Izapan Art Style By Neil Steede 2016

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1 olume 10, ssue 3 eptember 15, 2016 zapan rt tyle y eil teede 2016 X, umorah essenger xploring aya umbers y rank tribling 2016 zapa, hiapas is one of the more interesting archaeological sites found in esoamerica. he site is considered to be very early and is generally accepted to be lassic ormative. t has occupation dates as early as (). enerally speaking, the more accepted dates for its influential period are from (). his latter date happens to fit the ook of ormon story almost perfectly. zapan rt tyle is a testimony of the osiah oys (sons of osiah mmon, aron, mner and imni) and their journey into amanite territory. believe that aron and his brothers taught the gospel at this site. o put zapa and its stelae into context, we must remember the osiah oys experience. aron and his brothers traveled from town-to-town preaching the gospel. ow would they convey the stories of the written word to a culture that has no written language? We believe that the osiah oys employed the use of images as story boards to convey the foundational concepts of the gospel. he original media was tree bark or animal skin, and later preserved on plaster codices or carved into wood. t is doubtful that they carved stone images while preaching. oreover, within 10 to 20 years of being converted to the new gospel, the nti-ephi-ehi s moved to Jershon (elize). herefore, it is my opinion that the stone images found at this site were created during the olden ge, the period of time from hey were done in this style, using the same metaphoric images that aron and his brothers would have used when they first introduced these images. f all of the above is true, then, all of the stelae found at zapa date to the olden ge, but were created as historical markers to commemorate the gospel mission of the osiah oys. t is also important to understand that the gospel as taught by the osiah oys, is demonstrated fully in these stelae and are invaluable to comprehend how our ancient brethren understood the gospel. oreover, since most archaeologists and epigraphers do not understand the unique concepts and symbolism of the estoration gospel, they cannot reliably translate the iconography present on the stelae. he ill umorah xpedition eam continues to find clues supporting our theory that many ook of ormon accounts correlate nicely with ayan his- umerical sequence on tela 5 at akalik baj tory. here is a preponderance of evidence to confirm the validity of the ook of ormon record pertaining to hrist's mission in the mericas. nother clue was discovered when saw a picture of tela 5 located in akalik baj in northwest uatemala. his reminded me of the aya mathematical vigesimal number system based on the number of fingers and toes (20 units going from 0 to 19) instead of the 10 units (0-9) of the decimal number system that we use today. he aya appear to have nside this issue: ontinued on age 2 ontinued on age 3 zapa rt tyle ont. 2 xploring aya umbers ont. 3 & 4 dventures in rchaeology 5 & 6 ersonal estimony 7 ome for ibrary 7 arly ayan rt tyles 8

2 zapan rt tyle continued age 2 here are other aspects of zapa that are important, but will not be touched on in this series. hings such as zapa s role in the creation of the 260-day calendar are both important and suspect. he layout of the city of zapa is also important, but requires much more space than this article will allow. here are a myriad of such things to ponder. his site was excavated by arth orman in the 1960s. arth is from righam oung niversity () in tah, which automatically makes his work suspicious to many in the archaeological field. was introduced to his work by my mentor, r. lexander von Wuthenau. ince that time have had occasion to associate with arth who has become a personal friend and valued colleague. have visited zapa several times over the years and find most of arth s conclusions impeccable. also strongly believe that some of his conclusions do not go far enough. n the other hand, authors such as. Wells Jakeman and John orenson have attempted to destroy the validity of orman s work, though probably not intentionally. s far as am concerned, the integrity of arth s work could not be higher. ne of the most notable artifacts at zapa is tela 5, which many believe is a rendition of ehi s dream. ome are so completely sold on the concept of tela 5 as ehi s dream that they can t consider any other possibility. owever, it is my belief that ehi s dream cannot be considered as a possible translation. here is no rod of iron by which people are being held fast to the pathway. o me, this aspect of the ehi story is too central to be omitted from its illustration. ery few of the renditions of tela 5 made in alt ake ity are reliable. t suffices to say that, small changes were made to the drawing to justify the ehi dream scenario. imply check orman s original publication with any other later rendition. We can see on the esoamerican site map how zapa is located on the acific coastline of exico, very close to the uatemala border. oth zapa and akalik baj were clearly stops along the overland trade route from entral ighland exico to aminaljuyu. ere is also an illustration of the layout of the site. strongly doubt that the city s modern-day layout is what it was in aron s time. While it is feasible that the converted amanites could have reconstructed the earthen mound center of their city in a space of years, it appears to me that it is more likely that the whole site was revamped during he olden ge. nd, as mentioned, feel the same way about the stelae. arth orman performed a brilliant move by publishing the stelae in a variety of ways. e has published very good photography, line drawings and photos with line drawings superimposed upon them. ll of this promotes very detailed study of the many metaphoric images found here. asically, orman uses three styles in his depictions. hey are: nighttime photography, nighttime photography with line drawing superimposed and line drawing. ll of these are very helpful in deciphering the stelae. here is a fourth line drawing style that has been introduced during the last several years. t is where the line drawings have been colored. hese portrayals are not helpful in that color was not apparent on the original stones. personally do not care for the colored ones. he zapan art style is very unique, and a study of the evolution of esoamerican art styles indicate that this early art formative period in zapa, akalik baj, and aminaljuyu, was influential in the an artolo ural art style. ow did that happen? rchaeologists are at a loss for making this connection, but it is the ook of ormon that answers it for us. he newly converted amanites moved into the aya owlands for their own safety. hey were being protected by the ephites since the amanites could not use their weapons for defense. When they moved, they brought their art style with them. sn t it amazing how the puzzle pieces fit together? ook for more information about specific zapan stelae in future issues of the umorah essenger more light and truth is coming forth.

