New App Offers Mormon-Inspired Claims about the Real Origins of Hopewell Mounds

2/3/2015

Today I’d like to share a depressing new app that’s promoting pseudoscience and Mormon archaeology in the guise of serving as a guide to ancient America. The app, called Heartland Art, comes from artist David Lindsley, best known for his portraits of Jesus Christ and Mormon prophet Joseph Smith. The app uses some of the greatest hits of Mormon archaeology and fringe history to claim a connection between the Hopewell culture and Europeans, including the haplogroup X DNA results that were debunked ages ago and the allegedly “menorah”-shaped earthwork construction in Ohio featured last year on America Unearthed.

Check out the links in the links section of the Heartland Art page: They go to Mormon apology websites and other pseudoscience, by and large.

Note that while the Heartland Art webpage links to the site of the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy, a legitimate preservationist group with archaeologists on their board, it is not affiliated with the Conservancy.

If you go to the Book of Mormon Evidence link on the site, you’ll see that the “Heartland” name appears there as well, as part of Mormon apologist Rod Meldrum’s “Book of Mormon Evidence and ‘Heartland’ Research Tours and Cruises” (as he punctuates it). “Heartland” is his brand:

Join the hundreds of LDS faithful who have experienced the ultimate in LDS educational touring - and now CRUISING - with one of the "Heartland" geography's most knowledgable (sic) and enjoyable hosts... Book of Mormon geography expert, researcher, author and lecturer Rod Meldrum. Rod has teamed up with Legacy Tours and Travel and Cruise Lady to share wonderful opportunities to learn about and experience these sacred sites.

Meldrum is the founder of the Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism, the group which last year endorsed Scott Wolter for providing “revolutionary” new evidence of Old World contact with the Americas, claiming that his “scientific findings are now validating the claims of the Book of Mormon.”

According to an email published online, Meldrum claims that God made him abandon his career to devote himself full time to making money by selling materials related to proving the Book of Mormon happened in the United States.

It’s particularly interesting that Meldrum aims his pseudoscience squarely at the interior of the United States, the “heartland,” and he does not hide the fact that his primary audience is nationalist and conservative. Consider this paragraph about his upcoming fifteenth Book of Mormon Evidence Conference, to be held in April. It is a conflation of a number of conspiracy and “prepper” claims popular with the nationalist right-wing fringe masquerading as a celebration of Mormonism:

Overwhelming new evidence from multiple fields is now indicating that the Book of Mormon history took place in what is now the Heartland of America. Entire families can now join in on this incredible learning opportunity with new research and evidences that the Book of Mormon lands were right here on the Promised Land of the United States of America. Over 100 classes are being offered on the US Constitution, health and wellness, preparedness, personal protection, alternative medicines, first-aid, food preservation, gardening and more!

What would constitutional law have to do with proving that Jews colonized America in the Dark Ages? What impact would evidence that the Book of Mormon really happened have on the need to engage in personal security measures and prepping for some undefined disaster?

Now here’s where the confounding part comes in: Meldrum’s view that the Book of Mormon takes place in the heartland of America, particularly around the Great Lakes, isn’t held by all Mormons. The Mormons have a range of views, and a large number reject the “heartland” theory for exhaustive reasons. Another is the “Limited Geography Theory,” which holds that the Book of Mormon takes place in Central America. Supporters of the heartland and Central American hypotheses have battled one another for years now, each accusing the other of underhanded tactics, ignorance, fabricating evidence, and general nastiness.

35 Comments

2/3/2015 02:56:05 am

http://www.heartlandart.us/images/1003b.jpg

Thank you, Jason! :)

Shane Sullivan

2/3/2015 07:34:15 am

You and your anti-Mormon rhetoric of posting pictures hosted on Mormon websites...

2/3/2015 07:56:45 am

Nevermind all that, how awesome is the painting itself?

An Israelite viking holding high a proto-American flag with mysterious runes all over it!!!

How the hell is it not a comic book franchise?!

Scott Hamilton

2/3/2015 09:48:14 am

It was.

http://mormoniplates.blogspot.com

Though I can't say for sure if they covered that scene from the Book of Alma.

2/3/2015 10:08:47 am

They could fight that one giant with the long black hair and the copper crown!

2/3/2015 10:33:16 am

OMG, you mean one from Pravda?! :D

2/3/2015 10:44:05 am

That's the one.

