The possibility that smelted iron either has been or may yet be found is enhanced by a find at Teotihuacan. A pottery vessel dating to about AD 300, and apparently used for smelting, contained a "metallic-looking" mass. Analyzed chemically, it proved to contain copper and iron. Linee, the same Swedish archaeologist who made that find, accepted a piece of iron found in a tomb at Mitla, Oaxaca, as probably refined.

Sigvald Linne, Mexican Highland Cultures, Ethnographical Museum of Sweden, Publication 7, ns (Stockholm, 1942), p. 132

Sigvald Linne, Zapotecan Antiquities, Ehthnographical Museum of Sweden, Publication 4, ns (Stockholm, 1938), p. 75

Metal resembling substance, small, irregular shaped pieces. Analysis has shown them to contain copper and iron, but no zinc, tin or antimony.

Metal resembling substance, small, irregular shaped pieces. Analysis has shown them to contain copper and iron, but no zinc, tin or antimony.

Of peculiar character are a rounded object, fig.236, and fragments of a circular plate, both from Burial 1. The latter, which has the appearance of rusty iron, may have been a mirror. Analysis has shown both of them to contain a large proportion of sulphur and iron, and they are undoubtedly iron pyrite (FeS2). There can be no doubt that certain pre-Spanish objects described as being of iron are nothing but pyrite. Weathering has made them look rusty.

1 object of pyrite, rounded and highly polished, fig. 236. Analysis reveals a high percentage of iron and sulphur: specific gravity 4.88

1 piece of pyrite, of rectangular shape and with one side slightly convex and polished; 1.3 x 0.9x 0.1 cm. Was no doubt originally set in the eye of a mask of the typeshown in pls. 3-5.

Metallic-resembling substance, small, irregular shaped pieces. Analysis has shown them to contain copper and iron, but no zinc, tin, or antimony.

2 bone implements, short and tapering, though not sharp-pointed. Have possibly been used for flaking off knives from obsidian blocks. Figs. 248, 254.

1 thin, flat bone object with a blunt point and a hole pierced for a suspension cord or the like, fig. 249

Of peculiar character are a rounded object, fig. 236, and fragments of a circular plate, both from Burial 1. The latter, which has the appearance of rusty iron, may have been a mirror. Analysis has shown both of them to contain a large proportion of sulphur and iron, and they are undoubtedly iron pyrite. There can be no doubt that certain pre-Spanish objects described as being of iron are nothing but pyrite. Weathering has made them look rusty. The diameter of the flat disc is 6 cm, which roughly corresponds to the average size of the Mexican pyrite mirrors included in Nordenskiold's study of convex and concave mirrors in America. Unfortunately the surface is so badly weathered that it is impossible to determine the way in which it is ground. Nordenskiold has, however, found that the majority of pre-Spanish mirrors - all of them from Mexico, Ecuador, and the Peruvian coast - are convex and consist of pyrite. In Musee de l'Homme, Paris, there is one which forms part of Charnay's collection and is stated to have come from Teotihuacan. Nordenskiold further adduces a Mexican picture-writing in which among other things is seen a man using a mirror. The picture-writing in question is said to originate from Cholula. Mirrors were naturally in great demand as an article of trade and even formed part of the barter goods with which the great raft that Bartolome Ruiz in 1526 encountered off the coast of Ecuador was loaded.

6 bowls with flat bottom, curving sides and exceedingly rudimentary feet, fig. 203. They are black, polished, and with a surface of almost metallic luster. One of them is ornamented with incised curved lines, fig. 217

"Domesticated barley was discovered in archaeological sites in Arizona and midwestern states twenty-five years ago, and it could well have grown in Mexico too."

"Beginning as early as 1955 I undertook to synthesize what I was learning about ancient Mesoamerica (that is, southern Mexico and northern Central America) into a form intended to answer the question, how did the Book of Mormon account relate to the civilization that once occupied that area?"

"Since the publication of his 1985 book, "An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon," he has been regarded as arguably the leading exponent for the theory that the book's narrative took place within a limited geographic setting. This contrasts with the traditional understanding of many LDS Church members over the years that the events described in the book transpired throughout North and South America."

• huge population "multiplied" across the land (v. 10, 23)
• great industry and building (v. 7-8, 26)
• complete peace (v. 2, 4, 13, 15, 20)
• little or no poverty (v. 4, 23)
• no slavery (v. 3)
• no racism; no segregation (v. 17)
• all were Christian; no idolatry (v. 2 and 3 Ne 8-9, 4 Ne:2)

I read the link. I have to admit, I've never heard of John Sorenson. My guess is that he has mostly published popular stuff in BOMS or similar places. I see he worked for a few months on for the NWAF... in 1953. It looks like it will be a very long book, one that will be hard going to get through. Some of his "correspondences" make sense in a general way. But others don't. One simply can't get around the fact that there were no elephants in Mesoamerica or metallurgy (at least in the part of it that he talks about) until long after Book of Mormon times. It might be an interesting book to write a review about.