3 xploring aya umbers continued utilized a number positioning system when recording the historical event on tela 5. his system stacks numbers one on top of the other. he numerical sequence shown in igure 1 is found in the second column on tela 5. igure 1 illustrates the stacking with the lowest value placed at the bottom and as you move upward each layer factors by an additional 20. ach dot has a value of one (1) while each bar has a value of five (5). n account given in the ook of ormon in lma hapter 14 tells us there were converts to the gospel known as the nti-ephi-ehi, and they refused to take up arms against their brethren the amanites. heir determination to faithfully hold to the terms of their conversion resulted in them being killed by an invading army instead of risking the loss of their salvation. 1,005 of the converts who had made a vow to never again use their weapons to kill, allowed themselves to be killed. When many of the attacking amanites saw the murders they had committed, they threw down their weapons and would not use them again. We read in the ook of ormon that there were more attackers who repented and were converted to the church than the number of those who were killed. 10, 3 igure 1 igure 2 igure 1 n the immediate left of the dots and bars representing the number 1,005 on tela 5, there is another set of dots and bars that represent the number 2,351. ould this number represent those who had repented? ll we know for sure from ine drawing of tela 5 at akalik baj the ook of ormon record is that the number of converts was greater than 1,005. he information in igure 2 does not prove or disprove anything. owever, when we consider the context of this stela, it supports our idea that the tela 5 numerical information seems to support the events recorded in the ook of ormon. ould the number 2,351 being greater than the number 1,005 refer to those who repented after being engaged in such a horrible slaughter of people who were willing to give up their lives rather than slay their brethren? We still have a lot of research to do on this stelae and other architectural structures at akalik baj. ut, to find these two numbers next to one another and flanked by opposing figures is certainly compelling. hese figures are both repentant with reversed hands, they demonstrate that they are receiving blessing from the celestial realm, and the dot on the nose indicates their speech concerns the fruits of the spirit. he figure on the left who we assume to represent the attackers has X s on his legs as an indication of sanctification by their repentance, they are sanctified their sin will not be counted against them. dditionally, akalik baj is in the right area and of the right sub-culture to be a city of amanites who were converted by mmon and aron prior to their migration to Jershon. asked myself if there was anywhere else could find as a link or relationship that would support a hypothesis of ook of ormon numbers being re- ontinued on age 4 age 3

