Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Sigvald Linné on Metallurgy in Ancient Mexico

It is common for LDS apologists to appeal to the work of Sigvald Linné to counter claims that the metallurgy in the Book of Mormon is a major problem against its historicity.


The late Evangelical Protestant apologist, Marian Bodine, wrote in her  Book of Mormon vs. the Bibe (Or Common Sense):

 

15. I Nephi 16:18, bows of steel? “Iron, steel, glass, and silk were not used in the New World before 1492 (except for occasional use of unsmelted meteoric iron). Nuggets of native copper were used in various locations in pre-Columbian times, but true metallurgy was limited to southern Mexico and the Andean region, where its occurrence in late prehistoric times involved gold, silver, copper, and their alloys, but not iron.” (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution)

 

D. Charles Pyle, in his response, wrote, in part that::


Swedish archaeologist Sigvald Linne would disagree with this outdated statement. He stated that a piece of iron found in Mitla, Oaxaca, was probably refined (Zapotecan AntiquitiesEthnographical Museum of SwedenPublication 4, n.s., p. 75). This same archaeologist also found a pottery vessel (dated A.D. 300) that contained the remains of a mixture of what appeared to be smelted copper and iron (Mexican Highland CulturesEthnographical Museum of SwedenPublication 7, n.s., p. 132).


I have recently acquired both works, to decided to reproduce the relevant portions of these works and provide images thereof:

  

In a grave-chamber situated in [Mitla, Oaxaca] were among other things found 20 bells and a number of tweezers of copper, part of a small, circular iron plate, a necklace consisting of small, perforated shells and a rasping bone. The iron plate is no doubt to be counted among the most remarkable objects that have at any time been discovered in Mexico seeing there is nothing to indicate that it is of post-Columbian origin (cf. p 75). Hitherto it has always been held as an axiom that iron was unknown to the Indians of ancient America. A clay vessel found in this grave was of Mixtecan type. In a neighbouring grave-chamber were, among other things, found a “metate” (grinding stone) with its “mano” (muller), and a large number of clay vessels referable to Period V. (Sigvald Linné, Zapotecan Antiquities and the Paulson Collection in the Ethnographical Museum of Sweden, Ethnographical Museum of Sweden (n.s.) 4 [Stockholm: Bokförlags Aktiebolaget Thule, 1938], 53)

 

The grave in question no doubt dates from the time when the Miextecs were in possession. The chemist, connected with the Instituto de Geología, Univeridad Nacional de Mexico, that analysed this object reports on it as follows:

 

Insoluble . . . poquísimo [Eng: Insoluble . . . very little]

Fierro . . . bastante [Eng: Iron . . . much]

Aluminio . . . poco [Eng: Aluminium . . . little]

Azufre . . . bastante [Eng: Sulphur . . . much]

Carbón . . . muy poco [Eng: Carbon . . . very little]

 

Unfortunately the above analysis cannot, however, be considered satisfactory. To the metallurgist, a quantitative analysis would have revealed the method iron was produced. The statement that the iron contained a considerable percentage of sulphur is not by itself of any great value as it merely indicates that the metal was extracted by a primitive method. (Ibid., 75-76)

 





 

Metal-resembling substance, small, irregular shaped pieces. Analysis has shown them to contain copper and iron, but no zinc, tin or antimony. (Sigvald Linné, Mexican Highland Cultures, Ethnographical Museum of Sweden Publication 7 [Lund, Sweden: Ohlssons, 1942], 132. This is part of a listing of objects found at a burial site at Tlamimilolpa)

 





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