Actun Lara. Actun Spukil produced a
left tympanic ring and a molar fragment from the ground sloth, Paramylodon. In
all, Hatt et al. (1953) collected forty-five species of mammals, of which six
had been introduced by the Spaniards.
This reference clarifies that the horse remains were from the Pleistocene Era, which ends around 11,550 years before present.
A summary of the animal remains in the Loltun Cave was also provided.
Table 10.3 Mammal Species
from Loltun Cave Divided According to Their Temporal Record in the Excavation.
Group 1- Holocene and Pleistocene
Didelphis marsupialis,
Marmosa canescens,M. Mexicana, Cryptotis, Cryptotis mayensis, Peropteryx
macrotis, Pteronotus parnellii, Mormoops megalophylla, Chrotopterus auritus,
Glossophaga soricina, Stumira lilium, Artibeus jamaicensis, hiroderma villosum,
Desmodus rotundus, Diphylla ecaudata,Eptesicus furinalis, Lasiurus ega I.
Intermedius, Nyctinomops laticaudatus, Herpailurus yagouaroundi, Leopardus
pardalis, L. wiedii, Puma concolor, Panthera onca, Conepatus semistriatus,
Spilogale putorius, Nasua narica, Mazama sp, Odocoileus virginiamus, Pecari
tajacu, Sciurus deppei, S. yucatanemis, Orthogeomys hispidus, Heteromys gaumeri,
Oryzomys couesi, Ototylomys phyllotis, Peromyscus leucopus, P. yucatanicus,
Sigmodon hispidus, Sylvilagus floridanus.
Group 2 – Holocene Only
Philander opposum,
Pteronotus davyi, Carollia brevicauda, Centurio senex, Natalus stramineus,
Myotis keaysi, Eumops bonariensis, E. underwoodi, Promops centralis, Molossus
rufus, Dasypus novemcinctus, Canis familiaris, Urocyon cinereoargenteus,
Bassariscus sumichrasti, Procyon lotor, Mustela frenata, Coendou mexicanus,
agouti paca
Group 3 – Pleistocene Only
page 267 Note that Equus Conversidens
is listed as ONLY Pleistocene. The Bison reference is to a now extinct species
that was extanct during the Pleistocene era. This is likely what Mercer
originally thought were "cattle" bones. Now, where were the
Pleistocene animal remains found? The next citation makes it very clear:
page 268
The time range represented
is from over 28,400 yr BP. Not all taxa are found throughout this long period,
but they can be divided into three main groups (Table 10.3). Group I (Holocene
and Pleistocene) is formed by those species that occur through most of the
stratigraphic sequence, accounting for more than half of the identified of the
identified species (n = 39, 57.3 percent). Group 2 (n = 18 species, 26.5
percent) is composed of those species found only in the Holocene sediments.
Species that occurred only in the Pleistocene strata constitute Group 3.
Marmosa lorenzoi,
desmodus cf. D draculae, Canis dirus, C. latrans, C. lupus, mephitis sp,
Cuvieronius sp, Equus Conversidens, Bison sp, Hemiauchenia sp,
Sylvilagus brasiliensis
The
Pleistocene mammal fauna from Loltun Cave consist of those remains from the
bottom of Level VII downward and is represented by fifty species (Groups 1 and
3) in forty genera, twenty-three families, and nine orders. This variety is one
of the largest from the late Pleistocene of Mexico (Arroyo-Cabrales et al, in
press; Kurten and Anderson 1981). Furthermore, it is the most diverse fossil
mammal fauna for the Neotropical region of North and CentralAmerica (Fernasquia-Villafranca
1978; Webb and Perrigo 1984).
There was only one citation that made the dating of the horse bones seem questionable, and it certainly wasn’t placing them up in level V. This citation does not contradict the previous one, because we already know the scientists say that the demarcation between the Pleistocene era and the Holocene era could be in the bottom of Level VII. This would be around 9,500 BC.
page 264
To date, a comprehensive
publication on the site has not been produced; however, several studies have
reported on some of the important findings from the excavations by INAH. These
findings include layers with ceramics and lithics, and layers with only lithics
in association with extinct animals. These ceramic lithic layers are important
for assessing the purpose and lifestyle of the first human beings that occupied
the Yucatan Peninsula. Other studies cover lithic morphology and typology (Konieczna
1981), and biological remains, such as mammal bones (Alvarez and Polaco 1972;
Alvarez and Arroyo-Cabrales 1990; Arroyo-Cabrales and Alvarez 1990), mollusk
shells (Alvarez and Polaco 1972), and plants (Montufar 1987; Xelhuanzi-Lopex
1986).
Level VII is a ceramic level, and we already know that the animals were at the bottom of Level VII. There is uncertainty as to whether the demarcation between the Pleistocene and Holocene eras would be in Level VIII or at the bottom of Level VII. The rest of the citations in this book accept the placement of the demarcation in Level VII.
Now could this be evidence of the horse in the BoM time period? Nonsense. This is like Sorenson’s earlier statement that supposedly finding pockets of extinct animals surviving into 8,000 BC would constitute evidence for the BoM. We are still talking about many thousands of years prior to the BoM time period.
