Information from the 

                NATIONAL MUSEUM OF OF NATURAL HISTORY 
               Smithsonian Institution  Washington D.C. 

    Your ˙recent ˙inquiry ˙concerning ˙the Book ˙of ˙Mormon ˙has ˙been 
received in the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology. 

    The ˙book ˙of Mormon is a religious document and not a ˙scientific 
guide.  ˙˙The Smithsonian Institution does not use it in archeological 
research.  Because the Smithsonian Institution receives many inquiries 
regarding the book of Mormon, ˙we have prepared a "Statement Regarding 
the Book of Mormon," a copy of which is enclosed for your information. 
This statement includes answers to questions most commonly asked about 
the Book of Mormon. 


                             PREPARED BY 
                    THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 
                STATEMENT REGARDING THE BOOK OF MORMON 
                --------------------------------------

1.  ˙˙The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in 
any way as a scientific guide.  ˙The Smithsonian archaeologists see no 
direct ˙connection between archeology of the New World and the subject 
matter of the book. 

2.  The physical type of American Indian is basically Mongoloid, being 
most closely related to that of the peoples of eastern, ˙central, ˙and 
northeastern ˙˙Asia.  ˙˙Archeological ˙evidence ˙indicates ˙that ˙˙the 
ancestors ˙of the present Indians came into the New World -- ˙probably 
over ˙a land bridge known to have existed in the Bering Strait ˙region 
during the last Ice Age -- ˙in a continuing series of small migrations 
beginning from about 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. 

3.  ˙˙Present ˙evidence indicates that the fist people to ˙reach ˙this 
continent from the East were the Norsemen who who briefly visited ˙the 
northeastern part of North America around A.D. ˙1000 ˙and then settled 
in ˙Greenland.  ˙There is nothing to show that they reached Mexico ˙or 
Central America. 

4.  ˙˙One ˙of ˙the main lines of evidence ˙supporting ˙the ˙scientific 
finding ˙that contacts with Old World civilizations, ˙if ˙indeed ˙they 
occurred at all, ˙were of very little significance for the development 
of ˙American ˙Indian ˙civilizations, ˙˙is the fact that ˙none ˙of ˙the 
principal ˙Old World domesticated ˙food plants or animals (except ˙the 
dog) ˙˙occurred in the New ˙World ˙in pre-Columbian times.  ˙˙American 
Indians had ˙no ˙wheat, ˙barley, ˙oats, ˙millet, rice, ˙cattle, ˙pigs, 
chickens, horses, ˙donkeys, ˙camels ˙before 1492.  ˙(camels and horses 
were in the Americas, along with the bison, mammoth, mastodon, but all 
these animals became extinct around 10,000 B.C. ˙at the time the early 
big game hunters spread across the Americas.) 

5.  Iron, steel, glass, and silk were not used in the New World before 
1492 ˙(except for occasional use of unsmelted meteoric iron).  ˙Native 
copper ˙was worked in various locations in pre-Columbian ˙times, ˙˙but 
true ˙metallurgy was limited to southern Mexico and the Andean region, 
where its occurrance in late prehistoric times involved gold, ˙silver, 
copper, and their alloys, but not iron. 

6.  ˙There is a possibility that the spread of cultural traits ˙across 
the Pacific to Mesoamerica and the northwestern coast of South America 
began several hundred years before the Christian era.  ˙However, ˙˙any 
such ˙inter-hemispheric ˙contacts appear to have been the ˙results ˙of 
accidental voyages originating in eastern and southern Asia.  It is by 
no ˙means ˙certain that even such contacts occurred with ˙the ˙ancient 
Egyptians, ˙˙Hebrews, ˙or other peoples of Western Asia and ˙the ˙Near 
East. 

7.  ˙˙No ˙reputable ˙Egyptologist or other ˙specialist ˙on ˙Old ˙World 
archeology, ˙and no expert on New World prehistory, ˙has discovered or 
confirmed any relationship between archeological remains in Mexico and 
archeological remains in Egypt. 

8.  ˙˙Reports of findings of ancient Egyptian, ˙Hebrew, ˙and other Old 
World ˙writings ˙in ˙the ˙New World ˙in ˙pre-Columbian ˙contexts ˙have 
frequently ˙appeared in newspapers, ˙magazines and sensational ˙books. 
None ˙of ˙these ˙claims ˙has ˙stood up ˙to ˙examination ˙by ˙reputable 
scholars.  ˙No inscriptions using Old World forms of writing have been 
shown to have occurred in any part of the Americas before 1492 ˙except 
for a few Norse rune stones which have been found in Greenland. 

9.  ˙˙There ˙are ˙copies of the Book of Mormon in the library ˙of ˙the 
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. 


NOTE: ˙˙This article is an exact reproduction of a letter compiled ˙by 
The Smithsonian Institution that was received by Computers for Christ, 
and has been graciously provided free of charge by them. 

For your own copy, write to: 

 The Smithsonian Institute 
 National Museum of Natural History 
 Department of Anthropology 
 Washington D.C.  20560 


 Computers For Christ, Panama City, Fl.