2/3/2015 10:59:48 am

For those just tuning in, allow me share the joy (discovered via a blog post of Jason's from a few months back):

http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/01-02-2007/86972-giants-0/

"The Detroit Free Press reported in 1884 the discovery in Gartersville, Mississippi of the remains of a giant with waist-length jet-black hair. He was wearing a copper crown. With him in his timber burial vault were his children who wore garments decorated with bone beads. The tomb was covered with large flagstones engraved with inscriptions. In Cayuga, Niagra there is a place called "The Cemetary of the Giants" which was discovered in 1880. Those giants were 9 feet tall and appear to have died violent deaths. Their axes were found with them."

It is not physically possible to get any more metal than that.

Matt Mc

2/3/2015 11:12:54 am

I beg to differ EP, Lemmy is in fact more metal than that

2/4/2015 02:00:32 pm

I must admit, I do picture the Pravda giant as Lemmy with Conan's physique :)

Carlos Hernandez

2/13/2019 03:19:58 am

Native Americans are NOT Jews or Israelites or Hebrew whatever they are all anti that if not super anti that. They Are Gentiles if not Super Gentiles themselves Nothing Else ever Ever. The Vikings are also Gentiles not Jews either. These Hebraic liars like mormons all them are all Liars and Super Wrong.

JLH

2/9/2015 01:53:47 am

Oh man, that's all kinds of awesome. I suggest for the comic that the horn on his side should summon a horde of pygmies astride dog-sized triceratops; Horn of Tiny Doom. +1.

2/3/2015 03:37:23 am

"What would constitutional law have to do with proving that Jews colonized America in the Dark Ages? What impact would evidence that the Book of Mormon really happened have on the need to engage in personal security measures and prepping for some undefined disaster?"

I believe they're referencing the White Horse prophecy, the idea that someday the United States Constitution will "hang by a thread" and the US will be saved by a Mormon "White Horse." Proving the earlier parts of the Book of Mormon true presumably increases the credibility of the prophecy in these people's eyes.

2/3/2015 03:49:20 am

I don't get this whole White Horse thing, now I did grow up in the inner city in Washington DC, but I my world White Horse always ment Heroin.

So my take on the whole white horse thing is that the Mormons are going to save everyone by getting them hooked on Heroin

Only Me

2/3/2015 05:57:15 am

"If you wanna ride,
Don't ride the White Horse!"

---Laid Back, 1983

2/3/2015 10:10:18 am

"Supporters of the heartland and Central American hypotheses have battled one another for years now, each accusing the other of underhanded tactics, ignorance, fabricating evidence, and general nastiness."

Something tells me they're both right.

2/3/2015 10:23:05 am

Surprisingly, no. The "Heartland" people are much, much worse.

2/3/2015 05:54:34 pm

The general nastiness I had in mind was the traditional Mormon view that the Native Americans were dastardly Israelites cursed for their wickedness with dark skin. But maybe adherents of the Central American hypothesis (whatever they're called) don't think that.

2/4/2015 02:53:38 am

Mainstream Mormons, including the really orthodox ones, are surprisingly chill given what one might expect based on their scriptures. They tend to move away rather easily from the errors of their past. The Heartland people are those who are more stubborn in that regard.

2/4/2015 10:20:48 am

Yeah, I have a neighbor who's Mormon, and she's cool (even though, on an unrelated note, she's really into ineffective alternative medicine), but Lamanite thing is a sore subject for me. Forgive me if I came off as presumptuous.

2/4/2015 01:55:36 pm

Completely understandable. Unless you're the Mormon version of "Truth", that is... :)

Crash55

2/3/2015 10:22:04 am

Maybe Scott Wolter can be the next one to make an app. He can lead us to all the runstones, Hooked X's, and others related Templar Stuff to show us the try history of the US.

Not sure which of the two apps would make me lose faith in humanity quicker

Starbats link

2/3/2015 12:10:15 pm

When you think Mormon think Mountain Meadows Massacre.

2/4/2015 01:56:27 pm

That's quite an alliteration. Mormons are obviously Templars.

