According to the geographical theory of Joseph Allen, a possible candidate for the city of Ammonihah in the Chiapas region of Mexico (general land of Zarahemla) is the ancient site of Mirador (not to be confused with El Mirador in Guatemala). This archaeological site is located near the town of Cintalapa, Chiapas. The New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) did some preliminary excavations at the site. . . . Today, a simple dirt mound stands in the area proposed as the city of Ammonihah. It is a dirt mound that stands as a monument to a wicked people who said, "How can this city be destroyed?" [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 383]
According to John Sorenson, Mirador's cultural connections with the Zarahemla/Santa Rosa area were definite though not intimate, the same type of relationship implied in the Ammonihah people's guardedly hostile response to Alma's message in Alma 8:11-12 and Alma 9:4. The site of Mirador was a major regional center of western Chiapas from Jaredite times until after the Nephites disappeared. Its 30 major mounds are impressively concentrated in an area about 400 meters on each side. This place was prominent enough to justify the pride of the Ammonihahites in its importance. . . . Mirador (Ammonihah) was the key to a distinct geographical zone, the Jiquipilas-Cintalapa valley. This flattish zone is the most northwesterly extension of the central depression and thus the major route from Chiapas to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The city's immediate position is at a low point of the valley, just before the river draining the valley enters a deep canyon on its way to join the Grijalva/Sidon. Immediately east of Mirador the road inland rises dramatically almost 2,500 feet onto an intermediate plateau, so the site appears to be in a "hole" of sorts. This situation may be related to the statement about Ammonihah, that Alma and Amulek, his new companion, "came out even into the land of Sidom" (Alma 15:1) Later settlers were also said to "go in" to the place (Alma 16:11). Excavation at Mirador has revealed that the place was an important center in Alma's day. One tomb contained remnants of two ancient bark paper books or codices. These are the only definite books recovered so far in Mesoamerican excavations. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., p. 201]
Alma 8:6 Ammonihah ([Illustration]): Top: The large mound at Mirador in western Chiapas gives the site its name, "Lookout," and could have been one reason the people of Ammonihah were so proud of their city. Bottom: The flat Cintalapa River valley in which Mirador lies is the chief route between central Chiapas and the Pacific coast. (Photo by Daniel Bates. Courtesy David A. Palmer and the Society for Early Historic Archaeology.) [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., p. 200]
“Now It Was the Custom of the People of Nephi”
As the Zarahemla Research Foundation staff looked at the headings for each major land--such as "land of Nephi" and the "land of Zarahemla"--someone commented, "[The lands of] Bountiful and Desolation don't seem to fit the Nephite custom of naming lands [after a person]." The Nephite custom is described by Mormon as follows:
Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands and their cities and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah. (Alma 8:7)
So, does the Book of Mormon give any possible explanation as to why we have the names Bountiful and Desolation? Perhaps! In Alma 22:31 we are told that these lands were associated with a people which had "been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken" [The only bones spoken of by the recordkeeper Mormon are referred to in Mosiah 8:8 in association with the Limhi expedition which returned with 24 plates of gold, a Jaredite record of a fallen people.] . . . The Hebrew word samem and its derivatives are translated "desolate" or "desolation." The meaning is "a barren, empty land, wasted and made bleak by some disaster. The disaster may be natural or a result of war. But usually this word group is associated with divine judgment." It usually applies to places and things. [This would fit the Jaredites perfectly]
In Alma 22:31 we find that "they [either the Jaredites or the people of Zarahemla] came from there [the land Desolation] up into the south wilderness. Thus . . . the land on the southward was called Bountiful, it being the wilderness which is filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food." In the Jaredite record, it verifies the fact the Jaredites "did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants" (Ether 10:21). The Jaredite record also verifies the fact that during a time of drought, the Jaredites "did go into the land southward, to hunt food for the people of the land, for the land was covered with animals of the forest" (Ether 10:19). . . . Checking our Hebrew sources, we find that the Hebrew word for "bountiful" is tob or tov. Associated with its meanings are such descriptions as "good," "beautiful,," "bountiful," "prosperous," "agreeable for eating," "fruitful" and "fertile." . . . Here we are also reminded of the area in the Old World named Bountiful by the Lehi and his family "because of its much fruit and also wild honey" (1 Nephi 17:5).
Still we wondered, Why these exceptions to the prescribed manner of naming lands? . . . This significant departure from the Nephite custom of naming their lands for the first person to possess them seems to imply that maybe the lands Bountiful and Desolation were not "possessed" by a people in the usual sense. This insight led us to another question, Could it be that the regions extended over specific "possessed" lands or boundaries rather than being specific boundaried lands--similar to national parks, or the "plains area," or even the "desert Southwest" in the United States which spreads across state lines?
Ultimately, all references to the lands Bountiful and Desolation warrant reexamination for new understanding in relation to the geography of the Book of Mormon. Once again the "learning of the Jews" provides an increased understanding of Book of Mormon geography. [Adapted from ZRF Staff, "Why Bountiful? Why Desolation?," in Recent Book of Mormon Developments, Vol. 2, p. 148]