One thing that leads us to suspect that most of the great powerhouses whose traces still remain were never anything more than pompous imitations or replicas is their sheer magnificence. The archaeologist finds virtually nothing of the remains of the primitive Christian church until the fourth century, because the true church was not interested in buildings and deliberately avoided the acquisition of lands and edifices that might bind it and its interests to this world.
The Book of Mormon is a history of a related primitive church, and one may well ask what kind of remains the Nephites would leave us from their more virtuous days. A closer approximation to the Book of Mormon picture of Nephite culture is seen in the earth and palisade structures of the Hopewell and Adena culture areas than in the later stately piles of stone in Mesoamerica. (Hugh Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon, 1989, p. 272.)
Amazing Archaeological Discoveries have been found all over the world:
Gizah Pyramids Egypt – made without machines.
The Parthenon in Greece, made without power tools.
Temple of Hera in Italy, made without air tools.
Callanish Stone Ring in Scotland – placed without cranes or hydraulics.
Silbury Hill in England – made without bulldozers or monster trucks.
Temple of Kukulkan, Chichen Itza, Mexico – built by hand.
Cahokia Mounds Illinois – made without bulldozers.
What do all of these ancient monuments have in common aside from being Amazing? They say nothing about Jesus Christ!
On the other hand, the Nephites lived, breathed, slept, dreamed, and drank Jesus – they literally had the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:16), which does not lend itself to extravagance. (1 Cor. 13) This is a fact many Book of Mormon geographers have overlooked.
The only extravagant building mentioned in The Book of Mormon is a “palace.” Wicked king Noah built one:
And he also built him a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst thereof, all of which was of fine wood and was ornamented with gold and silver and with precious things. (Mosiah 11:9)
The main difference between Noah’s palace (Which was built in weeks and months not generations.) and those cited above, is that it was made of wood. Wood does not last thousands of years exposed. There will not be ruins left to either photograph or to walk in, and geographers should not expect to find any since they were ALL DESTROYED in the last battle. (Mormon 5:5)
WOWED
When people read The Book of Mormon sincerely, they always come away feeling “wowed” by the Holy Spirit. When Book of Mormon believers see one of these ancient monuments, they can’t help but become wowed all over again, and misinterpret that feeling for the Holy Spirit. Believing both “wow’s” are from the same source, they conclude they must be looking at ancient Book of Mormon structures. The problem is, stone or rock buildings were rarely used in The Book of Mormon.
HATED
What did Jesus say would happen to his followers? If you are a follower of him, the devil will come after you. (Rev. 2:10) What happened to the Nephites? The devil came after them as well.
They did not have either the time or the interest to build multi-generational, megalithical structures:
The time passed away with us and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream we being a lonesome and a solemn people wanderers cast out from Jerusalem born in tribulation in a wilderness and hated of our brethren which caused wars and contentions wherefore we did mourn out our days. (Jacob 7:26)