Richard Hansen and El Mirador: Contemporary Mormon Zionist Imperialism and BYU archeology

White, Mormon, Archeologist Richard Hansen wants to make a Mayan Mormon Disneyland with U.S. taxe$ at El Mirador in Guatemala.

“The BYU department of archeology and mesoamerican archeology as an academic profession was started by Mormons trying to find proof for the Book of Mormon.” - Kobi

Hansen is part of a lineage of Mormon archeologists who focus on so-called Central America, because this is where Mormons believe the Nephites (ancient Mormons) built their cultures. In this way, Mormonism is Zionism. They see themselves as the descendants and rightful heirs of this “Promised Land,” their “Zion.”

Through the Tribes of Israel (Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh), Mormons believe that they are related to Indigenous peoples. So, they imagine a Divine responsibility to return whiteness, Christianity, and Mormonism to this land and it’s Peoples, which was lost in the genocide of the white Nephites, enacted by the dark skinned Lamanites, who Mormons believe “are among the ancestors of the American Indians.” Hansen is another move in this settler-imperial project.

A documentary set in Maya lands of so-called South and Central America put out by the Mormon church and BYU showing archeological "proof" of the historicity ​of the Book of Mormon. This church has seen walked back many of these views. But many Mormon archeologist continue to believe.

Vice News documentary on Richard Hansen's work in Maya lands of El Mirador Guatemala

In an “Open letter to archaeologist, Richard D. Hansen” folks “from diverse Maya Nations” write:

“We know that you and your people are used to dividing up the world and to plundering with impunity and as a result journalists give you ownership of the “Maya Empire” as if it were property. This is especially obscene since you know full well that Maya peoples still exist.

“You graduated from BYU, which belongs to (the LDS Church), known for ‘hunting for treasure’ in the ‘Third World.’

“You and John E. Clark, (head of anthropology at BYU and of the New World Archeological Foundation (NWAF)), have generated pseudo-scientific arguments that propose that the ancestors of Mormons (Nephite Israelites) built sacred sites in Mesoamerica … Theories like these are not only absurd and laughable, but they also increase the probability of actual looting.

“Denying our greatness and submitting us to misery are old strategies of those who steal our history because they themselves have no roots, since they only exist while they colonize and plunder us.

“Respect our territory, our Big House, they belong only to us, the Maya Nations.

"Enough with stealing our territory and looting our ancient cities!”
- “Open letter to Richard Hansen”