4 xploring aya umbers ontinued lated to the aya numbering system? o establish a comparative base, discovered some clues in lma hapter 8. sing the relationships in the table displayed in figure 3, proceeded to investigate by looking for a pattern where could find ook of ormon money value ratios similar to the aya system. he ook of ormon states that until the reign of the Judges the following system of "reckoning" or exchange system was not established. p until that time "they altered their reckoning and their measure, according to the minds and the circumstances of the people." aking the information given igure 3 igure 4 in lma hapter 8, categorized the monetary ratios as shown in igure 4. rom those same passages in the ook of ormon we have the monetary value relationships further demonstrated in igure 5. he ratios developed from ook of ormon information produce the following relationships: or gold we have: = + + or = providing the numerical pattern of 1, 2, and 4. or silver we have: = W + X + = or = W + 2W + 4W providing the numerical pattern of 1, 2 and 4. While we have yet to make a clear correlation of money exchange patterns with items found in esoamerica, we are confident that it will be found. omewhere is a cache or burial that will have items collected and segregated in these ratios. When that happens, it will be another clear identifier just as unique as a fingerprint or code. t will be another testimony to the validity of the ook of ormon record. ll we have done here is gather more pieces of the "openly hidden" puzzle. he more pieces that are gathered the more focused the picture becomes. We have a clue here that when the reign of the Judges commenced that the society was developed enough to have a sophisticated monetary system. We know that this ratio of monetary values will be found, it is just a matter of where and when. his is what we do! We gather information from articles, journal submissions, conference white papers, archaeological discussion boards, and so on. We visit museums, take thousands of pictures, talk to people, travel, etc. We are detectives gathering evidence to proclaim the validity of the estoration gospel and the events recorded in the ook of ormon. We begin with faith. s we travel along this endless path, faith turns to knowledge which requires and compels us to ask more questions and exercise even more faith. lma 16:163 nd now behold, after ye have tasted this light, is your knowledge perfect? ehold, say unto you, ay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed, that ye might try the experiment, to know if the seed was good. lma 16:169 nd thus it is if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life. [170] ut if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold, it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life; his is the faith we choose to demonstrate in these latter-days, that when we make every reasonable effort to uncover the testimonies of our ancient brothers and sisters, then we will be rewarded with confirmation of their written testimony; and even greater knowledge will be revealed. s more pieces of the puzzle are gathered, the world will discover that the ook of ormon is for all people and it relates a true testimony of a risen Jesus hrist who appeared to the ancient people of merica. igure 5 age 4

5 dventures n criptures ssue he hurch rospers he people of the church believed that od was their leader. hey were all of equal worth in is eyes. hey believed that od was generous, merciful, loving and forgiving. ecause they felt the love of od in their hearts, they treated each other with kindness and took care of each other. he priests and teachers and people would leave their labors and learn of od s ways. he people learned that the things of this world are temporary or, in other words, would not last forever. hey learned that what was important and eternal was the love of od for everyone. he people did not set their hearts on riches but shared out of their abundance. here were no poor or needy among them. he sick and suffering were comforted and cared for. he people worked together and had love for one another and were blessed with an abundance of all things. he promise found in uke 6:38 was fulfilled in them: ive and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over haring your abundance ome times we have more than we need and other times we need something. ary, John, avid and arah each have extra of some foods and none of other foods. Write down who could share bread with ary and how much Write down who could share meat with John and how much Write down who could share corn with avid and how much Write down who could share fruit with arah and how much 10, 3 age 5

6 olve the scripture puzzle using the crosses below. age 6 W J Q W J J W J X Word search ind and circle the aring words from the story: bundance elieved lessed ared hurch omforted orgiving enerous earts indness earned oving erciful eople Q romise iches hared ogether

7 y ersonal estimony y lrey oheen grew up on a farm in ichigan. y family was very poor. We rented and took care of the livestock. ost of the people in those days was very poor also. We had a large family of eight kids, our mother stayed at home and our father worked when there was work available. t was difficult keeping eight kids fed and clothed. When was about fifteen, decided that needed to find employment to help pay for my clothes and food while going to school. ortunately found a job with the brother of the owner of our house and land. worked on his dairy farm while going to school. caught the early school bus in front of his house every morning. had recently become a member of the (now ommunity of hrist). wanted to know about the ook of ormon so decided to read it all the way through. ach night after chores read a few chapters until had read the entire book. od s spirit was with me and assured me that the book was true. his has been my stability in life, and from that time on in my endeavor to serve im. ndeed found e was available to me in times that needed im, e was always there. have had many testimonies of od working in my life, many times seeming to go ahead of me preparing and smoothing the way for me. left ichigan in 1962, married a girl from rizona and was married for five years and divorced. od helped me pick out my next mate. prayed to od and said had given up hope on finding someone for me. e answered my prayer and married a lady with three daughters. We will be married forty-seven years in ugust. hroughout my life have felt od leading my life to something, but didn t know what that was. uring our marriage orothy and moved to ndependence,. met and became friends with eil teede. uring one of our conversations he asked if wanted to be involved with his archaeological group. have gone with several of the members to ill umorah in 2001 and n arch of 2013, eil asked if wanted to go to eotihuacán with him and three others, so decided to go. We flew into exico ity, met with dd eray and his daughter, we then got a taxi to take us to our site where we stayed in a motel where we could see the pyramids. hat night erry cott, eil teede, ary Woods and had our evening devotions as we do each evening. he next day ergio, the archeologist in charge of the tunnel was to come and talk with us. We waited all day but he never showed up. e said he would be there the next day. hat evening we had our devotions once again. asked eil if could visit the pyramids and spend some time learning about them. erry said he would go with me. he next morning at breakfast, was touched by the oly pirit, assuring me that this site was indeed holy. was so overwhelmed by the pirit that couldn t eat, tears filled my eyes. was not hungry all that day and ate very little. erry and set out early that morning after breakfast, it was so awesome to realize that indeed our ancestors lived and worshipped here. had a lot of questions and erry answered them all. We spent about six or seven hours walking from place to place. We climbed to the top of the pyramids, visited different buildings and did a lot of talking to each other. When we arrived back, eil, ary and ergio were winding up their meeting. ater that day asked eil if could relate my testimony to the group at our evening devotions. hat evening bore my testimony had experienced about the site. ach one there had their own experience to relate to the group. he ord is working to bring to us is will and as we experience these things we testify that e is working to bring to us a better life, a life of love and peace with us and with each other. cherish the time spent at the eotihuacán site and the oly pirit that witnessed to me. y prayer is that shall always be ready and willing to bear my testimony. ew ome for ibrary y avid. rown ast year the ill umorah xpedition eam, nc received notice that we will be receiving the eil teede ibrary of archaeological research materials. his is a wonderful opportunity we have to create a research library for the specific purpose of furthering the effort to draw parallels between the ook of ormon record and the cultures of ancient merica. or the last year and a half we have been searching for a location to house this library. hanks to the generosity of estoration families, it appears that we will be fulfilling this dream with a brickand-mortar location on ast ruman oad. s the fall months progress we will be setting up the office for library operations with the file cabinets, shelving, conference tables and other miscellaneous items we have received in donation from dedicated saints. o you have a talent that you would like to put to use in library operation and research? here are so many theories that we need to research and further. ontinue to watch for future articles concerning the call to labor for this very important expression of latter-day faith. We will be needing researchers to complete the task set in motion by ormon and oroni. 10, 3 age 7

