Irrefutable scientific evidence clearly shows that horses did not co-exist with Nephites or Lamanites during the Book of Mormon times. Mormon apologists stretch to come up with any explanation. their leading theory agrees with science on the one hand, that the horses in the Book of Mormon weren’t horses, but on the other hand, the theory doesn’t follow logic, because tapirs are not at all interchangeable with horses.
You see, horses were introduced (or reintroduced) to the Americas during the Columbian Exchange, which was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and culture between the Americas and Europe, Africa, and Asia following Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492. Horses were among the many animals brought over from Europe during this time, along with cattle, pigs, sheep, and other domesticated species.
The arrival of horses in the Americas had a profound impact on Native American cultures and societies, transforming the way people hunted, traveled, and engaged in warfare. Horses quickly became an integral part of many Native American cultures, and their use spread rapidly throughout the continent in the centuries following their introduction.
Horses Come Back to the Americas
There were prehistoric horses in the Americas. In fact, horses originally evolved in North America over 50 million years ago, and there is a rich fossil record of various horse species throughout the continent.
4–3m years ago: Herds of Equus simplicidens thrive in Pliocene Hagerman.
3–2m years ago: The first Equus horses migrate out of North America.
1.9m years ago: The ancestors of modern zebras appear in the fossil record.
~500 years ago: Europeans bring horses to the Americas.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/equus_simplicidens.htm
However, the last native horses in the Americas went extinct around 12,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene-Holocene extinction event, which also saw the disappearance of many other large mammal species like mammoths and saber-toothed cats. The cause of this extinction event is still debated among scientists, but climate change, human hunting, and disease have all been proposed as possible factors.
After the native horses went extinct, horses were reintroduced to the Americas by Spanish explorers in the 16th century during the Columbian Exchange. The reintroduction of horses after their 12,000-year absence had a profound impact on the cultures and societies of Native American peoples who encountered them. Horses quickly became an integral part of life, transforming the way indigenous people hunted, traveled, and interacted with one another.
Horses only returned to the Americas with Christopher Columbus in 1493. These were Iberian horses first brought to Hispaniola and later to Panama, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and, in 1538, Florida. The first horses to return to the main continent were 16 specifically identified horses brought by Hernán Cortés. Subsequent explorers, such as Coronado and De Soto, brought ever-larger numbers, some from Spain and others from breeding establishments set up by the Spanish in the Caribbean. Later, as Spanish missions were founded on the mainland, horses would eventually be lost or stolen, and proliferated into large herds of feral horses that became known as mustangs.
Evolution of the Horse, Wikiepdia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse
Prior to the arrival of horses, many Native American societies relied on foot travel or the use of dogs to transport goods and people. Horses greatly increased the speed and efficiency of transportation, allowing people to travel further and faster than ever before. Horses were also used for hunting, providing a faster and more efficient way to track and capture game.
Many members and apologists get excited with scientific evidence that suggests horses actually did exist on the continent and were integrated into native cultures earlier than previously thought. They are adjusting their theories that the horses were first wild and then adopted into the native cultures and stating that it occurred faster than previously thought. They are not, in any way, saying anything that suggests this happened hundreds of years earlier or that there is any shred of evidence that shows Horses and Nephits co-existed (or even a shred of evidence that Nephites existed at all for that matter).
New research suggests Native Americans used horses of European descent long before colonizers arrived in the American West.
Horses evolved in the Americas around four million years ago, but by about 10,000 years ago, they had mostly disappeared from the fossil record, per the Conversation. Spanish settlers likely first brought horses back to the Americas in 1519, when Hernán Cortés arrived on the continent in Mexico. Per the new paper, Indigenous peoples then transported horses north along trade networks….
Horses evolved in the Americas around four million years ago, but by about 10,000 years ago, they had mostly disappeared from the fossil record, per the Conversation. Spanish settlers likely first brought horses back to the Americas in 1519, when Hernán Cortés arrived on the continent in Mexico. Per the new paper, Indigenous peoples then transported horses north along trade networks….
