Interview with Archaeologist Garth Norman (2nd from Right with colleagues at Izapa, Mexico)

Garth Norman is President of ARCON Inc. (Archaeological Research Consultants). After a recent visit with Scott and Marine Procter, producers of the Meridian online magazine, Garth was invited back to rejoin the authors staff and share more of his lifelong love of the Book of Mormon and discoveries gained over the past three decades since he last participated with Meridian in the 1980’s, representing the Ancient America Foundation –formerly the Society for Early Historic Archaeology and University Archaeological Society at BYU since 1950.

Q. When did you get your start in archaeology? A. My earliest exposure to the love of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith was a Christmas book gift “From Plow Boy to Prophet.” Also, finding Native American arrowheads while hoeing on the family farm in Paradise, northern Utah, got me into trouble for being distracted from my assigned task. In time I had collected a big can of arrowheads and chippings. My youthful innocence saw these as touch stones to Book of Mormon peoples, who were the Shoshoni Indians that my grandparents talked about in the early settlements in Cache Valley. From this, my curiosity for knowledge of the Book of Mormon never waned.

Q. When and how did this study interest blossom and grow?A. First, I must pay tribute to my father whose formal education was short of high school graduation because he had to work on the farm with his father. In my later years I came to appreciate the farming, carpentry and mechanic skills that earned him a “Ph. D. in the school of hard knocks” for a

noble life devoted to his family, community, and Church service. He passed these skills onto me –the most valuable prerequisites for the archaeology profession in which I would be able to specialize in structural archaeology in search of empirical data that can prove history. For me, structural archaeology is the reverse of carpentry construction

Q. Can you explain how that works?A. Carpentry construction requires carefully designed blue prints. Structural archaeology study of pyramids, architecture and topographic orientations required standard measures to develop formal construction design plans. I pioneered this discovery that tends to baffle some archaeologists.

Q. What specific methods and successes you use enhance other studies of Mormon’s history? A. My early archaeology education at BYU in the 1960’s sparked my Book of Mormon interest. Convinced of its authenticity, I never questioned Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon integrity—always committed to discovering its truth. Archaeology requires this approach to prove historic documents, followed by critical testing to try and disprove. My academic discipline pursued two BYU graduate degrees. First, an MA in Ancient Scripture while I taught Seminary and Institute for 10 years in the Indian Education program. Second, I earned an MS in Archaeology/Anthropology in 1980 during ten years as a research associate with the BYU-New World Archaeological Foundation, Izapa Project’s sculpture study. My life long archaeology career has explored high civilizations in Mesoamerica, in Peru, and Western US—Parowan Gap focus, as well as a number of early Church History preservation sites. The red stars (at right) show primary excavation research areas.

Q. What important discoveries can you share that help document Book of Mormon history? A. Knowledge of the truth, wherever it leads is most important. Let’s remember that many Nephite-Lamanite and Jaredite wars resulted in destruction of cities and perishable records of ancient high civilizations spanning some three thousand years. Identifying Nephite remains can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. The major Izapa Temple Center in Southern Mexico is a rare exception, preserved intact from its major Nephite era construction over two thousand years ago, deserving our rigorous exploration which is now in its 8th decade. Izapa’s calendar astronomy observatory, cosmology, religion, history, and topography map are yielding startling discoveries related to the Book of Mormon that I will be sharing soon. In the late 1970’s I discovered that the monuments at Izapa are aligned to the eastern sunrise or western sunset on specific calendar dates, primarily the Solstices and Equinoxes. A most breath taking discovery occurred at Izapa in the late 1980’s as I observed sunrise calendar alignments that measure the famous Maya 260-day sacred creation calendar. I have also discovered that everything at Izapa was built and designed using Middle Eastern standard measurements and geometric design, required by the Book of Mormon, that dates back almost 4,000 years. (Note: I have published six major works on my research and discoveries of the Izapa Temple Center: BYU-NWAF: 1973, 1976; BYU Press: 1980, 2015; Publications in Spanish with the Cumorah Press, Guatemala City, Guatemala: 2010, 2016.)

