Hamblin’s suggestion of the nature and possible shape of the Jaredite breastplates is quite likely correct. Our assumption of a medieval armor when we hear the work “breastplate” is the result of our modern conditioning and should not be imposed on a different time and people. The sole difficulty in associating the Olmec breastplates with those listed in the text is the metal itself. The Olmec typically used iron rather than copper and brass. It is not known whether the presence of those terms in our English text is representative of the authentic Jaredite metal or perhaps a mistranslation based upon Joseph’s assumptions of the type of metal that would have been used.
The swords are obviously iron, since they have rusted: the blades are “cankered” and the hilts have “perished.” There is no archaeological evidence of iron swords in Mesoamerica.
As for the plates, it is unclear where the explorers found them. It seems very unlikely that they would have been left on or brought to the battlefield. It seems more likely that they would have been housed in one of the ruined buildings that the explorers also found. The only Mesoamerican codex found in situ was in a temple. Therefore, a temple, or the enclosure on top of a stepped pyramid, was one place where such records might be found, but the king’s residence, as we can see from our reconstruction of Ammon’s reading Zeniff’s record, is another.
The fact that the records were there to be found suggests either complete annihilation of the residents or a flight so rapid that the sacred records were abandoned without even taking the time to hide them in a secure location as the keepers of the Qumran records did.