Matching The Book of Mormon Model To Existing Geography
The acceptance of the limited geography model by LDS scholars is now supported by a growing body of work that attempts to apply a "flesh-and-blood" reality to the cultures in the Book of Mormon (Smith & Reynolds 1997, pp. 259–260).
Unrelated to the geography but important to some modelers is current evidence of ancient writing. They surmise, there are only two regions in the New World showing the high degree of ancient civilization required by the text of the Book of Mormon. One of these locations is centered in South America in the region once occupied by the Inca civilization. The other is centered in Mesoamerica in the region once occupied by the Maya and the Olmec civilizations. Of the two, only the civilizations in the Mesoamerican region are known to have had a sophisticated form of writing (Coe 2002, p. 13). One LDS researcher, however, points out that even though Central America bore a large population during the Book of Mormon time period, there is no evidence of a large population matching the description of Nephite civilization existing there. Therefore, “Mesoamerican settings are not more favorable towards the Book of Mormon demographically, than Joseph Smith’s American Israelite setting among the mound builders.” As to the written language of the Nephite people, it was anticipated that their writing “upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away…”
The Limited Mesoamerican Geography Model has been critiqued, suggesting that it is not an adequate explanation for Book of Mormon geography and that the locations, events, and flora and fauna described in it do not precisely match (Matheny & Metcalfe 1994;Wunderli 2002). In response to one of these critiques in 1994, Sorenson reaffirmed his proposal for a limited Mesoamerican geographical setting (Sorenson 1994).
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