The research “provides exciting new evidence” that “clearly shows horses spread along Native social networks in North America,”
New Research Rewrites the History of American Horses
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/native-americans-spread-horses-through-the-west-earlier-than-thought-180981912/
The introduction of horses also had a significant impact on Native American warfare. The ability to quickly move large numbers of warriors and supplies over long distances made it possible for some groups to expand their territories and engage in more frequent and aggressive warfare. The use of horses in battle also allowed for new tactics and strategies, such as mounted archery and the ability to launch surprise attacks.
In addition to practical uses, horses also played an important role in Native American culture and spirituality. Many tribes incorporated horses into their religious ceremonies and believed that the animals possessed spiritual power and intelligence. The classic images that fascinated the world of “Cowboys and Indians” battling on the plains represent the Native Americans after centuries of European influence.
Anachronisms
An anachronism is something that is out of place or time, especially in a work of fiction or a historical account. Explaining an anachronism to a young child could involve using examples that are familiar to them. For instance, if you were reading a book about knights and castles, and there was a mention of a character using a smartphone, you could point out that smartphones didn’t exist during the time of knights and castles, and that this would be an example of an anachronism. You could then explain that anachronisms are things that are out of place or time, and that they can be a clue that a story may not be entirely accurate.
Critics point to a number of anachronisms in the Book of Mormon that they believe indicate that the book is not an authentic historical record.
The biggest examples of anachronism in the Book of Mormon include mentions of horses, chariots, and wheat. Today we know that these things did not exist in the Americas during the time period covered by the book. Critics argue that these anachronisms suggest that the book is a work of fiction, rather than a historical record. For example, in this famous missionary passage when Ammon has just massacred the “in number not a few” men attempting to steal the King’s sheep. He killed six with a sling and the leader with a sword and cut off the arms of “as many of their arms as were lifted against him, and they were not a few.” This is a story of a Nephite serving a Lamanite King and tending to his horses and chariots in preparation for travel. This shows us that since he knew how to do this, it was a common practice to have horses and chariots, that they were used together, and that transportation was at least part of their purpose.
9 And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses. Now the king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land.
10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished…
12 And it came to pass that when Ammon had made ready the horses and the chariots for the king and his servants, he went in unto the king…
Alma 18:9-12
Apologists who defend the historicity of the Book of Mormon have offered several explanations for the presence of horses in the text, which are not believed to have existed in the Americas during the time period covered by the book.
Loan Shifting
When translators run into the problem of untranslateable words, they resolve the issue by way of several options–such as adaptation, paraphrasing, borrowing, and more. The same thing happens when people find it necessary to label new and unfamiliar items–what is known as cross-cultural onomastica (onomastica refers to the names we assign to people, animals, or things). Anthropologists and linguists tell us that when a society encounters foreign floral and fauna, they often “loan-shift” words–they expand familiar terms to include unfamiliar items. Loan-shifting can also happen during the translation of one language to another. Two languages need not resemble each other phonetically in order for loan-shifting to occur. Instead of creating entirely new words for unfamiliar things, sometimes people tend to “translate” new things into their own language by expanding their current words to include the new item.
Horses in the Book of Mormon, Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) (Faithful Answers Informed Response)
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/archive/publications/horses-in-the-book-of-mormon
Translators and societies encountering foreign items use several options to label them, such as adaptation, paraphrasing, borrowing, and loan-shifting of words to expand familiar terms to include unfamiliar items. Loan-shifting can occur during translations, where people tend to expand current words to include new items rather than creating new words. This doesn’t explain the lack of loan-shifting (sometimes in the same sentence as a horse and other anachronistic animals) for other creatures such as cureloms and cumoms.
If we are to believe the loan-shifting theories about horses in the Book of Mormon, it would challenge the accepted translation methods of Joseph Smith. Today the church admits that Joseph used a rock in his hat to translate the scripture. Joseph uses a method where God puts text onto a peeping stone in a hat so Joseph can see it and announce it to the scribe. The claims of his scribes are that the new text wouldn’t show up unless they had properly communicated and written the previous text down. This is not a traditional form of translation, so how can loan-shifting apply here? This would be blaming the loan-shifting on God. Does God know about the history of horses? Does he know what a tapir is? By this explanation, God made a mistake in giving the words to Joseph. After all, he did include words for animals that were not known (cureloms and cumoms), so why not here too? God would know that tapirs would be discovered and be named tapir in English, so couldn’t He have preemptively used the correct word!?