8 We re on the web at X, earching for ruth he ill umorah xpedition eam, nc is a issouri not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the study, research and dissemination of information as it pertains to the ook of ormon. ur primary focus is to research and assemble archaeological and other related information to help establish the historical feasibility of the ook of ormon. c/o avid. rown 311 ee treet uckner, o hone: mail: dbb92558@yahoo.com ontributors and ditors ontributors and ditors avid rown eil teede lrey oheen hris cott eil teede avid rown rank tribling ike rown hildren s age by erry and hris cott hildren s age by erry and hris cott hotos and llustrations by: hotographs provided by: rank tribling on eebe, ike rown, andall awrence. Jerry toner arly ayan rt tyles y avid. rown 2016 he inturas pyramid at an artolo houses the earliest known ayan murals in esoamerica. adiocarbon and art style dating clearly places this mural construction at a period from 100 to 100. his is exactly the time frame of the gospel missions to the amanites by the osiah oys and lma. rchaeologists have been studying the art styles, images and symbols found at this site and they have made some very interesting observations. he bulk of the art styles found here are closely related to murals found at axactun and ikal, but the mural style itself is prolifically used at zapa, akalik baj and aminaljuyu. We have identified these cities as three of the cities converted by the osiah oys. etaphoric images from this southern ayan region are also found at an artolo in the use of the conch shell, serpents, and breath scrolls. rofessionals note that the earliest blend of these three symbols occurs on tela 9 at aminaljuyu at about 500. We have identified aminaljuyu as the ity of ehi-ephi the original settlement of the ehi xpedition at approximately 590. o find the first introduction of this ayan symbolism at this site seems to be a validation. We know that ehi was a practicing minister who had prophesied to the inhabitants of Jerusalem concerning their impending destruction. he rejection of ehi s message led to their exodus from the region and their relocation to the mericas. ehi and his family were practicing the ebrew faith which always included the observation of easts. ne feast of primary importance is the east of rumpets which is a call to repentance for all of srael. he conch shell is considered to be a trumpet for the people of outheast sia and outh acific slands. t represents strength and truthful speech. s it possible that the ehi xpedition adopted the conch shell symbol as a replacement for the shofar trumpet traditionally used by ebrews? f so, then the use of the conch shell symbol is calling its listeners to a truthful assessment of their life and then followed by repentance. ow does the serpent factor into this? When the ebrews were bitten by the fiery flying serpents, oses raised a serpent on a rod and those who looked upon the serpent were healed and would live. herefore, a serpent not bound to the ground is a symbol for life and healing. ow, blend these images together. feathered serpent speaking with breath scrolls in the shape of a conch shell might represent a life-giving being speaking truth and a warning for repentance. conch shell with a feathered serpent emerging from it might be true speech about a life-saving and healing being. he development of these religious images that parallel ebraic practices and theology from the region where ehi first settled and at the right time period seems more than coincidence. While there will certainly be more to research needed to flesh out this theory, it appears that we are onto something.