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Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon: Outlines Compared
by Raymond C. Treat

We are going to compare the major points in the outline of Mesoamerican culture history with the major points in the outline of Book of Mormon culture history (see illustration below).

We will see the remarkable fit between these two distinct culture patterns which will cause us to conclude that the matchup of these two long histories goes far beyond the realm of chance. This correlation is indeed a powerful testimony that the Book of Mormon had its roots in the people whose story it tells.

Although there was some printed material available prior to 1830 about the archaeology of southern Mexico and Guatemala, none of the information about Mesoamerican culture history in Figure 1 was known in 1830.

It should be made clear that archaeological evidence is of necessity fragmentary evidence. An archaeological site devoid of written records will retain only an estimated two percent of the total life of the people who once lived there. This means that most archaeological evidence is subject to more than one interpretation. This is less true of a culture history outline, however, since more data is gathered to construct it than any other single type of archaeological evidence.