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.
Ether 9:19, Book of Mormon
Some defenders of the Book of Mormon argue that there are explanations for many of these alleged anachronisms. For example, they point out that the term “horse” may have been used to describe a different kind of animal, such as a tapir. In this view, the word “horse” was used to describe a large, hoofed animal that was used for transportation and labor, but was not actually a horse as we know it today. Because of all the irrefutable scientific evidence of horses not co-existing with Nephites or Lamanites during the Book of Mormon times apologists stretch to come up with any explanations.
A more likely candidate for the Nephite loan-shift “horse” would have been the Central American tapir.
Horses in the Book of Mormon, Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) (Faithful Answers Informed Response)
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/archive/publications/horses-in-the-book-of-mormon
This idea is fairly ridiculous though. Humans have never been known to ride a tapir or pull a chariot with a tapir. Which the apologists also admit, but then why are they listed as “horses and chariots” in the scripture? It is obviously inferred to mean that the horses and chariots are a pair or set used for transportation. If the tapirs weren’t used with a chariot, why are they listed as being needed to be prepared for the trip to another land? Apologists suggest that horses meant tapirs, but that they weren’t used for transportation. They suggest that a chariot is likely one that was carried by people. Would they travel long distances this way? Why would the tapirs and chariots be mentioned together so often? They follow some science evidence that there were no horses, but they fail to follow any logic in their scramble to find an alternative theory to reconcile the impossibility.
There’s a bigger question: who’s doing the “loan-shifting”? Mormons claim that the angel Moroni translated some pre-Columbian golden tablets out of “Ancient Egyptian” for Joseph Smith, Jr. So three parties may be “loan-shifting”:
- The Original Pre-Columbian Authors
- Moroni, Prophet-Turned-Translating Angel
- Joseph Smith, Jr.
None of these choices make sense.
- FAIR mentions that “Amerindians called European horses ‘deer’ when they first encountered them,” but you’ll note that Amerindians didn’t refer to deer as horses… because they didn’t have any contact with horses. So the pre-Columbian Authors, unfamiliar with Old World animals, wouldn’t have referred to the animals they knew by comparing them to animals they’d never seen. If anything, this loan-shifting should be going the other direction: calling Old World animals by New World names. Unless, of course, the author if familiar with European animals.
- Moroni was a pre-Columbian New World prophet, so the same argument applies to him. Plus, by the time he’s translating for Joseph Smith in the 19th century, we know the difference between a tapir and a horse, and have names for both. There’s no reason that an angel sent by God to translate pre-Columbian books into English couldn’t know the names of the animals he’s translating in English. Sure, if the translation were going on before Columbus, there weren’t English words for these animals. But by the time he’s translating, there are. Under what possible explanation can we explain him loan-shifting?
- Finally, Joseph Smith himself is a possibility, but he claims that he’s just writing down what the angel tells him. And it’s far-fetched to imagine him being like, “‘Tapirs,’ Moroni? Let’s put ‘asses’ instead.”
I’m fine with the general idea of “loan-shifting” in anthropology and cultural studies. People often compare animals that they don’t know with animals that they do (although in the case of the hippo, the Greeks used “water horse” to denote it as a separate animal than a horse, in the same way we say “seahorse”). But that explanation makes no sense at all here, and signals that even LDS apologists can’t defend what Joseph Smith claims that the angel Moroni told him in English.
Animals in the Book of Mormon by Joe Heschmeyer
https://shamelesspopery.com/animals-in-the-book-of-mormon/
Another explanation is that horses were present in the Americas during the time period covered by the Book of Mormon, but their remains have not yet been found by archaeologists. It is possible that horses were present in small numbers and were not widespread, or that their populations died out without leaving a significant fossil record.
