Mormon Stories Podcast Yale Archeologist on Book of Mormon Evidence - Dr. Michael Coe (re-broadcast) | Ep. 2141
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Apr 27, 2026 
Dr. Michael Coe, Yale professor emeritus and renowned Mesoamerican archaeologist, offers a critical outsider’s look at claims linking New World archaeology to the Book of Mormon. He discusses expected artifacts that are missing, differences in languages and calendars, and problematic claims about metals, animals, and inscriptions. The conversation touches on academic debates, archaeological methods, and the tension between faith and science.
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Maya Writing Is Indigenous And Readable
- Classic Maya inscriptions are written in an ancestral Maya literary language, not Semitic languages.
- Decipherment shows 95% readability and links inscriptions to Ch'olan/Ch'orti' Maya, not Hebrew or Aramaic.
Reorganite Told Coe Jesus Preached At Palenque
- Michael D. Coe recounts meeting a Reorganized Latter Day Saint who claimed Jesus preached at Palenque.
- The man gave Coe a card reading Council of the Twelve Apostles from Independence, Missouri, tying local myths to church narratives.
Palenque Reliefs Describe Maya Kings Not Christ
- Iconography used by apologists (e.g., Temple of the Cross) has native, dynastic meanings unrelated to Christianity.
- Coe explains the Palenque Temple of the Cross depicts King Kʼan Bʼalam and Maya cosmology, not Jesus or apostles.