Yet another citation refers to this particular find. The following is obtained from the text “The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of North America”, page 62, which is available from a google book search:
Currently, only one site in Mesoamerica supports the hypothesis of human
occupation in lowland environments before 12,000 years ago. In the Puuc Hills
of northern Yucatan, the lowest levels of excavations reported by R. Velazquez
at Loltun Cave have produced some crude stone and bone tools along with the
remains of horse, mastodon, and other now extinct Pleistocene animals. Felines,
deer, and numerous rodents round out the archaeological assemblage. No
radiocarbon dates have been forthcoming for this proposed early components that
underlies later ceramic occupations. On the basis of stone tool typology and
faunal association, MacNeish has proposed that the lower levels
of Loltun Cave are somewhere between 40,000 and 15,000 years old.
This citation demonstrates that the horse remains were identified as extinct Pleistocene animals, and were located in the lower levels underlying the ceramic levels.
One interesting aspect of these particular defenses is that they tend to rely on dated references. One possible reason for this is that the results of radiocarbon dating was less reliable in its early phase. The following statement by Paul Martin, in an essay dealing with mammoth extinction, also emphasizes this point:
Not since
the early years of 14C dating, when laboratory protocols for sample selection
and pretreatment were not standardized or well understood by consumers of dates
(see, e.g., Martin 1958 and Hester 1960), has anyone seriously advanced the
thought that mammoths or mastodons survived into the mid-Holocene. Those North
American Holocene dates of yore were not replicated and could not be supported
stratigraphically and geochemically. They moulder in the graveyard of unverified
measurements.
In addition to the unreliability of early carbon dating, another problem originates from the excavation of caves themselves. The abstract for the article Excavations in Footprint Cave, Caves Branch, Beliz, states the following:
The use of
caves by the ancient Maya has been previously documented, but the nature of
artifact preservation in these caves presents unique problems not encountered in
surface sites of the region. The absence of stratigraphy, though it means that
we can view objects as they were left by the Maya, also means that perspective
can be distorted, for actions that may have taken place over a long period of
time result in an arrangement of objects that appears to us to be synchronic.
The nature of artifact preservation in caves presents another, more pressing
problem: artifacts are accessible and therefore easily stolen. Although all
surface sites in Belize are endangered, cave sites are especially so, and in
recent years theft of artifacts and attendant destruction of sites has
increased. The following is a report of excavations in a cave that is one of
many in an area that has begun to experience the destructive effects of looting
within the last decade. We hope that this report will heighten the awareness of
archaeologists of the significance of cave sites and stimulate interest in the
reconnaissance and recording of such sites before the looters prevail.
Given these circumstances, it is understandable that earlier archaeologists may have been confused about their finds, but these updated sources demonstrate that when these findings are more thoroughly investigated, the same conclusion is verified: there was no post-Pleistocene, pre-Conquest horse in the New World.
Sorenson utilized an additional reference. We can read a reference to it in Daniel Peterson's review of The Quest for Gold Plates titled "Ein Heldenleben? On Thomas Stuart Ferguson as an Elias for Cultural Mormons":
Subsequent digging has
expanded the evidence for an association of humans with horses. But the full
story actually goes back to 1895, when American paleontologist Henry C. Mercer
went to Yucatan hoping to find remains of Ice Age man. He visited 29 caves in
the hill area—the Puuc—of the peninsula and tried stratigraphic excavation in 10
of them. But the results were confused, and he came away disillusioned. He did
find horse bones in three caves (Actun Sayab, Actun Lara, and Chektalen). In
terms of their visible characteristics, those bones should have been classified
as from the Pleistocene American horse species, then called Equus occidentalis
L. However, Mercer decided that since the remains were near the surface, they
must actually be from the modern horse, Equus equus, that the Spaniards had
brought with them to the New World, and so he reported them as such.3
In 1947 Robert T. Hatt repeated Mercer's activities. He found within Actun Lara
and one other cave more remains of the American horse (in his day it was called
Equus conversidens), along with bones of other extinct animals. Hatt recommended
that any future work concentrate on Loltun Cave, where abundant animal and
cultural remains could be seen. It took until 1977 before
that recommendation bore fruit. Two Mexican archaeologists carried out a project
that included a complete survey of the complex system of subterranean cavities
(made by underground water that had dissolved the subsurface limestone). They
also did stratigraphic excavation in areas in the Loltun complex not previously
visited. The pits they excavated revealed a sequence of 16 layers, which they
numbered from the surface downward. Bones of extinct animals (including mammoth)
appear in the lowest layers.
Publications from the late
1950s reported results from excavations by scientists working on the Yucatan
Peninsula. Excavations at the site of Mayapan, which dates to a few centuries
before the Spaniards arrived, yielded horse bones in four spots. (Two of the
lots were from the surface, however, and might represent Spanish horses.) From
another site, the Cenote (water hole) Ch'en Mul, came other traces, this time
from a firm archaeological context. In the bottom stratum in a sequence of
levels of unconsolidated earth almost two meters in thickness, two horse teeth
were found. They were partially mineralized, indicating that they were
definitely ancient and could not have come from any Spanish animal. The
interesting thing is that Maya pottery was also found in the stratified soil
where the teeth were located.