Finally, some apologists argue that the presence of horses in the Book of Mormon is evidence of divine intervention. They believe that God may have provided horses to the people described in the book, as a way of helping them to succeed and fulfill their mission.
Comparing Horses and Tapirs
Apologists will swiftly compare horses and tapirs as large grazing animals with “common traits”.
Tapirs are one of only a few odd-toed ungulates–a family that includes the horse, zebra, donkey, onager, and the rhinoceros. These large grazing animals have common traits, including an odd number of toes on each hoof, a large middle toe, and a relatively simple stomach.
Horses in the Book of Mormon, Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) (Faithful Answers Informed Response)
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/archive/publications/horses-in-the-book-of-mormon
While it is true that horses and tapirs are both large, hoofed mammals, with simple stomachs, there are several significant differences between the two.
Appearance: Horses have slender bodies with long, slender legs, while tapirs have stockier bodies with shorter, sturdier legs. Tapirs also have a distinct snout-like nose that resembles a small elephant trunk.
Size: Horses are generally larger than tapirs. A typical horse can range in height from 4 to 6 feet at the shoulder, while tapirs usually stand around 3 to 4 feet tall at the shoulder.
Behavior: Horses are generally more social and are often used for transportation, racing, and other activities involving human interaction. Tapirs, on the other hand, are mostly solitary and tend to avoid humans.
It is not common for humans to ride tapirs, and doing so could be dangerous for both the rider and the animal. Tapirs are relatively small and stocky compared to horses, and they have not been domesticated for riding or other forms of human interaction.
In general, it is not advisable to try to ride any wild animal, including tapirs. Attempting to do so could lead to injury or even death for both the rider and the animal. It is always best to observe wild animals from a safe distance and to respect their natural behaviors and habitats.
The use of tapirs for transportation or labor is not documented in any known culture or society. It is highly unlikely that tapirs would have been used to pull chariots or any other type of vehicle in any known historical or prehistoric society. Tapirs are not domesticated animals, and their size and strength are not well-suited for pulling heavy loads.
Habitat: Horses are not native to the Americas, but were introduced by Europeans during the colonial period. In contrast, tapirs are native to the Americas and can be found in a variety of habitats, including rainforests, grasslands, and swamps.
Diet: Horses are primarily herbivores, grazing on grasses and other vegetation. Tapirs are also herbivores, but they tend to have a more varied diet that includes leaves, fruits, and other plant material.
Overall, while horses and tapirs share some similarities, they are distinct species with different physical characteristics, behavior, and ecological roles. It’s worth noting that while some scholars have suggested that the term “horse” in the Book of Mormon may have referred to a tapir or other similar animal, this remains a subject of debate and controversy among honest scholars and members of the Mormon church.
The presence of horses in the Book of Mormon remains a subject of debate and disagreement among scholars and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While some defenders of the book offer explanations for the apparent anachronism, others acknowledge that it is a difficult issue to reconcile with the available evidence. The most simple explanation is that Joseph Smith wasn’t translating an ancient record that included horses, but that he mistakingly included horses in a story he fabricated and attempted to pass off as an authentic historical document of scripture. The only recourse is to either place the anachronism question on the shelf or conclude Joseph made it all up.
More reading:
- http://www.mormonthink.com/book-of-mormon-problems.htm#didntexist
- https://weirdalma.bandcamp.com/track/tapirback-rider
- Anachronisms Found in the Book of Mormon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse
- https://www.statelinetack.com/content/general-information/the-prehistoric-horses-of-north-america/
- https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/horse/the-evolution-of-horses
- https://www.whickr.com/blog/how-have-horses-evolved/
- https://faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_examination/excerpt-who-is-doing-the-loan-shifting/
- https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/archive/publications/horses-in-the-book-of-mormon
- https://shamelesspopery.com/animals-in-the-book-of-mormon/
- https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Question:What_is%22loan-shifting%22%3F
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/triple-index/horse?lang=eng
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/native-americans-spread-horses-through-the-west-earlier-than-thought-180981912/