I just blew your minds :)

Jarrod Burks link

2/3/2015 12:23:37 pm

Greetings all. I am the president of the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy, one of the archaeologists who Jason mentions as being on the group's Board. When I was told about this Heartlands app and the tie to a Mormon website this week, I was quite surprised, shocked, horrified, and dismayed...all at the same time! We have worked quite hard to raise awareness about these ancient American Indian monumental constructions, and it is a real shame to see people attempting to erroneously lay claim to a past that clearly is not their own. I can assure everybody that no Mormon artifacts have ever been found by an archaeologist at an Ohio earthwork or mound site. Nearly 200 years of scholarly and archaeological investigations have yielded but one source for the construction of these amazing earthworks and mounds: the ancestors of American Indians. While I invite all to Ohio to appreciate these wonderful monuments, I think that we need to remember that the debate about who built the mounds was waged way back in the 19th century...and even then, long before modern archaeological investigative techniques were in use, the answer to the question of who built the mounds was obvious, as it is today--the ancestors to today's American Indians built the great mounds and earthworks of the eastern United States, including those in Ohio.

McSion Descendant

2/3/2015 12:32:41 pm

Join the club. Marine biologists don't know anything about the existence of the Loch Ness Monster.

2/3/2015 12:32:56 pm

2/3/2015 12:41:22 pm

Mr. Burks (may I call you Jerrod?), surely you have some experience with (or at least awareness of) the pseudo-historical appropriation of the mounds in contemporary frindge scholarship (usually in service of some unsavory religious or racial agenda).

If so, any (horror) stories you may have would be most appreciated!

Clint Knapp

2/3/2015 05:11:17 pm

Thanks for the comments and lending the voice of an expert to the whole ordeal, Dr. Burks. I'd just like to second EP's interest in any personal experiences you might have had with the pseudoscientific side of mound scholarship.

For instance, have you seen the America Unearthed episode from season 2 regarding your neck of the woods and profession? Jason's review can be found here;
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-america-unearthed-s02e09-mystery-of-the-serpents

2/3/2015 05:06:23 pm

After reading through the list of arguments against the "Heartland Model", it seems to me the division between this and the "Limited Geography Theory" might be about that messy succession business after Joseph Smith's death in 1844.

Smith had lead the Mormons to Nauvoo, making it another in a chain of promised lands he somehow managed to keep finding after being run out of Ohio and Missouri, and when he was gunned down by an angry mob his followers became divided. Many went with Brigham Young to Utah as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, while several smaller groups remained behind and eventually formed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ) under Joseph Smith III.

While the details are essentially irrelevant as both theories are still unsupportable by evidence and guilty of appropriating Native American works as their own, it does make for interesting background in the way these claims continue to change as the geography of the believers do.

Like the Mound Builder theories sought to supplant the Natives entirely with a fantastical ancient race of white Americans (which itself lends a lot to the foundation of Mormonism as a whole), the Limited/Heartland division seems to seek to pit the Joseph Smith view that the midwest was the promised land against the Brigham Young view that Utah and the American Southwest/Central America are.

2/3/2015 05:30:14 pm

I hope you're not saying that the Heartland wackjobs are even close to Community of Christ.

Community of Christ is like the Unitarian-Universalist Latter Day Saints. They don't even really accept the Book of Mormon as divine revelation or as historically accurate.

Plus, they got a kickass logo :)

The Heartland view is more like a once-live hypothesis among mainstream Mormons, which lost to the Mesoamerican view over time (for a variety of scholarly and political reasons).

2/3/2015 06:17:39 pm

Not at all. I only bring up the Community folk as an example of what happened in the divide, and don't mean to suggest they themselves ascribe to either ideal.

The Reorganized Church, and the Community that it became, grew out of the unification of several smaller groups which rejected Brigham Young's claim to succession and migration west; it's that migration and the varied politics of declaring a new prophet that I speak of when discussing the transition from Joseph Smith's midwestern focus to Young's west/southwest focus.

I don't assume to ascribe any beliefs to the current-day Community of Christ.

Dave Lewis

2/4/2015 08:58:30 am

Another group, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), own the property in Independence MO where some believe the Garden of Eden was located and the New Jerusalem will be situated.

Peter Hitler

2/7/2015 04:36:34 am

It blows my mind how much time, money, and effort Mormons go to in an attempt to prove their story. There is no genetic, linguistic, archaeological, or historical proof that Mormons were here before the 19th century. Hell, anyone with a basic knowledge of ancient history can easily poke holes in the story because of all the anachronisms in the Book of Mormon. Then again, if they support Scott "i'm seriously not a crack head, i'm a real scientist" Wolter then maybe i shouldn't be shocked.

Anderson

8/4/2015 11:38:29 pm

Your blog is Amazing. Very nice thing you are provide in your blog. It give me much help to my problem.
Visit :- <a href="http://bookofmormon-tickets.com/">Book of Mormon Tickets</a>