It is odd that the "two Mexican archaeologists" were not named, but the reference for footnote 5 is an article by Peter Schmidt titled "La entrada del hombre a la peninsula de Yucatan." Other sources utilize Schmidt's study of the Loltun caves to draw conclusions about the chronological layers.
The aforementioned book The Ice Age Cave Faunas of North America, page 262, makes this statement:
1. Levels I through VII are
from the Ceramic stage, but extinct animal remains occur at the bottom of Level
VII. Note that the author is
utilizing information provided in Schmidt's report. This statement
clarifies that the extinct animal remains were at the BOTTOM of Level VII, which
is the possible demarcation for the Pleistocene Era. In fact, elsewhere in
this same text, it is asserted that, indeed, Level VII is Pleistocene in dating:
Thanks to the help of Chris Smith, who
provided scans of the text, and John Williams, who translated the text from
Spanish, I was able to obtain the pertinent sections of the Peter Schmidt text.
First, let’s review the portion of the previously quoted Peterson essay that
refers to this research:
Stratigraphic and
chronological sequences for the excavated units were established, but
contradictory data from the field notes imply possible mixing of biological and
cultural remains. The sequence as reported is as follows (Schmidt 1988)
Loltun
Cave is found at 40m. elevation in the southeastern portion of the state of
Yucatan., 7 m. south of Oxkutzcab. Several publications about the studies
undertaken on the remains from this cave are available, including Hatt and his
collaborators (Hatt et al 1953) and by personnel of the National Institute of
Anthropology and History (Velazquez 1980, Alvarez 1982, Alvarez and Polaco 1982,
Alvarez and Arroyo-Cabrales and
Alvarez 1990, Pollaco et al 1998, see also Chapter 10 of this volume). The
known stratigraphy contains sixteen levels; sediments from levels VII to XVI are
Pleistocene in age. (page 285)
“It took until 1977 before that
recommendation bore fruit. Two Mexican archaeologists carried out a project that
included a complete survey of the complex system of subterranean cavities (made
by underground water that had dissolved the subsurface limestone). They also did
stratigraphic excavation in areas in the Loltun complex not previously visited.
The pits they excavated revealed a sequence of 16 layers, which they numbered
from the surface downward. Bones of extinct animals (including mammoth) appear
in the lowest layers.
Pottery and other cultural materials were found in levels VII and above.
But in some of those artifact-bearing strata there were horse bones, even in
level II. A radiocarbon date for the beginning of VII turned out to be around
1800 BC. The pottery fragments above that would place some portions in the range
of at least 900–400 BC and possibly later. The report on this work
concludes with the observation that "something went on here that is still
difficult to explain." Some archaeologists have suggested that the horse
bones were stirred upward from lower to higher levels by the action of tunneling
rodents, but they admit that this explanation is not easy to accept. The
statement has also been made that paleontologists will not be pleased at the
idea that horses survived to such a late date as to be involved with civilized
or near-civilized people whose remains are seen in the ceramic-using levels.
Surprisingly, the Mexican researchers show no awareness of the horse teeth
discovered in 1957 by Carnegie Institution scientists Pollock and Ray. (Some
uncomfortable scientific facts seem to need rediscovering time and time again.)”
Now here’s the pertinent section from the Schmidt research, with important sections bolded:
Now let’s compare Schmidt’s statements to the Peterson/Sorenson summary of those statements.
Peterson:
"Pottery and
other cultural materials were found in levels VII and above. But in some of
those artifact-bearing strata there were horse bones, even in level II. A
radiocarbon date for the beginning of VII turned out to be around 1800 BC. The
pottery fragments above that would place some portions in the range of at least
900–400 BC and possibly later.”
Schmidt:
“But unfortunately
there are horse [remains] in layers VII and VI and also a very small quantity in
layer V, all three containing ceramics.“
My comments: While there is nothing in this Schdmit reference about horse bones above Level II, Peterson may have been referencing the earlier Mercer find. However, the horse bones from the top levels were identified as the modern horse, post-Conquest.
Peterson:
“Some archaeologists have suggested that the horse bones were stirred upward from lower to higher levels by the action of tunneling rodents, but they admit that this explanation is not easy to accept.”
Schmidt:
“Obviously there is some disturbance in
these layers. Rodents as well as the most common mammals from the cave stand out
in studies of the cave's fauna....
The stratigraphic and faunal analyses clearly establish that the excavated sediments must have accumulated from the Pleistocene era to the present, with heavy interference at least from layer VII on up. Only layer VIII remains a possible area of occurrence of both lithic material and pleistocene bones in a primary context....
What is clear is that the presence of the horse Equus conversidens alone cannot be sufficient to declare a layer as pleistocene in its entirety, given the long series of combinations of this species with later materials in the collections of Mercer, Hatt, and others. Something happened here that is still difficult to explain. Horse bones seem to have formed the last layer of the Pleistocene or Epi-Pleistocene in various caves, or they must have been dragged into the caves decades up to millenia later, something that is difficult to accept given the climatic conditions of the Tropics. If we postulate a longer survival of the horse than that of other pleistocene animals to explain this situation, it would have to extend until almost the beginning of the ceramic epoch, which would not please the paleontologists.”
