Two major questions have been raised by anti-LDS critics of the Book of Mormon concerning the statement that there were horses and chariots on the American continents before the time of Christ (Alma 18:9). These critics have maintained: (1) no horses existed on the American continents before the time of Columbus, and (2) the people who lived on the American continents did not know the principle of the wheel before the coming of Columbus. However, since the publication of the Book of Mormon, considerable archaeological evidence has come forth to reinforce its claims that there were horses on the American continents before the time of Columbus and that these early peoples did know the principle of the wheel.