Part
One
By George Potter & Richard Wellington
Several
LDS authors have suggested
plausible locations for the land of Bountiful, as described
in the Book of Mormon.
Lynn M. and Hope A. Hilton focused on the inlet
bay at Salalah, the ancient al-Balīd. [i] This inlet bay — called a Khor in the
local Arabic dialect — exhibits attractive features that
would support an identification of Bountiful with this area.
Warren and Michaela Aston, on the other hand, were
able to explore farther afield because the military conflict
that limited Lynn Hilton's travel in southern Oman in 1976
had ended by the time the Astons came to Oman in the early
1990s. After an on-site review of inlet bays and verdant
areas along the south coast of Arabia, the Astons settled
on the Wadi Sayq (Khor Kharfot) as the spot which they felt
most fully met the requirements for Bountiful as Nephi's
narrative photograph hints at them.
[ii]
Though these two sites — al-Balīd and Wadi
Sayq — possess remarkable features that could connect them
with Bountiful, there is another. In our view, this other
inlet bay, named Khor Rori, offers a dimension that the
other two do not, the three maritime resources that Nephi
would have needed to reach the Promised Land:
1.
The raw materials necessary to actually build an ocean-going ship,
2.
A reasonably large natural harbor where Nephi and his brothers could
construct, launch and moor their ship, and
3.
The means by which Nephi could learn to sail such a vessel.
Without all three of these resources, Nephi
could not have made his journey. For any site to qualify
as a candidate for Bountiful, it must have possessed these
characteristics during his era. We propose that there is
a growing body of evidence that suggests that the ancient
frankincense port of Khor Rori possessed the unique maritime
resources needed by Nephi, as well as all the other attributes
mentioned in his record. [iii]
Khor Rori lies in the same
fertile plain that Hugh Nibley [iv]
and the Hiltons [v] suggest was probably
Bountiful. Today, large fruit plantations are found along
the beach at Taqah, just two miles from the Khor.
The
inlet was the premier port of Dhofar and is generally regarded
as the port known to the Greeks as Moscha. It is a large
waterway extending more than 1½ miles inland. The Khor has
several natural places where ships could moor, making it
the likely reason that Khor Rori and the adjacent town of
Taqah were called Merbat (the moorings) anciently.
The
Khor is fed by freshwater from Wadi Dharbat, a large natural
spillway carrying rainwater from the Jabal Samhan mountains.
Frankincense grew on the hills of Dhofar and was harvested
by the local people in antiquity, the ‘Adites. Frankincense
is a sweet smelling gum made from the sap of the Frankincense
tree (Boswelia sacra). It was highly prized and used
in temple ceremonies in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome
and Israel from very early times.
On
the slopes of the mountains overlooking the plain of Dhofar,
the ”Adites built a large settlement set on the banks of
what were once three converging streams. This site, called
Hagif #240 by archeologists,
is the largest Bronze Age” [vi] site
in all Oman site and stretched over three miles. Adites
artifacts are found at Khor Rori. [vii]
A
native population at Bountiful is consistent with Nephi’s
description of it being outside of the wilderness [viii] (1 Nephi 17:4, 5). Also in harmony
with Nephi’s Bountiful, the Adites cultivated gardens and
orchards, and legend holds that they ate fruit at every
meal. [ix] Later,
in the Iron Age, the “Adites built settlements inland at
Shisr and near the coast at Ain Humran to enable them to
control the trade by land and by sea.” [x] In order to gain control of the frankincense
trade, this area was invaded around the time of Christ by
King ”Il'ad Yalut, king of Hadramaut, who established an
impressive port city named Samhuram — meaning ‘the plan
is great’ or ‘the great scheme.’”
Today there is a sandbank
across the Khor, closing it off from the sea. This was not
always present, however. Scientists believe that a drop
in the sea levels around the 14th-15th centuries
A.D. caused the closure of the harbor’s mouth. Radiocarbon
dating establishes that there was a stable and final closure
occurring around 1640-1690 A.D. [xi]
Huge cliffs line the sea entrance to Khor Rori
forming natural breakwaters that allowed ancient ships to
sail out 200 yards into the Indian Ocean proper with protection
from the surf. This was the great strength of Khor Rori
as a port; the natural breakwater provided protection from
both the summer southwest monsoon and the winter northeast
monsoon winds. Thus the port could be used all year for
shipping and shipbuilding.
In Part Two in this series, we will examine the
specific resources Nephi required to build his ship. In
Part Three we will explain why these resources where found
only at Khor Rori in Nephi’s time, and thus provide an explanation
as to why the Lord had Lehi travel 2100 miles across the
hellish desert of Arabia in order to build his ship.
