We don’t really have a whole lot about exactly where the family of Lehi would have landed. What we really have is two things.
1. The expeditions of Phillip Beale demonstrate not only the plausibility of, but in fact the most likely route that Lehi would have taken. Lehi most likely sailed around Africa and then took the trade winds north to Florida. This may in fact be the only possible route he could have taken to the new world given the technologies of simple tools and logs beginning from what was most likely Yemen or Oman.
2. The United States archeological record of the Deptford Phase shows human activity around Florida near the time period of about 600 BC. In fact, this is the earliest location of the Hopewell found on the North American continent. The Hopewell – which will be covered in other articles – are a strong fit for the Book of Mormon people known as the Nephites. For more information on the Deptford Phase, there is a good write up on Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deptford_culture. Also look of the Swift Creek culture which fits for a later time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_Creek_culture.
What We Know About Lehi’s Boat and Route
For the trip to Bountiful from Jerusalem, see https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/archaeological-evidence-for-7-locations-on-lehi-s-journey-to-the-promised-land. We start our journey from Bountiful.
Most Book of Mormon Scholars accept that the location of Bountiful, the location where Lehi and his family dwelt as they built the ship would have been in either Oman or Yemen with a peninsula from Oman being the most likely location.
1 Nephi 17
7: ….the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.
8. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.
THE MISSING VERSE – I call this the missing verse as Nephi completely skips over the details of the instructions.
9. And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?
AND THEN HE USES SMELTING AND MAKES TOOLS (LDS Archeologists dismiss many of the Michigan artifacts as they were made using low grade smelting as a significant reason for their dismissal).
10 And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools.
11 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make a bellows wherewith to blow the fire, of the skins of beasts; and after I had made a bellows, that I might have wherewith to blow the fire, I did smite two stones together that I might make fire.
1 Nephi 18
1 And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.
2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.
3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things. PERSONAL REVELATION
4 And it came to pass that after I had finished the ship, according to the word of the Lord, my brethren beheld that it was good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine; wherefore, they did humble themselves again before the Lord.
Phillip Beale also set off from from a similar location as he used his replica of a Phoenician ship to make the circumnavigation of Africa a reality. What he did not expect was that on the western side of the continent was that the currents and the winds would have taken him to America (see the image above). While we have no record telling us of the exact location where Lehi landed, many presume today that this could have been Florida. It may very possibly have been the beginning of the Swift Creek culture.
What about Mulek’s Route
The route of the Mulek expedition in reality has many facets to it.
- Where the Phoenicians frequently visiting America as part of the Copper Trade?
- Was Tarshish England? “beaten silver is brought from Tarshish” (Jeremiah 10:9), and the Phoenicians of Tyre brought from there silver, iron, tin and lead (Ezekiel 27:12). Tin, Iron, and Silver are all commodoties of England.
I have two proposed routes for Mulek. But my belief is that he most likely took the northern route into the Saint Lawrence River.
Alma 22:30
30 And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing.
Photo of the Phoenicia taken from the Phoenicians Before Columbus Expedition Facebook page.
Djerba
On the route is an island called Djerba. This island has the oldest Jewish Synagogue in the world that was built as early as 600 BC. This Synagogue claims to be the repository of the doors from King Solomons 1st temple.
Taken from Wikipedia – This community is unique in the Jewish diaspora for its unusually high percentage of Kohanim (Hebrew; the Jewish priestly caste), direct patrilineal descendants of Aaron the first high priest from Mosaic times. Local tradition holds that when Nebuchadnezzar levelled Solomon’s Temple and laid waste to Judah and the city of Jerusalem in the year 586 BC, the Kohanim who settled in Djerba were among the refugees who were able to avoid slavery. https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/WATCH-Candle-lighting-in-Djerba-a-Jewish-community-to-admire-518201
The Pheonicia
The Heartland Research Group purchased the Phoenicia boat after the boat had run into hard times. The boat has been dismantled and is now being restored for purposes of a museum in Montrose, IA. Montrose is the land which many people believe to be the location of the City of Zarahemla and is right across from the Mississippi river from Nauvoo Illinois. I strongly recommend that during the summer months, you take a trip to Nauvoo and when there, visit the Phoenicia and even spend time working on it.
The Heartland Research Group is a non-profit organization and no one receives any wages on the boat even as they give many hours of service in building it and paying for the supplies, rent and utilities.