Reader comments
Scientists mull findings at ancient settlement in Brazilian jungle

Alma chapter 50...?

DITTO BOM!!

Wishful thinking. It would be just as likely to be the Yellow Brick Road in Oz as it would be a BOM site.

suppose something was excavated that fit in with the ethnicity and culture of the BOM. What would it change? But, unfortunately the BOM itself says it won't happen. Members must live by faith.

For additional information about ancient urbanization in the Brazilian forest take a look at "1491". Wonderful read and food for thought!

Is this really news? I thought the Spanish mentioned seeing cities when traveling East from Peru along the Amazon.

Well, the Wizard of Oz is a fictional character and the civilizations in the BOM aren't. So logically it makes sense that it could very well be a BOM site. I would actually be interested in hearing what kind of evidence against the BOM you could level that would discredit it. My guess is you cannot because it's been around for 170 years and nobody has been able to disprove it since. So good luck, it's harder than you think.

Although I disagree with the tenets of the LDS Faith, I must say that there is a part of me that so admires a people of such perseverance. As a non-Mormon, one thing that has bothered me the past few weeks is this need on your part to "prove" your Book of Mormon to be true. When the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls came out many of you said it would "prove" many of your doctrines. Now the village in Brazil story is seized on as "proof" of Alma 50. As a Christian I do not need external proof for the deep faith I have in the truth of my religion. I accept " the evidence of things unseen". As members of a distinct and unique Faith, why do you seek a sign or proof? Your faith is just that...Faith. Embrace your beautiful doctrines and stop trying to convince others of what you should already have a spiritual knowledge.

If the civilization in question started 1500 years ago, that is only about 600 years too late for Alma 50.

It is possible that this site is related to the Book of Mormon, but you need to work out a geography for that. Most geographies people have worked out of late focus on southern Mexico and Guatemala, while others have focused on Columbia.
A related question is, was the Hill Cumorah in New York? You will say that obviously, since that is where Joseph found the plates.
However where does it ever say that the plates were in the Hill Cumorah. Mormon 6:6 mentions burrying plates in the Hill Cumorah, but specifically says that The record the Book of Mormon comes from was not put there.
Mormoni does not tell us where he put the plates since it is not possible to write of hiding the plates after you have hidden them.
The first actually connection of the hill where the plates were with the Hill Cumorah comes from William W. Phelps.
That said, the site in Brazil will illumnite our understandings of pre-Columbian America, but even if they find horse bones and metal swords (which the book of mormon does not really require on a llarge scale) it will not silence the critics of the Book of Mormon.

There's no way to prove whether the B of M is or isn't fictional. A lot of people have very strong beliefs, but nobody has irrefutable evidence either way.

This is a pretty cool story. I'm always interested in archaeology.

IF there were any BOM anthropologist evidence, this find is not one.

Check the Date. Even if it meshed with your BOM belief system it needs to be 2300-2400 years ago not 1500. Anthropology doesn't miss by 900 years this time. Believe what you want but do you always have to assume that scientists are wrong just so you can put another pin in your belief system?

When do you start finally looking for a little evidence to prove the BOM right?