When I was a Mormon, I and other people told prospective Mormons that the Smithsonian Institute believed and supported Book of Mormon archaeology. Of course that venerable organization did no such thing, and became so deluged with requests that they routinely sent (and, I would assume, still send) out a form letter to inquirers stating that they never have.
A more recent version of this appeared on BYU”‘s official Maxwell Institute, pointing to a horse found in Florida carbon-dated to 100 BC. However, in private correspondence I asked Dr. Bruce J. MacFadden, the University of Florida”‘s Florida Museum of Natural History”‘s Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology: “What is the latest, pre-Columbian date for which we have carbon-dated proof of the existence of horses in the Americas? Does your research lead you to believe that horses were common in the three thousand years before Columbus?” He responded: “About 10,000 years ago. There is no evidence of horses the 3,000 years before Columbus. –Bruce MacFadden” (email to the author, dated 3-17-08.) When told that he had been quoted in support of pre-Columbian horses in Florida, MacFadden responded, “That is not an idea that I support.” (email to the author, dated 3-17-08.)
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
