Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church [Paperback]

Simon G. Southerton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2004

The Book of Mormon narrates voyages to the Americas by ancient Israelites. "2 Nephi 1:9 Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; [The Americas] and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves" The descendants of these ancient seafarers are said to be the tribes of Native Americans who were on hand to greet Columbus, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the Pilgrims. Israelites are also said to be the ancestors of the Polynesians.

Enter DNA. With the advent of molecular genealogy, scientists now have a tool to test hypotheses about Indian origins, previously based on skull shapes, blood types, linguistics, and cultural studies. By means of DNA genealogy, Native Americans have been traced to an area surrounding Lake Baikal in Siberia before their migration to the New World over 14,000 years ago. The evidence is definitive and unequivocal.

What do Latter-day Saint scientists have to say about this? Is it possible that a few, not all, Native Americans could be of Israelite origin? Could Polynesians represent an admixture of Southeast Asian and Israelite heritage? Professors at Brigham Young University are proposing a radical new reinterpretation of the Book of Mormon to accommodate this new field of science.

Explaining the scientific and theological issues in this debate is Dr. Simon Southerton, a molecular geneticist from Australia. He particularly responds to the issues raised by the BYU professors such as the implications of the mysterious lineage X, absent in Mesoamerica, and supposed anomalies in the genetic picture such as Kennewick Man and even the genetic history of the lowly sweet potato. Having been raised Mormon, Southerton knows the theological side of the issue as intimately as he knows the science.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the time of its publication in 1830, both the Book of Mormon and its translator, Joseph Smith Jr., have been the focus of admiration as well as criticism. The book's account of pre-Christian journeys from the Middle East to the Americas and subsequent identification of North American indigenous populations with Israelite tribes was not uncommon among Smith's contemporaries. Southerton, an Australian molecular scientist, explores these claims from a scientific standpoint and concludes that there is no evidence of Israelite descent among American Indians, Polynesians or others identified as ancestors of Book of Mormon peoples. Discussions about genetics and heredity can be a bit impenetrable to the nonscientist, but these constitute only part of the book. The author, raised Mormon but no longer a believer, uses the DNA issue to launch an attack on both bad science and what he perceives as widespread racism in the LDS Church. He blames the Book of Mormon for what he calls the church's "insidious view of a superior white race." Southerton proffers a book that is part scientific exploration and part anti-Mormon polemic, so it's likely to be closely studied by the Mormon apologetic community. Readers will decide for themselves how credible his arguments are.
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Review

Written by an ex-Mormon research biologist, this book comprehensively summarizes Mormon beliefs about the origin of Native Americans, the challenges to those beliefs posed by DNA research, the ways in which Mormon leaders ignored or rationalized research that differs from Mormon dogma, and the efforts of Mormon scholars to deal with the problem. According to the Book of Mormon, Israelite descendants of Noah traveled across (or underneath) the Atlantic to Central America in the three millennia before the birth of Jesus Christ. The Jaredites, the earliest of the groups, self-destructed in internal battles, and survivors of the other two groups, known as Lamanites and Nephites, after massive internecine warfare, migrated into North America, where Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection. They practiced Christianity until renewed warfare resulted in the annihilation of the Nephites. Remnants of the Lamanites scattered throughout the continent, becoming the American Indians encountered by European explorers and colonizers. Genetic research asserts that Native Americans are descendants of an Asian branch of the human family that existed thousands of years before the Israelite branch came into being. The research confirms more than a century of archaeological, anthropological, ethnohistorical, and sociological studies among American Indian tribes, which concluded that their ancestors crossed Beringia in multiple waves more than 14,000 years ago. The detailed, analytical work is well organized, clearly written, and well documented. It will edify readers looking for provable truth, challenge believers whose minds are not open to its assertions, and may stimulate some to re-examine the tenets of their faith that defy the findings of science. --Journal of the West, Earl H. Elam

The Mormon establishment will not be happy with this book because it demands an answer: If the so-called "Lamanites" (Native Americans) were spawned from an escaped tribe of Israelites, why does their DNA show a 98.6 percent Asian connection and 0 percent Middle Eastern? If the "Lamanites" built huge cities and had steel swords and chariots and written language and brought down the white-faced civilized tribe of Mormon, where are the ruins? Where are the artifacts? Where are the DNA markers? In answer, Simon G. Southerton, a senior research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia and a respected molecular biologist, says it's all mythology. Historical fiction. Southerton includes a rather dispassionate explanation of why Mormon spokesmen will dispute research that doesn't align itself with their world view, and then he goes on to lay out the research. It's not difficult to follow, a bit technically overwhelming at times, but in the end, well presented. It will undoubtedly inspire counter research. --Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, Gwynne Spencer

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Signature Books; 3rd Printing edition (August 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560851813
• ISBN-13: 978-1560851813
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Losing a Lost Tribe, October 9, 2004

By 

Steven R. Clark (Happy Valley, Utah) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Paperback)

After having just read "Losing a Lost Tribe" from cover to cover I give Dr. Southerton's research and writing a well deserved five star rating.