(Above) Outside Izapa Visitor Center with mural painted by artistIsrael Ramos, Owner Antonio D’amiano Atristain and wife Mirna.(Right) Most recent publication on Izapa (2015) by Garth Norman

Q How important is Book of Mormon history as another witness for Jesus Christ?A. Astronomy and Cosmology is very exciting to contemplate the vast expands of creation in the unbound universe. Abraham’s astronomy vision had it right—“stars as numerous as the sands of the sea.” But even more exciting to me is that the creator God of our corner of the universe revealed himself in person to the prophet Joseph Smith in the 1820’s and also through the Book of Mormon, before there was any developed scientific knowledge of geography and archaeology in the Americas related to it. But in the past century Archaeology has been writing the numerous regional histories across the Americas. Pres. Ezra Taft Benson in the 1980’s stated that we must “stop taking the Book of Mormon lightly”, so we can complete the Book of Mormon mission to the world outlined by Moroni on its title page.

Q. Are there upcoming Biblical-Book of Mormon restoration dates relating to Joseph Smith’s experiences to commemorate?A. 2020 will be the bicentennial 200th year commemorations of Moroni’s visit to Joseph on September 21, autumn equinox, that we will discuss in a future article. After reading the 1841 publications of John Lloyd Stevens’ explorations of ruins in Central America, Joseph shared extracts from Stevens on Copan and Palenque in September, then wrote his last editorial on 1 Oct. 1842, in the Times and Seasons titled “Zarahemla” on Quirigua, Guatemala. He then turned the editorship over to John Taylor who reaffirmed Joseph’s “Zarahemla” article exactly one year later on 1 Oct. 1843, in a lengthy editorial about the importance of Stevens’ explorations for the Book of Mormon. It was amazing in their eyes that such evidence for the Book of Mormon came forth so soon after the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in the 1820’s when there was no sustaining evidence prior to Stephens’ explorations to back the Book of Mormon history.

Q? Where are we now in this journey after two centuries of ongoing exploration to identify Book of Mormon religious history among America’s ancient ruins of high civilizations? . Conclusion. On August 24, 2019, President Russell M. Nelson arrived in Guatemala City to speak to the Latter-day Saints in“The Land of Eternal Spring.” , Upon arrival “his thoughts were with the ancient civilizations whose ruins still define this nation. The lands of Central America and South America are studded with ruins—remnants—of ancient civilizations. . . .One wonders what life must have been like among those people. . . .Add to that the message on the title page of the Book of Mormon, that it is ‘written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel,’ we not only learn more about those ancient inhabitants, but we learn that the Lord cares for His children in this hemisphere, both in ancient times, and in modern times.” He added “the Lord loves these people, and they love their Savior, their Redeemer and their Lord. The Church is growing in all of Latin America, and we are honored and blessed to serve along with them.” (Deseret News, Church News Saturday, August, 31, 2019)When President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Guatemala City Temple in December, 1984, he observed that “three fourths of the people in attendance were descendants of father Lehi.” (GBH Biography,1996 p.419) The Church has been sponsoring archaeology exploration in Guatemala since 1960 in anticipation of discoveries related to the Book of Mormon that are now developing. Exciting discoveries are continuing to come forth that will bear witness to the world of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Garth Norman’s most recent publication is the book below: Cubit Connection in Ancient World Migrations. www.garthnorman.com www.izapa.co (Spanish) www.ancientamerica.org

CUBIT CONNECTION in Ancient World Migrations. Evidences of ancient trans-oceanic migrations, as required by the Book of Mormon. Archaeologist V. Garth Norman has traveled world-wide since the 1980’s compiling data revealing the transport of ancient Middle Eastern standard measures (Babylonian & Egyptian cubits) and Geometry from 2000 & 600 B.C.E. by land and sea to the Americas and to East Asia/China that prevailed in Mesoamerica and Peru for nearly three millennia. Measures were being used to compose geometric design formats in ancient art and architecture in the same way in both the Old and New Worlds. 160 pages, 240 color photos. (Available on: www.amazon.com )