From the book of Ether, we know that Coriantumr was the last surviving king of the Jaredites (see Ether 12-15). Now we have a report of a stone (or stela) with "engravings" that purportedly tell of Coriantumr "and the slain of his people" (Omni 1:21), and how "the severity of the Lord fell upon them according to his judgments, which are just; and their bones lay scattered in the land northward" (Omni 1:21).
Brant Gardner asks, What kind of king would cerate a stone monument to the defeat of his people? Carving a stela takes time and the dedication of resources to support the carvers, so who carved the stone if the people of Coriantumr had been vanquished? Would Coriantumr have had the skills and the desire to leave a memorialization of his defeat? There is only one explanation--perhaps Mosiah's inspired (perhaps not exactly literal?) reading of the stone was an expanded interpretation of the engravings. [Brant Gardner, "Book of Mormon Commentary," [http://www.highfiber.com/~nahualli/LDStopics/Omni/] Omni1.htm, pp. 41-42]