Coriantumr is the same man identified as the last Jaredite in the book of Ether. The Zarahemlaites “discovered” him, but it is not clear whether they did so in the land of Zarahemla or earlier in their history. The brief explanation of the events depicted on the stela all have counterparts on the various stelae from the later Classic period (A.D. 250–800) among the Maya, though the correspondence is not precise. The presence of ancestors attest to the main figure’s right of rulership. Based on known stelae dealing with kings and history, it is certain that Coriantumr would have been the central figure of that stela.
Victory over another people is also frequently commemorated with an engraving on a stela, but the putative “stela of Coriantumr” does not seem to fit this model. Not only is it virtually unheard of to create a monument to the defeat of one’s people, but such a topic leaves unanswered the question about the carver, if Coriantumr’s people have been vanquished. Carving a stela takes time and resources to support the carvers. Without a kingdom, Coriantumr would have had no means of providing support, would not likely have been himself a carver, and almost certainly would not have wanted to memorialize his defeat.
There are two possibilities. Since the information on Coriantumr comes through Mosiah1’s inspired (but perhaps not literal?) reading of the stone, the explanation may be a prophetic/seeric “reading” of the stone, supplying information that does not appear in its inscription. Mosiah1 would be using the stone as a base text but expanding it with information about the Jaredite destruction. The other option is that the stone was truly unique in the type of information it recorded.
The discussion of the Jaredites is reserved for the volume of commentary on the book of Ether. However, it is important to recall that the Jaredites match Olmec geography and history for Mesoamerica. This does not mean that the Olmec were the Jaredites or that the Jaredites were the Olmec. Rather, it means that the Jaredites would have participated in the Olmec culture and that Olmec culture is an acceptable backdrop for understanding the Jaredite cultural milieu.