My first comment is that the Peterson/Sorenson summary in misleading in that it states that Schmidt said the possibility that horse bones were stirred upward from lower levels to higher levels by tunneling rodents is “not easy to accept”. This is not true. Schmidt accepts that the tunneling rodents disturbed the layers, as does Mercer.
From page 118 of the Mercer text:
“Layer 3, one foot eleven inches to two feet ten inches think, and capped with a solid white bed of pure ashes.
We soon found that Layer 3 had been much disturbed, and notably by the burrowing of animals.”
It should be noted that the numbers of the layers vary depending upon researcher. Earlier, on page 116, Mercer defined “layer 3” as follows:
This seems to roughly correlate with Schmidt’s level VII.
Rodents heavily populated this cave and obviously disturbed the layers. What Schmidt referred to as “difficult to accept” is that the horse bones were dragged into the caves later, not that the rodents may have disturbed the remains. Note again: " Horse bones seem to have formed the last layer of the Pleistocene or Epi-Pleistocene in various caves, OR they must have been dragged into the caves decades up to millenia later, something that is difficult to accept given the climatic conditions of the Tropics." Schmidt is NOT saying that it would be difficult to accept that rodent tunneling disrupted the layers of the cave, and hence relocated the horse bones from the lowest level (the only level in which the bones were in "primary" context). He is saying that one must EITHER accept that the horse bones were in the lowest layer and were disturbed, OR they were dragged in later. The idea that they were dragged in later is difficult to accept.
The more fundamentally misleading context of the Peterson/Sorenson statement is that it implies that Schmidt did not believe that the horse remains dated from the Pleistocene era. Yet Schmidt made it obvious that he believes that the later layers were disrupted and that “only layer VIII remains a possible area of occurrence of both lithic material and pleistocene bones in a primary context.” This is consistent with the conclusions arrived at in the Ice Age Fauna text quoted above.
Hun horse
A frequently repeated argument among those who insist that the absence of evidence of the horse dating to the Book of Mormon time periods in Mesoamerica does not constitute evidence of absence is the following:
Accordingly, if Hunnic horse bones are so
rare despite the vast herds of horses that undoubtedly once inhabited the
steppes, why should we expect extensive evidence of the use of horses in Nephite
Mesoamerica—especially considering how limited are the references to horses in
the text of the Book of Mormon?
Consider the case of the Huns of central
Asia and eastern Europe. They were a nomadic people for whom horses were a
significant part of their power, wealth, and culture. It has been estimated that
each Hun warrior may have owned as many as ten horses. Thus, during their
two-century-long domination of the western steppes, the Huns must have had
hundreds of thousands of horses. Yet, as the Hungarian researcher Sándor Bökönyi
puts it with considerable understatement, "we know very little of the Huns'
horses. It is interesting that not a single usable horse bone has been found in
the territory of the whole empire of the Huns. This is all the more deplorable
as contemporary sources mention these horses with high appreciation."58
Daniel Peterson, Matthew Roper: Ein Heldenleben? On Thomas Stuart Ferguson as an Elias for Cultural Mormons
http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=531
A Hunnu princess’s graveyard discovered in
summer of 1990 in Mankhan locality of Khovd province has become the sensation in
the world of archeology.
Ever since 1924 when the graveyard of the
Hunnu ruler Modun Shayu filled with riches was discovered, this become only the
second time when the remains of Hun noble was found.
“We were really lucky. The graveyard was not
plundered. Though the wooden cover of the graveyard was demolished the coffin
chamber was well preserved,” says the Khovd archeological expedition head, Prof.
D. Navaan….
Five horse skulls were put on the northern
side to the burial, with one horse head turned towards the coffin. The number 5
was revered by Huns because of their special reverence for Cygnus Constellation.
One separate horse head probably belonged to the princess’ beloved horse.
Hun Princess Graveyard’s
Secret
Hunnu princess. Rock painting from Gobi Alatai province, Khanyn Khad Mountain
http://www.mongoliatoday.com/issue/8/hun.html
Matt also provided the following citation from Encyclopedia Brittanica:
In the 4th century BC
the Huns started to migrate westward from the Ordos region. By the 3rd century
BC they had reached the Transbaikalia and had begun to enter Mongolia, which
soon became the centre of their empire. Many mounds mark their progress. Those
in the Zidzha Valley lie at the same latitude as the Pazyryk mounds and were
subjected to similar conditions of freezing, which helped preserve their
contents. The richest of the excavated burial sites, however, are those of Noin
Ula, to the north of Ulaanbaatar, on the Selenge River. Like those at Pazyryk,
they included horse burials. The furnishings of one tomb were especially lavish.
The prince for whom it was made must have been in contact with China, for his
coffin was apparently made for him there, as were some of his possessions buried
with him (e.g., a lacquer cup inscribed with the name of its Chinese maker and
dated September 5, AD 13, now in the State Hermitage Museum). His horse
trappings (State Hermitage Museum) are as elaborately decorated as many of those
found at Pazyryk. His saddle was covered with leather threaded with black and
red wool clipped to resemble velvet. The magnificent textiles in his tomb
included a woven wool rug lined with thin leather (State Hermitage Museum); the
centre of the rug depicts combat, of Scytho-Altaic character, between a griffin
and an elk, executed in purple, brown, and white felt appliqué work. The
animals' bodies are outlined in cord and embroidered. The design on another
textile is embroidered in the form of a tiger skin with a head at each end. The
animal's splayed-out body is formed of black and white embroidered stripes.
