Question: Is the mention of "cureloms" and "cumons" a Book of Mormon anachronism?


Question: Is the mention of "cureloms" and "cumons" a Book of Mormon anachronism?

These names are untranslated Jaredite terms

These names are untranslated Jaredite terms. A variety of potential animals have been suggested, such as llamas, alpacas, mastodons, or other Pleistocene mammals.

Without more information, one cannot count this as a strike against the Book of Mormon

Interestingly, were he fabricating the Book of Mormon, this was an opportunity for Joseph Smith to let his imagination run wild, and yet no descriptions of these strange beasts (which he goes to the trouble to name, in the forgery model of Book of Mormon production) are provided.[1]


Notes

  1. For a discussion, see John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1996 [1985]), 298.