The Smithsonian “Early Horses” Article Does Not Prove the Book of Mormon True

    A Smithsonian Magazine article titled “Native Americans Spread Horses Through the West Earlier Than Thought” (2023) has been circulating in Mormon spaces as supposed proof that horses existed in the Americas during Book of Mormon times.

    The article summarizes a legitimate scientific study published in Science titled “Early Dispersal of Domestic Horses Into the Great Plains and Northern Rockies.” (2023) But when you read what the researchers actually found, it’s clear this does not support the Book of Mormon’s claims at all.

    What the Study Actually Found

    The research team, led by William Timothy T. Taylor, analyzed horse remains found across the Great Plains and northern Rockies. Using radiocarbon dating, DNA sequencing, and isotopic analysis, they discovered that the animals were of Spanish origin. In other words, these were not remnants of ancient, native North American horses that somehow survived extinction. They were the descendants of horses brought by Spanish colonists in the 1500s.

   The Key Finding:

    “Horses rapidly spread from the south into the northern Rockies and central plains by the first half of the 17th century CE, likely through Indigenous exchange networks.” (Science, 2023)

    The Smithsonian article emphasizes this point:

    “Researchers suggest Indigenous peoples had spread the animals through the American West by the first half of the 17th century.”

    “The centuries-old equines had largely Spanish ancestry.”

    The study provides strong evidence that Native American communities in the West adopted, bred, and managed horses earlier than most historians thought. They were skilled handlers, likely using horses for transport, trade, and ceremony long before Europeans wrote about it. But that’s where the connection to the Book of Mormon ends.

Here’s what the study does NOT claim:

    - It does not claim that horses existed in the Americas during the first millennium BC or AD.

    - It does not claim that any population of native horses survived from the Ice Age.

    - It does not support the idea that domesticated horses were already present when Lehi’s family supposedly arrived around 600 BC.

    Instead, it confirms what scientists have said for decades: native North American horses went extinct roughly 10,000 years ago, and that modern horses in the Americas descend from European stock.

Comparing the Findings to the Book of Mormon:

    The Book of Mormon refers to horses several times. For example:

    "And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals..." (1 Nephi 18:25)

    "And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the land, and raise all manner of grain, and of fruit, and flocks of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle of every kind, and goats, and wild goats, and also many horses." (Enos 1:21)

    "Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon" (Alma 18:10)

    These passages place horses in the Americas between about 600 BC and AD 400. The Science study, however, identifies the earliest domesticated horses appearing in America in 1519, when Hernán Cortés arrived on the continent in Mexico.

    That’s a gap of about 2,000 years.

Why It’s Being Misrepresented

    The confusion comes from headlines like Smithsonian’s, which highlight that horses spread through Indigenous networks earlier than historians previously believed. Some readers take “earlier” to mean ancient, but the study’s “earlier” simply means a few decades earlier than European written records suggested. The new timeline still places the introduction centuries after Columbus, not before him.

The Bottom Line

    This study is fascinating because it deepens our understanding of how quickly Indigenous peoples incorporated horses into their cultures. It shows innovation and adaptation, but it offers zero evidence for horses existing in the Americas during Book of Mormon times.

    But no, there is not new evidence that supports horses in Book of Mormon times. The science remains consistent: the horses described in the Book of Mormon did not exist in the Americas during that period.

Check Your Understanding:

Test your understanding of what the 2023 Science study really found—and why it does not support the Book of Mormon’s claims.

1. Why has the Smithsonian article been circulated in Mormon spaces?

Because it claims horses were native to North America in 600 BC
Because some believe it supports the Book of Mormon’s mention of ancient American horses
Because it proves chariots existed in ancient America
Because it quotes Nephi directly

2. What did the Science study actually find about the origins of the horses?

They were a surviving native Ice Age species
They evolved independently in the American Southwest
They were of Spanish origin and descended from European horses
They predated human settlement in America

3. When did the study find horses spreading through Indigenous networks in the American West?

The first half of the 17th century CE
Around 600 BC
Shortly after 400 AD
During the last Ice Age

4. Which of the following does the study NOT claim?

That horses spread faster than expected
That Indigenous peoples were skilled horse handlers
That the horses had Spanish ancestry
That horses existed in the Americas during Book of Mormon times

5. What do scientists consistently say about ancient North American horses?

They survived until the arrival of Nephi’s family
They went extinct about 10,000 years ago
They were domesticated by Jaredites
They evolved into Spanish mustangs

6. How does the Book of Mormon describe horses?

As present in the New World between 600 BC and AD 400
As extinct animals known only through fossils
As mythical symbols rather than real animals
As creatures Europeans brought with them

7. How large is the time gap between Book of Mormon horses and the earliest confirmed Spanish horses?

200 years
700 years
About 2,000 years
They overlap perfectly

8. Why are some readers misinterpreting the Smithsonian article?

The article was secretly edited by LDS leaders
Scientists used outdated data
The study supports pre-Columbian horses
They assume “earlier” means ancient instead of a few decades before European-written records