Other textiles are of Greco-Bactrian and Parthian origin. In some of the
Parthian fragments, Central Asian and Sasanian Persian influences prevail over
Hellenistic ones.
Mongolian Huns
An Hungarian friend named Ludwig provided several citations that that pertain to this claim, from the period following the Huns.
Few cemeteries remained in continuous use all the way from the first half of the 7th century to the collapse of the Avar empire. Of the cemeteries discovered in Transylvania, only the partially explored one at Tövis may be assigned to this category, on the basis of a cast bronze strap-tip from the late period. The new wave of immigration had a dramatic impact on the pattern of settlement: most of the villages and cemeteries that existed at the end of the 7th century had been either reconstructed, or newly founded in the preceding {1-241.} twenty-five years. Rich and varied grave finds at Aranyosgyéres (where the previously noted burial with horse signalled the transformation) testify to a large, late Avar cemetery. The objects, all typical of the late Avar period, include both the earlier, solid type and later, pierced type of cast strap-tips and buckles with a tendril design; round and pendant belt ornaments with flowery tendril and lion motifs; diverse stirrups with flat footrests: pikeheads and war axes of diverse shape; as well as women's apparel, notably round and oval earrings with bead pendants, melon seed beads, and hair clasps. Some cemeteries, such as the one at Baráthely (no. 2), only came into use in the late Avar period.
On the western periphery of the Transylvanian Basin, around the junction of the Maros and Küküllő rivers, the graves of Avar military chiefs — containing horses and weapons — suddenly appear in the late Avar period, at sites that bear no earlier traces. Graves (with a horse) at Baráthely, Hari, and Muzsnaháza, have yielded stirrups from the late period, as well as bridles with curved sticks, cast strap-ornaments, and spearheads of a late type — objects associated with the Avar military class of the 8th century. At Magyarlapád, a grave with horse was unearthed at a spot between the Gorgány River and the castle; the grave-goods — stirrups with footrests that curve upwards, large, round, rose-shaped bridle ornaments (falera), four-arc harness decorations, a spear, and a war axe — date its origins to the last decades of the Avar empire. The grave is the only one of its kind discovered in Transylvania. Other traces of late Avars have been found in the lateral valleys of the Maros valley, areas that were suitable for pasturing and stock-breeding but had been sparsely settled. The traces include the contents of a grave at Lesnyek (Hunyad county) — a cast-bronze strap-tip, gilded in a floral tendril pattern, gilded bronze harness ornaments, and a silver brooch — as well as a belt ornament, with pendants, found at Szentgyörgyválya, in the Strigy-Zsil valley. Judging from these finds, the late Avars lived in an area only half as large as that of the early Avars.
By the 8th century, many of the regions that once enjoyed a central importance in the Avar empire (such as Fejér and Tolna counties) had lost their significance. Thus, in the Temes region, which in earlier times was densely populated, only a few finds testify to the late Avar period: griffin and tendril patterned belt ornaments at Denta and the Temesvár-Módosi bridge (five graves that also yielded horses, sabres with tendril-design belt ornaments, distinctive mask- and pendant-design belt ornaments, and a ceramic vessel, fashioned on the wheel, that dates from the late period); a turned-bone container for needles, indicative of a woman's grave (Perjámos-Sánchalom); and a few grave dishes made on a potter's wheel (Lovrin, Radna). The eastern part of the Great Plain, between the Maros and Fehér-Körös rivers, presents a similar picture: only the cemetery at Székudvar — where a grave (with horse) yielded stirrups and a fine, pierced strap-tip of cast bronze — betrays the presence of late Avars. The date of two Avar graves at Simánd is not known.
Apparently, the Ér valley remained an important Avar district. The two late Avar graves, found in a despoiled state at Székelyhíd-Veres-domb, date back to the turn of the 8th century, for their contents reflect the period of change. The first grave yielded remarkable, Oriental-style cast and pressed belt-ornaments and strap-tips, part of a wooden dish with copper straps, and a stick-shaped braid clip; the second, a distinctive stirrup and a straight sabre. An intact, 8th century grave at Érdengeleg-Újtemető yielded a sabre and a weapon-belt with a tendril-design, cast strap-tip. Sunken-floor dwellings that date from the late Avar period have been discovered at Biharvár; they contained horseshoe-shaped stoves made of stone or clay and fragments of mainly handcrafted vessels.
