Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church Simon G Southerton Signature Books, 2004
Southerton’s Ph.D is in plant science, he specialises in the molecular biology of forest trees, has published in a range of international journals. He served a mission in his native Australia and was a Bishop.
The book initially presents an overview of the church’s view of the Book of Mormon and its relationship with native American Indians for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with Mormonism. He then outlines the history of mankind from a Biblical view of commencing with Adam and Eve 6,000 years ago, then the flood 1500 years later, from which migrations are then supposed to have occurred including the mythical loss of ten tribes of Israel.
He highlights the serious challenges associated with the flood model of dispersion, for example the ageing of human existence is ridiculously short in time compared to scientific knowledge from archaeological evidence of human remains and activity determined by dendrochronology, (wood rings, that can help date artefacts up to 13,000 years) stratigraphy (dating soil layers), carbon dating and most recently genetics. As western civilisations settled America knowledge of indigenous populations the length and breadth of both continents north and south during the 18th & 19th century created a puzzle for Judeo-Christian cultures. Why? Because they could not adequately account for the existence of Native Americans.
The Biblical position determines that humanities roots post flood are derived from either of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was married to Egyptus a descendant of Cain, marked by a dark skin and prohibited from holding the priesthood. How did Native Americans migrate from the middle east to the American continent in such great numbers and who are they related to?
Theories of Native Americans were proposed based on Biblical logic and evidence apparent to observers, of which I will highlight just one which is pertinent to its parallels with the Book of Mormon. The Indians appeared savage and backward in their cultural behaviours including illiteracy and technologies, immediately feeding a western narrative of racial superiority. Archaeological evidence from one example, the Mound builders of Ohio unearthed knowledge of metallurgy that was no longer evident and heaps of bones that were misinterpreted as mass burials, suggesting massacres on a large scale. These were in fact burial practices associated with honouring their ancestors and metallurgy was possible due to sparse sources of very pure ore that were unknown.
Hypotheses arose from evidence appearing to suggest native Americans were a civilisation in decline, certainly in North East America, one of the most influential being they were members of the lost tribes of Israel, that there must have been two divisions among them, one agrarian and technologically advanced, the other primitive hunters, with the former being extinguished by the latter. Classic Book of Mormon scenario! But did Mormon scripture consolidate 19th century thought or was it influenced by it?
Molecular genealogies strongly indicate that the Haplogroups ( a genetic population group of people who share a common ancestor on either their paternal or maternal line )of native Americans are predominantly, even arguably exclusively East Asian in origin. There is a dearth of evidence associating them with near Middle Eastern populations. This is one reason behind diminishing the claim of The Book of Mormon’s Introduction page (native Americans are among rather than principle descendants of the Lamanites – 2007 edition) and the necessity of apologists to severely reduce the scale of Lehi’s expansion and area of settlement.
The broader discussions were extremely engaging, I appreciated Southerton’s ability to make technical knowledge of genetics accessible to non specialists, the whole book is illuminating. The author discusses and examines evidence alongside Mormon claims including apologetic responses, by the end the reader is left in no doubt as to the scientific verdict on Book of Mormon claims.
Simon Southerton features in a number of Mormon Stories episodes with John Dehlin, including a recent series comparing Biblical and religious claims with science. He is a close associate of Thomas Murphy who specialises in Native American culture.