The author demystifies and simplifies what the Mormon apologists mystify and complicate. For example Southerton asks this basic but brilliant question. "Ten centuries ago a handful of Norse sailors slipped into Newfoundland, established small colonies, traded with local natives, the sailed back into the fog of history. In spite of the small scale of their settlements and the brevity of their stay, unequivocal evidence of their presence has been found. Just six centuries earlier the Book of Mormon tells us, a climactic battle between fair-skinned Nephites and dark-skinned Lamanites ended a millennial dominion by a literate, Christian, Bronze Age civilization with a population numbering in the millions. Decades of serious and honest scholarship have failed to uncover credible evidence that these Book of Mormon civilizations ever existed. How is it that they remain a great civilization vanished without a trace, the people along with their genes?" (page 199)

From Southerton's expert vantage point he vividly describes the widening three-way chasm between Latter-day prophets, their own BYU based apologists and their faithful flock The DNA science that Southerton clearly lays out is forcing the Mormon prophets, apologists and LDS adherents to bend themselves into pretzel like positions in order to maintain their faith and keep their church in a more politically correct big business.

After reading Southerton's account I liken the conflict brewing between the current Mormon prophet Gordon B. Hinckley and BYU's FARMS to the maneuvering in a professional wrestling tag-team match where opponents fail to pin the other down while the faithful fans cheer them on. The bluffing bravado between the opponents smacks of image cosmetics lacking any substance to the event itself. However, there indeed may be a continuing entertainment factor in watching subsequent rounds of this comedy of errors. In my opinion Southerton's DNA science "body slams" both rivals.

Southerton displays a keen sensitivity toward Native Americans ethnicity and culture while the Book of Mormon treats these people as objects of a "1820's frontier whiteman" racial bias and prejudice. After contemplating the author's writings I recommend that the LDS Church offer a written official apology to the hundreds indigenous nations of the Western Hemisphere for hoisting such Book of Mormon insults and racial slurs upon them. Sadly, the book after which Mormonism obtained its name sake may become its own "darkened curse."

Ironically Southerton's work points out how the Mormon Church views science as an enemy to the Book of Mormon tradition rather than as a liberating tool of truth. Unfortunately current Mormon leaders interpret DNA as "Do Not Acknowledge."

I commend Dr. Southerton for the personal courage required to publicly disavow his LDS faith of origin rather than sweep his discoveries under the proverbial carpet.

58 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon knows his stuff, September 20, 2004

By 

Moroni's Little Helper - See all my reviews

This review is from: Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Paperback)

LDS "wannabe" marine's histrionic meltdown notwithstanding, Southerton's book lays out clearly, concisely, and accurately the case against the Book of Mormon being the literal history of a group of Israelites in the Western Hemisphere from 600 BCE to 421 CE. Use of DNA testing has put the final nail in the BoM as historical text's coffin. Previous efforts to find archaelogical and linguistic support for the book have failed, with one noted investigator losing his faith and cursing its founder. Southerton's book should give faithful Mormons cause to evaluate their faith and reconsider assumptions about the book's historicity.

62 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book well worth reading, October 16, 2004

By 

Dr. H. Preston Bissell (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Paperback)

Although this book is not a "silver bullet" through the heart of Mormonism, it presents sufficient information about Native American and Polynesian molecular genetics as to call into question the traditional claims of Mormonism.
Southerton's credentials, as a scientist and as a Mormon, cannot be questioned. He knows what he is talking about when it comes to Mormon history, doctrine, and traditions. As a molecular geneticist, he also has a firm grasp of the science of genetics. He presents his facts in a straight-forward, readable manner. Even non-scientists will be able to understand his presentation of genetics without any difficulty.
Regrettably, too few Mormons will even be aware of this book, let alone the facts that Southerton presents. However, for the serious investigator, this presents information that should be considered before "buying into" the Mormon version of the Book of Mormon.
The serious reader who gives this book an unemotional reading will have definite cause to question the claims made by the Mormon Church for the origins of the Book of Mormon.
For a person simply interested in the origins of Native Americans and Polynesians, this book gives a concise, but accurate account that will be of interest. For those interested in further research, Southerton provides a comprehensive bibliograpy.
I highly recommend this book.