Concurrently, Szatmár, Szilágy, and the Szatmár districts of Szabolcs-Szatmár county — areas which had been uninhabited for close to 150 years — suddenly gained in importance. A number of finds attest to this change: at Sikárló a cast-bronze strap-tip, decorated {1-243.} in a tendril pattern; at Zilah, a large, silver-plated bronze strap-tip, with a unique decoration depicting a griffin as well as a big-toothed beast of prey falling upon a stag; from a grave (with horse) at Érkávás, a large, cast-bronze strap-tip (bearing, once again, the depiction of a griffin attacking a stag) and harness decorations; from the onetime Szilágy county, and now in a museum, cast buckles and belt ornaments with griffin decoration; and at Doboka, a belt ornament with a 'flat tendril' type, disc-shaped pendant. In the case of some of these sites (such as 'Szilágy county' and Doboka), it cannot be determined whether they are of Avar origin, or whether they are linked to the Slavic population represented by the 'mound' cemeteries at Szilágynagyfalu-Szamosfalva. Ornaments dating from the same period (8th–9th century) and found at Mátészalka and Záhony came from territories inhabited by SlavIn the 8th century, the material culture (especially pottery) of Transylvania's Avars and Slavs became so intertwined that the two groups can be distinguished, if at all, by the burial rites revealed in their graveyards. The fact that a Slav settlement may show traces of Avar influence does not prove that Avars had been present; it merely indicates that the Slavs had occasionally adopted the Avars' metal and ceramic products, objects that now identify a specific historical period.
*
The second half of the Avar period, like the first, can only be assessed in terms of changing patterns of settlement. Cemeteries must be excavated, and their size, composition, and stratification studied if one wants to gain insight into the structure of society. The different types of burials — with horse, with horse and weapons, with weapons and decorated belts — can all be found throughout the Avar territory, but the social status that they indicate will vary {1-244.} greatly, for the graves may hold members of the military escort of regional rulers, people from military frontier posts, village or other community leaders, heads of family or chiefs of clan. It is not possible yet to determine which of these social strata predominates in the graveyards discovered so far in Transylvania. The only firm conclusion that can be drawn from the archaeological sites is that at the end of the 8th century, the Avars were still present in the western Transylvanian Basin, around the middle Maros valley and the lower reaches of the Küküllő rivers; thus their area of settlement had become reduced to salt-mining districts of Torda, Marosújvár, and Kisakna. There are also Avar traces, dating from the second half of the 8th century, in southern Transylvania and the Szamos valley. Although these traces might indicate that the Avars had begun to exploit the rich pastures of these more mountainous regions, it is more likely that they were left by Slavic chiefs who had assimilated Avar ways.
From The Early Coexistence of Avars and Slavs
http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/46.html
In the case of certain isolated burial
places dating from the 9th–10th century — 'nomadic' graves, with horse and plain
weapons such as quivers and arrows — it is difficult, and at times impossible to
ascertain whether they are of pre-900, Hungarian origin, or of post-900,
Pecheneg provenance. According to the reputable report of Constantine
Porphyrogenetos, written around 948, the Pechenegs' domain had already stretched
at that time for fifty years as far as 'the lower reaches of the Danube,
opposite Dristra' [now Silistra] ). This, however, does not preclude the
presence of Hungarians, in the 9th century, in Moldova or in the Lower Danube
region. A number of finds are arguably of Hungarian origin. At
{1-278.} Probotă (Prut valley, north of Iaşi),
the incomplete grave of a man (with bundled horse-skin) yielded a quiver holding
seven typical arrowheads. Similar discoveries have been made at Grozeşti, as
well as at Moviliţa (Ialomiţa valley, north of Bucharest), where a quiver held
six diamond-shaped arrowheads. The report on a find at Tirgşor (Muntenia)
attributes Hungarian origin to a lyre-shaped, bronze clasp.
Moving westward from the Don region, the
Hungarians reached the Danube Delta between 832 and 836. Their temporary
settlement area, which they called Etelköz ('Atelkuzu'), eventually extended to
the valleys of the Dniester, Prut, and Seret rivers. The archaeological
evidence, though ambiguous, is probably indicative of their passage: for
instance, in the older section of the 'common people's' cemetery at Căpreria, in
Moldavia (shallow graves, on an west-east axis, holding personal accessories,
trepanned skulls, and 'Saltovo-type' pots), or at another cemetery in Moldavia,
at Braneşti, where traces were found of distinctively Hungarian rites. Some
graves, with horses, that are more likely Hungarian than Pecheneg have been
found in southern Moldavia at Friedensfeld/ Mirnopole and Sabalaţ/Szadovoj; the
grave at Frumusika/ Frumuşica yielded bow-stiffeners made of bone, an
iron-studded quiver, and seven arrowheads, all of distinctly Hungarian
character. Graves that are arguably of Hungarian origin have been found even in
Moldova (Holboca, Moscu, Probotă, Grozeşti).
TRANSYLVANIA IN THE PERIOD OF THE HUNGARIAN CONQUEST AND FOUNDATION OF A STATE
http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/52.html
Drawing of man’s grave with horse remains
http://mek.oszk.hu/01900/01993/html/index362.html
The best known memorial of this new epoch is
the small cemetery at Marosgombás. Its graves (with horses) are dated by
stirrups as well as by a more substantial type of food container that had lately
come into common use throughout the Avar empire. Byzantine silver and bronze
earrings and necklaces with star-shaped pendants date from the same period.
http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/45.html
The largest site in the Carpathian Basin of
Slavic urn-graves was on the south bank of the Nagy Küküllő, at Baráthely 2.
