Are there Book of Mormon Links to Peru?
By Ross Christensen

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Where did the mighty civilizations of the Incas and their predecessors come from, and what do they have to do with those of the Nephite scripture? Did the ancient peoples of western South America have any blood relationship to those of the Book of Mormon?

Let us examine some external evidences bearing on the question of whether Book of Mormon peoples from Mesoamerica reached Peru.  By "external" we refer to archaeological and related materials. Let us make a few typological comparisons, that is, compare things found in Meso­america with those found in the Central Andes, for if ancient Mesoamericans actually migrated to Peru many similarities must eventually be discovered.

As to physical type, that is, the form of the human beings themselves, there is good reason to believe that there is an affinity between the populations of the Peruvian area and those of Mesoamerica.  Some of them, at least, are rather close in physical type.

There has been something done by way of compar­ing the languages of Mesoamerica with those of Peru. As you may realize the linguistic picture in the New World is exceedingly complex.  Some authorities have proposed that certain languages of Peru are similar to and have a common origin with certain Mesoamerican tongues.

(Comparisons between the Andean area and Meso­america, both as to physical type and languages, are still wide-open fields to which a great deal of intensive effort by both Latter-day Saint and other students may well be devoted.)

As to culture traits, or customs, there are a num­ber of obvious similarities between Mesoamerica and the Central Andes.  For example, the subsistence patterns of the two areas were similar in many respects. They were both based on intensive agriculture. Heavy populations, made possible by such agriculture, were involved in both cases.  In both cases, irrigation was practiced wherever it was appropriate.  And, as pointed out previously, the subsistence patterns in these two areas on the one hand were distinctly different from those of the remainder of the Americas on the other.

The social organization of the Central Andean and Mesoamerican areas was similar at many points. In both cases there was a strong tendency toward cen­tralized government under kings.  In most other out­lying areas government and society are not anywhere near that complicated.  Instead, we find chieftaincies in some areas and in others, simple bands. 

In Utah, for example, aboriginal social organization did not even involve actual chiefs, not in a hereditary sense at least.  In the Eskimo area the social organization is very simple, extremely different from that of Meso­america and the Central Andes.  In those two areas of high civilization there was a tendency toward setting up a rigid class system in which there were various levels, such as kings, lords, nobles, commoners, and slaves.

The subject of ceramics is a complex and intri­guing one. (Ceramics include all articles made of baked clay, whether containers, which we call pottery, or non-containers, such as figurines, spindle whorls, and masks.) There are two places in the Andean area where strong resemblance has been ob­served between the ceramics of that place and those of Mesoamerica of Pre-classic (Book of Mormon) times. One of these is the Esmeraldas coast of northern Ecuador. Following is a partial list of similarities between the ceramics found there and those of Mesoamerica (A. L. Kroeber in American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 139-140, in a review of Raoul d'Harcourt, Archeo­logie de la Provinced' Esmeraldas, Equateur): clay fillets and buttons, flower-pot-shaped bowl, shoe­ shaped bowl, tripod bowl, high pedestal bowl, incising of small bowls, numerous figurines, seated figurines with forearm across knees or up, atlantean figurines, human face in jaws of feline, pads or cornucopia on side of head, "Neapolitan coiffure," coffee-bean eyes, necklace knotted with loose ends down chest, plaited screen on back, men's pubic apron from belt or string, 5 or 6 holes in edge of ear, numerous animal figurines, pottery masks, mirrors of pyrites, and mir­ror receptacle in shape of feline.

There are thus some clear resemblances between the ceramics of the Esmeraldas coast of Ecuador and those of Mesoamerica.

The other place that is important in this connection is northern Peru.  The earliest discovered civil­ization there is called "Chavin." There are a number of significant resemblances between the pot­tery and art motifs of that civilization and those of Preclassic civilizations of Mesoamerica.  The site of Tlatilco in the Valley of Mexico is important in this connection (Muriel Noe Porter, Tlatilco and the PreClassic Cultures of the New World, pp. 78-79):

The Chavin period of the Andean Pre-Classic horizon shares numerous elements with Tlatilco. These include artificial head deformation, stirrup-­spouted vessel forms, zoned decoration of pottery in a singular style, excising and rocker-stamping as decorative techniques, and the concept of dual­ism.  The feline motif so characteristic of Chavin style, is equally important in the Olmec culture of Mexico which exercised considerable influence over Tlatilco. 

Also shared are minor features such as clay stamps, hand-modeled figurines, mir­rors and whistling vessels.  In some cases the spe­cific resemblances are remarkable.  For example, certain sherds from the two areas are similar enough in decoration, finish and composition as to be easily confused.

It is thus clear, from these two instances, that there is some sort of historical connection between the cer­amics of Mesoamerica and those of the Central Andes and presumable therefore between the ancient peoples of the two areas.

Architecture is another interesting point of com­parison.  In both cases the typical arrangement is for the city to be grouped around the ceremonial or religious center, which is built on an artificial raised platform. Each temple or sanctuary within the center is built upon a further raised platform called a temple­ pyramid or altar-mound.  In both cases the ground plan is rectangular.  In both cases there is often a walled courtyard out in front.

There are also a number of arbitrary comparisons between the two areas in the field of religion.  The important feline motif (the puma or cougar in South America, the jaguar in Mesoamerica), shows up again and again in the religious art of both areas.  It represented the ancient Rain and Life God of Mesoamerica, who in the opinion of some LDS scholars was the resurrected Christ of Third Nephi.

You have undoubtedly heard of this Fair God of Mesoamerica, the one whom the Aztecs called Quet­zalcoatl, the god of priesthood and learning, who was conceived of a virgin after she was breathed upon by the Creator God, who was born among mortals, and who went away to the east and promised to return at some prophetic date in the future.

In South America also, but particularly in the Central Andean area, there is a parallel to this Fair God.  The name there is Viracocha.  The Inca Garcilasso de la Vega describes him as "... a man of good stature, with a long beard... in a wide loose robe like a cassock, reaching to the feet" (Royal Commentaries of the Ynacs, Vol. 2, p. 70. Trans­lated by C. R. Markham).  He was speaking of a cer­tain idol of that deity that existed south of Cuzco. Others mention having seen the same statue in the early days of the Spanish conquest.

Route and Dates of Migrations.  And now a word as to the route and means of the migrations from Mesoamerica to the Central Andean area of South America: They undoubtedly took place by means of seagoing craft sailed along the western or Pacific coast of the intervening territory.  I much prefer this view to the theory that the contact was by land; the overland theory seems very difficult to me.

Conclusion.  The question has been asked, "Did Book of Mormon peoples reach Peru?" My answer is yes.  Book of Mormon peoples, that is, col­onists from Mesoamerica, did reach the coasts of Ecua­dor and Peru. The ancient civilized peoples of those countries were therefore Book of Mormon peoples, even though the actual events of the Book took place in Meso­America.

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