An example of Book of Mormon evidences and the scientific method

Jan 2012

One of the goals of science is not to prove theories right, but to prove them wrong. When this happens, a theory must be changed or thrown away. It is important to report the results even if the outcome proved the theory wrong.

If someone does not want everyone to know that the theory was wrong, he or she might not report the results right away. What if the theory turned out wrong so it was thrown away but the outcome was not reported at all?

How does this matter with the Book of Mormon? Look at horses. Science maintains that horses in America had died with the large mammal extinction. They were not in America again until their arrival from Europe. Science does not support horses in the Book of Mormon.

Here is a little story. You decide if the scientific method was followed and if results were witheld or just thrown aside because they were not the desired outcome.

In 1935 a horse skull was found in a Wisconsin mound. In 1936 a college student found out about the skull. He confessed that when he was in his teens he and a friend had buried that skull in the mound. Like teens today, they laughed what someone would think if they found it two hundred years later but as an adult he wanted to make things right. The confession did not get reported right away. In 1962 the former student was now a professor and he wrote a statement of his teen mischief. Another professor identified the skull as a western mustang and noted that rodents had gnawed it, meaning it had been above ground for some time before it was buried in the mound. This backed up the confession.

The Spencer Lake horse hoax was finally exposed in 1964 in the Wisconsin Archaeologist.

http://www.archive.org/stream/wisconsinarcheol44wiscrich#page/n367/mode/2up

In 1967 radiocarbon dating results were published for the mound, showing it to be in the period from 500 to 1000 AD.

See Spencer Lake on page 9
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&ved...

There are people who need more proof when things don't agree with what they want to believe. The radiocarbon dates for the mound caused some to wonder if the horse skull was that old too, even after the hoax had been exposed.

In 2001, there were people trying to establish proof for horses in the Book of Mormon.

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=10&num=1&id=246

"Meanwhile, Dr. Steven E. Jones of the BYU physics department has for several years been tracking down horse bones in North America considered to predate the European conquest. Professor Jones's purpose for this search is to submit the bones to tests by the radiocarbon method (some of that work has taken advantage of assistance from FARMS). So far, one or more finds appear to be possibly of pre-Spanish Conquest date, although definitive results will take more work. Further work is being done by Yuri Kuchinsky, a researcher in Canada who has been pursuing a variety of other evidence, based mainly on Native American lore, about possible pre-Conquest horses in North America."

The Spencer Lake Horse skull was one of the objects to be tested. What if it really were as old as the mound dates? That type of evidence would vindicate the horse in the Book of Mormon. The outcome proved the theory wrong. The skull was not as old as the mound, it dated in the time period of the teen prank. For some reason the results did not get reported in FARMS publications at BYU, but the radiocarbon results were printed in 2004 in this non-LDS book:

Our Collective Responsibility: The Ethics and Practice of Archaeological Collections Stewardship, ed. S. Terry Childs, Washington, D. C.: Society for American Archaeology, 2004
http://books.google.com/books?ei=8Uf1Tsv8IIHZgAeDvri1Ag&id=RS5mAAAAMAAJ&...

Page 30 has the radiocarbon testing. Only a portion can be read at the online link. With the paper copy it says this:

“In this case those conclusions are testable. In 2002 I was contacted by Dr. Stephen Jones of Brigham Young University, a researcher conducting a project on the antiquity of New World horses. He was willing to provide funds for dating the skull using accelerator mass spectrometery (AMS) in order to settle questions regarding the skull’s antiquity. A single sample was removed by MPM staff from the aboral margin of the jaw near the gonion caudale. It was separated into three subsamples, one held as a voucher and the others independently submitted to different radiocarbon labs (Beta Analytic and Stafford Research Laboratories) for AMS dating. The samples were of approximately the same size and yielded results in close agreement. Beta 167209 yielded an uncalibrated date of 110 +- 40 BP; Stafford SR6189 yielded an uncalibrated date of 190 +- 35 BP."

Mormons did not notice this book and the people involved in requesting the testing did not print the results for other Mormons to see. Science worked, a theory was proven wrong but the results were not published by those who had hoped for a different outcome.

In 2005, FAIR made a video that included horses in America and the Spencer Lake Horse hoax was thought of as evidence for horses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkydMSmv1Zo&feature=player_embedded

In 2008, a non LDS post graduate student informed FAIR of the error and provided them with the source for the 2004 radiocarbon results. Why didn't those who requested the radiocarbon dating of the skull publish the results? Why is the video is still on youtube? How many Mormon friends and family might see this video and believe it?

imaworkinonit
interesting info 

hello
Re: interesting info
And thus, thousands of LDS missionaries will proudly tout the "clear evidences" of pre-Columbian American horses, "verified" by important scientists and university professors.
peregrine
Re: An example of Book of Mormon evidences and the scientific method
FAIR and FARMS are simply not doing science. Both grouops start with their conclusion and work to support it. You'd never see either group trying to disprove a BoM claim.

beeblequix
Good post -nt- 

anon for this
Re: An example of Book of Mormon evidences and the scientific method
Why is the video is still on youtube? How many Mormon friends and family might see this video and believe it?

Dr. Peterson admitted he made a mistake. The mistake has been on public display for almost four years. Last week the person who uploaded the video said they would fix it that night but did not. Is truth a priority to Mormons?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkydMSmv1Zo&feature=player_embedded

anon for this
Re: An example of Book of Mormon evidences and the scientific method
The video is still online even after everyone involved knows that it was a mistake. This is a great link to show Mormons and investigators the kind of evidence scholars have for Book of Mormon horses. It gets really good at about 0:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkydMSmv1Zo&feature=player_embedded

"Recovery from Mormonism - www.exmormon.org"