Moreover, that is the only confirmed site where a significant number
{1-253.} of Avars cohabited with Slavs: the
cemetery holds 36 graves of Avar origin (34 with skeletons, 2 with horses) as
well as 210 graves of cremated Slavs (34 in urns). The Avar graves are scattered
throughout the site, most of them in the alignment that characterizes the late
Avar period. Some 90% of the Avar objects found in the cemetery (stirrup,
bridle, cast-bronze belt ornaments, earrings adorned with tiny spheres, beads
shaped like melon seeds, iron strike-a-light, and pottery) came from graves that
held a skeleton. The rites, clothing, accessories and funeral objects are
similar to those found in other regions of the Avar empire, at cemeteries of
less wealthy, Avar villages dating from the 8th century. The find in four
cremation graves of an Avar earring with tiny spheres, a crescent-shaped earring
with silver pendant, an iron rattle, and some cast-bronze belt ornaments with a
tendril pattern is particularly significant, for it serves as proof of
cohabitation.
http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/47.html
Wisconsin Spencer Lake Horse Skull
Daniel Peterson, in the FAIR online video The Book of Mormon and Horses, made the following statements:
“There have also been some horse bones that have been radiocarbon dated to about the time of Christ that were found in the upper mid-west in the United States.”
“Preliminary reports seem to indicate that those horse bones do date, in fact, to Book of Mormon times.”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2986196945639217658
filmed in January 2006
This can only be a reference to the Spencer Lake horse skull. (Additional evidence that this is what Dr. Peterson was referencing can be found in this thread from Mormon Apologetics Discussion Board:
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=20220&hl=)
It has been long rumored within LDS internet circles that the horse skull was in the process of being radiocarbon dated, and despite claims of a hoax by some, would provide just the evidence Book of Mormon believers needed. The radiocarbon dating was being conducted by Dr. Stephen Jones, a professor at BYU, as is Dr. Peterson. Before sharing the results of those tests, a brief review of the history of this find is in order.
By K. Kris Hirst, About.com
One extremely persistent rumor in alternative archaeological circles is that there is evidence--suppressed evidence--that the Native American mounds of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa were built by Vikings. To support this premise, oddly shaped glacial erratics are thought to be "Viking mooring stones," various "rune stones" of very dubious origin are cited, and, as in the case of this story, there are rumors of horse skeletons which were found in mounds--and the evidence suppressed. One of the funniest stories associated with these Viking legends has to do with the Spencer Lake Mound in extreme northwest Wisconsin. There was, undeniably, a horse skull found in Spencer Lake Mound. How it got there is a tale worth telling.
The
Spencer Lake Mound is a large round, hemispherical burial mound, the largest of
several
mounds located on terraces near the shore of Spencer Lake, Burnett County,
Wisconsin. During the 1935 and 1936 excavations by the University of Wisconsin
at Milwaukee, excavators found a total of 58 separate secondary burials,
accounting for a total of at least 182 individuals. Artifacts recovered from the
site included triangular arrow points, a shaft straightener, red ochre, a
hearth, and a few sherds of Clam River pottery, which is part of the BlackDuck
ceramic group. Birchbark baskets and the claws and skin of a beaver were
recovered from the burials.
The
Clam River Focus was established by archaeologist
Will McKern, and besides Spencer Lake Mound includes the Clam Lake Mound
Group. The people who built and used these mounds to bury their dead lived
during the end of the Middle Woodland period, ca 500-700 AD, well before the
historic period--and, for those trans-oceanic Viking aficionados, a good 300-500
years before the Viking colony in Newfoundland called
L'Anse aux Meadows site was occupied.
During the summers of 1935 and 1936, the University of Wisconsin excavated Spencer Lake Mound. The principal investigators were Ralph Linton and W. C. McKern; their staff of students included A.C. Spaulding, George Quimby, David Stout, and Joffre Coe--all destined to become pretty famous archaeologists in their own rights. It was in the fall of 1936, probably, when a young college student signed up for a beginning anthropology course taught by Ralph Linton. The young man, who is known in this story only as Mr. P., had been an avid artifact hunter while growing up in northwestern Wisconsin. Conversing with his classmates in 1936, Mr. P. discovered that excavations at the Spencer Lake Mound the previous summer had revealed an astonishing artifact: a horse's skull buried deep within the mound.
This was quite a shock to Mr. P. After gathering all of his available courage, he went into Linton's office and confessed that in 1928, the then-teen aged Mr. P. and a buddy had spent an afternoon pot-hunting the Spencer Lake Mound.
The boys dug a sizeable hole, consuming the better part of a hot afternoon, without encountering any kind of a recognizable feature. They were about to backfill the opening when one of them suggested that they bury a horse's skull that lay along the edge of a nearby field a short distance away. This seemed like a brilliant suggestion to the undisciplined minds of the boys, so the skull was retrieved and carefully laid in an oriented position at the bottom of the excavation before backfilling commenced. Anticipation of the probable results of this piece of mischief somehow eased the monotony of the backfilling, and the miscreants mutually agreed that in about two hundred years some archaeologist would dig up the skull and conclude that he had found something really worthwhile [from Mr. P., Wisconsin Archeologist 45(2):120 (1964)].
Linton found the story amusing, apparently, and a mightily relieved Mr. P. went off onto a career of his own, outside of archaeology. But, either Linton didn't tell McKern about the prank or he did tell McKern but McKern didn't believe him. For whatever reason, over the next 25 years or so, at least three publications--and probably a few others--described the Spencer Lake Mound as containing an in situ horse skull.
