“All the great bows through antiquity were compound and made of bone and wood, but Nephi had something no one in the whole region had, a pretty special people in 600BC.”
Please, FastCoyote, do some opposition research before posting assertions that are so easily debunked. This took me about three minutes to locate. From http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/050801steel.html
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An interesting key to the problem is Nephi’s steel bow (1 Ne 16.18). My assumption here is that this phrase is meant to describe the same weapon that is called a “steel bow” in the KJV Bible. (I think this is obvious whether Joseph Smith invented the text or it is ancient.) The phrase “bow of steel” occurs three times in the KJV: 2 Sam 22.35, Job 20.24, and Ps 18.34. In all cases it translates the Hebrew phrase qeshet nechushah, which modern translations consistently, and correctly, translate as “bronze.” There is one other reference to “steel” in the KJV at Jer 15.12, also referring to bronze. The metal is apparently called “steel” in the KJV because bronze is “steeled” (strengthened) copper through alloying it with tin or through some other process.
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In other words, the translation of the Book of Mormon is accurate as to the terms used in the period in which it was written.
KJV: 2 Sam 22.35
35He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
NLV: 2 Sam 22.3535He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
NLV: Job 20.24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
NLV: Job 20.24 When they try to escape an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
NLV: Ps 18.34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
“In other words, the translation of the Book of Mormon is accurate as to the terms used in the period in which it was written.”
Well, I believe we come to a draw on this one. A bow made entirely of bronze is possible I find, so I stand corrected on that point. However you have the same problems as before, 1) why would the BOM be dictated in very poor imitation of KJV language constructs, 2) given the poor language of the BOM (monotonous “And it came to pass” typical of an unschooled writer, not an angel of God) it is quite clear that Joseph Smith was merely a very assiduous plagarizer. So, reference to a steel bow is merely reference to a KJV statement and proves nothing.
That said, Lehi’s ball and an ocean going ship built by land locked Jews in 600 BC must strain the credulity of even the most smitten follower of Joseph Smith.
What I find amusing is that you reference a “scientific” analysis here from a Mormon site, while we are often called to task for referencing anti-Mormon sites with much more damning evidence of occult and Masonic rites.