Why Diffusionists Have a Bad Name

I happen to believe that diffusionism is a valid hypothesis and I think it's received a bad rap from traditional archaeologists who spout off about "simultaneous invention" when, every day, more evidence comes to light showing contact (sometimes extensive) between old world civilizations that weren't supposed to have been in contact with each other, and between old world and new world. When religious beliefs get thrown into the mix, however, all bets are off. This article demonstrates one reason why diffusionism has been discounted by scientists and given a bad name. Special Report Mormons, Mayans and Mystery The Book of Mormon's version of history continues to be challenged - and championed - by skeptics and faithful By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 11/17/2007 12:50:39 AM MST LDS biologist Trent Stephens thinks he may have triggered the change in the Book of Mormon's introduction that became public last week. Stephens' efforts came after a lifetime of hearing Mormon leaders and members talk in glowing terms about the link between American Indians and the Book of Mormon's small band of Israelites who sailed from Jerusalem to establish a civilization in the Americas. After centuries of warring among themselves, the book says, the last ones standing were known as "Lamanites." To the LDS faithful, Lamanites were real people with a real history. Every Mormon prophet since the church's founding in 1830 has taught that Indians descended from Lamanites. The perceived link explains the church's initial outreach to Indians in the northeast and later in Utah. It is why the church created an Indian Placement Program, urging members in the 1950s to care for those they saw as part of their religious family. Mormon missionaries working in Central and South America have always told potential converts the Book of Mormon is their ancestors' story. Sometime in the past decade, Stephens learned about DNA evidence suggesting American Indian origins were in Siberia, not the Middle East. It was no crisis of faith for Stephens, a former Mormon bishop and Idaho State University professor. He found lots of ways to explain the discrepancy. Besides, Book of Mormon Text makes no claim about lineage. The book's 1981 introduction was the only text that said "Lamanites were the principal ancestors of American Indians," and that could be changed. On March 23, 2004, Stephens told his LDS stake president in Pocatello that critics were using DNA evidence against the book, pointing to the introduction's wording. The leader recognized the problem and took it to the LDS Area Authorities, who took it to the LDS Missionary Committee in Salt Lake City. Sometime last year, LDS authorities instructed Doubleday, which published the only unofficial version of the Book of Mormon, to change its introduction to read: "Lamanites were among the ancestors of the American Indians." The move didn't satisfy critics, such as Simon Southerton, a former Mormon excommunicated for the arguments in his book, Losing a Lost Tribe: DNA, Native Americans and the Mormon Church. "The change raises more pressing questions for those seeking the truth. If science was right all along about the dominant Siberian ancestry of American Indians, are they also right about the timing of their entry?" Southerton wrote in an e-mail from his home in Australia. "There is abundant evidence, some now coming from the DNA research, that their Siberian ancestors arrived over 12,000 years ago. How does such a date fit with other LDS beliefs?" Rest of article.