More info that shoots down the Mormon claims of the Lost Tribe of Israel.
Actually I was thinking that this will be cited as proof of the newly revised version of the claims from the Book of Mormon:
The lost tribe of Israel reference is of just one group Mormons claimed settled on the American continent. That one was way too early for that, assuming the 12000 year old numbers are correct. What you are referring to is what we (yes I am LDS) believe happened in 600 bc, that is a group of people from Jerusalem, from the tribe of Joseph, referenced here:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_ne/1
Much earlier, we believe another group came from the scattering at the Tower of Babel, referenced here:
http://scriptures.lds.org/ether/1
Even earlier, we believe that civilization began on this continent, and continued here, from Adam to the flood. It was when the earth was divided right after Noah in the days of Peleg that we believe there was a separation between the old and new worlds, referenced here:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/gen/10/25#25
I’m not here to argue my faith, I don't have the time I used to. I am just setting the record straight as to our beliefs about the timeline of some migrations here.
All the best.
As a followup to this, I will point out some interesting stuff that I’ve found in recent months.
The conquistador, Pedro Pizarro, reported in his account of the great Spanish invasion of South America in the 1500s, that while the masses of Andes Indians were small and dark, the members of the ruling Inca family were tall and had whiter skins than the Spaniards themselves. He talks of them having blue eyes, corn-blonde hair and white skins.
Read pages 36 and 37 of this book, “Indians in the Americas, the untold story.” It’s quite interesting, and it’s not LDS, but has many accounts of similar encounters with white skinned, light hair Indians.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Obgdz8auwkMC&printsec=frontcover
Also, there have been threads here recently talking about the mummies found in South America - on the Pacific coast, in the desert sand of Paracas, there are large burial caves in which numerous mummies have been perfectly preserved.
Some of the mummies were found to have the stiff black hair of the Indians, while others, which have been kept in the same conditions, have red, often chestnut-colored hair, “silky and wavy, as found amongst Europeans, they have long skulls and remarkably tall bodies. Hair experts have shown by microscopic analysis, that the red hair has all the characteristics that ordinarily distinguish a Nordic hair type from that of Mongols or American Indians.” (Heyerdahl, ibid., pages 351, 352).
Also, when the Spaniards came to Lake Titicaca, up in the Andes, they found the mightiest ruins in all South America - Tiahuanaco. They saw a hill reshaped by man into a stepped pyramid, classical masonry of enormous blocks, beautifully dressed and fitted together, and numerous large statues in human form. They asked the Indians to tell them who had left these enormous ruins.
The well known chronicler, Cieza de Leon, was told in reply that these things had been made long before the Incas came to power. They were made by White and bearded men like the Spaniards themselves. (Heyerdahl, ibid., page 253).
The White men had finally abandoned their statues and gone with the leader, Con-Ticci Viracocha, first up to Cuzco, and then down to the Pacific. They were given the Inca name of Viracocha, or “sea foam’, because they were white skinned and vanished like foam over the sea.
Also, here’s an old FR discussion on some of this stuff:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1714661/posts
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Both Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark said they encountered blue eyed blond Indians during their explorations, mapping excursions.
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