In 1962, Mr. P., by then a college professor but still with an avocational interest in archaeology, dropped into the office of Robert Ritzenthaler at Milwaukee Public Museum, when the first major monograph for the Clam River Focus (including the Spencer Lake Mound) was being prepared. Mr. P. told Ritzenthaler about his youthful escapade, and
he was quite contrite about it and agreed to prepare a statement of the facts as best he remembered them, after 34 years. A copy of this was sent to McKern, who responded with a statement to the effect that he was convinced that the skull he excavated was not the planted one, but as there was reasonable doubt, he would make some revisions [in the monograph] and suggested that his statement be published. Mr. P., however, requested that neither his statement nor McKern's be published, a request that was honored, until the Griffin review. [Ritzenthaler, Wisconsin Archeologist 45(2):115-116 (1964)].
Enter James B. Griffin, undeniably doyen of archaeology for the American northeast. In 1964, Griffin wrote a review of the Clam River Focus monograph, and noted that despite the previous publication of a horse skull in Spencer Lake Mound, there was no mention of it in the book. And, so, finally, notwithstanding the high level of embarrassment suffered by Mr. P., with an academic career of his own to maintain, notes by Mr. P., W. C. McKern, and Robert Ritzenthaler describing the story above were published in the Wisconsin Archeologist, and the situation was resolved. Further evidence (beyond Mr. P.'s complete lack of motive for making this story up) was provided by Walter Pelzer, mammologist at the museum in those days, who looked at the skull and identified it as a western mustang, a horse imported for use on Wisconsin farms in the early 20th century. Pelzer also spotted rodent gnawing on all planes of the skull that suggested to him that it had been exposed to the weather for a while before being buried. Radiocarbon dates of the charcoal recovered from the mound provided a use date for the mound between circa 500-1000 AD.
At no point in these proceedings has any archaeologist ever believed the presence of the horse indicated early Viking presence in the American Midwest. The horse skull only suggested to McKern and others that the Clam River Focus sites (of which Spencer Lake Mound is one) dated to the early historic period (i.e., 1700s). But, because there are publications in dusty library stacks saying there was a horse skull in Spencer Lake Mound, the rumors continue to persist, I suppose on the principle that if it's in print it must be true. But no! despite what you may have heard, as far as the evidence shows, the only Viking presence in the Americas was a failed 11th century colony in Newfoundland called l'Anse aux Meadows.
McKern,
W. C.
1964 The Spencer Lake horse skull, Response to Mr. P.'s letter of June 28, 1963.
Wisconsin Archeologist 45(2):118-120
1929 Wisconsin archeology in light of recent finds in other areas. Wisconsin
Archeologist 20(1):1-5.
1942 The first settlers of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Magazine of History
26(2):153-169
1963 The Clam River Focus. Milwaukee Public Museum Publications in
Anthropology No. 9. Milwaukee.
Mr. P.
1964 A Burnett County hoax. Wisconsin Archeologist 45(2):120-121
Ritzenthaler, Robert
1964 The riddle of the Spencer Lake horse skull. Wisconsin Archeologist
45(2):115-117
1966 Radiocarbon dates for Clam River Focus. Wisconsin Archeologist
47(4):219-220
Having an actual confession was no deterrent to those determined to find evidence of the horse during Book of Mormon times, and their determination resulted in the offer of Steve Jones to have the skull radiocarbon dated. There have long been rumors that when this carbon dating was revealed, it would demonstrate that the horse was, indeed, from Book of Mormon time periods, as Dr. Peterson’s statement above demonstrates..s.
In reality, the radiocarbon dating results were in long ago. In fact, the results were in years prior to Dr. Peterson’s statement on the linked FAIR video. A book published in 2004 explains the results. Thanks to Chris Smith for sharing the relevant pages, which he discusses on his blog here: http://chriscarrollsmith.blogspot.com/
“In
this case those conclusions are testable. In 2002 I was contacted by Dr.
Stephen Jones of Brigham Young University, a researcher conducting a project on
the antiquity of New World horses. He was willing to provide funds for dating
the skull using accelerator mass spectrometery (AMS) in order to settle
questions regarding the skull’s antiquity. A single sample was removed by MPM
staff from the aboral margin of the jaw near the gonion caudale. It was
separated into three subsamples, one held as a voucher and the others
independently submitted to different radiocarbon labs (Beta Analytic and
Stafford Research Laboratories) for AMS dating. The samples were of
approximately the same size and yielded results in close agreement. Beta 167209
yielded an uncalibrated date of 110 +- 40 BP; Stafford SR6189 yielded an
uncalibrated date of 190 +- 35 BP.
From Alex Barker’s essay “Stewardship, Collections Integrity, and Long-term Research Value”, page 30 in Our Collective Responsibility: The Ethics and Practice of Archaeological Collections Stewardship.
end update
Deanne G. Matheny, in her essay “Does the Shoe Fit? A Critique of the Limited Tehuantepec Geography”, included in the book New Approaches to the Book of Mormon, also offers a similar critique of Sorenson’s evidence. We are left with the current dearth of actual horse remains in Mesoamerica. Therefore, we are left with this proposal: if the horse did exist in Mesoamerica during Book of Mormon times, then not a single bone or tooth from any of these horse