We are excited to revisit Dr. Michael Coe at his home in New Haven, Connecticut, to discuss some of the challenges facing Mormon archaeologists attempting to prove the historical truth of their central scripture.

Dr. Michael Coe is the Charles J. MacCurdy Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University and Curator Emeritus of the Division of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. He is an expert on the Maya, who inhabited the same part of Mexico and Central America where Mormon scholars say the events of the Book of Mormon took place.

Part 2:    • Mormon Stories #906: Dr. Michael Coe ...  
Part 3:    • Mormon Stories #907: Dr. Michael Coe ...  

Show Notes:

"Dr. Michael Coe, An Outsider's View of Book of Mormon Archaeology," on Mormon Stories
https://mormonstories.org/podcast/mic...

FAIRMormon's response to Dr. Coe's interview on Mormon Stories
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/b...

FAIRMormon's Open Letter to Dr. Michael Coe
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/a...

Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs by Michael Coe
https://www.amazon.com/Mexico-Olmecs-...

Angkor and the Khmer Civilization by Michael Coe
https://www.amazon.com/Angkor-Khmer-C...

"LiDAR," Book of Mormon Resources, February 2, 2018
http://bookofmormonresources.blogspot...

"Laser scans reveal Maya 'Megalopolis' below Guatemalan jungle," by Tom Clines, National Geographic, February 1, 2018
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/hi...

"History and the Mormon Worldview," Michael Quinn on Mormon Stories
https://mormonstories.org/podcast/267...

00:00:00 Introduction and opening remarks
00:11:17 A brief introduction to Light Detection and Ranging technology (LiDAR)
00:19:03 Why LiDAR results in Guatemala aren't proving the historical validity of the Book of Mormon
00:28:36 Could the Book of Mormon have taken place in Teotihuacán, the only urban center in Mesoamerica?
00:31:16 It was a common belief in the 19th century US that Indigenous Americans were the "degraded ancestors" of white people
00:46:33 Comparing LiDAR results in Guatemala to features in the Book of Mormon, such as roads and ramparts