Culture: As we saw in Helaman 3, Mormon is not necessarily historically precise in his characterizations of culture in this land northward. In terms of literacy, he clearly wanted to define the land northward in terms of his current world rather than its own period. (See commentary accompanying Helaman 3:13–16.) Perhaps a similar process is occurring here. Mesoamerican archaeology does not confirm widespread metal-working for this period. Mormon’s statement would make more sense for his own period.
In either case, we should remember that gold and silver in Mesoamerica had value because of the items crafted, not for their own sake. (See commentary accompanying Jacob 2:12–13.) Thus, Mormon’s description of craftsmen working the ore accurately suggests that producing unusual and prestige-creating trade goods resulted in the wealth—not the possession of gold and silver per se.
Translation: It is possible that the many occurrences of “gold and silver” in the Book of Mormon are intended to translate the concept of a valuable trade material rather than the exact minerals. I hypothesize that “gold and silver” may be Joseph Smith’s translation equivalents for jade and obsidian. (See commentary accompanying Alma 17:14.) Archaeological evidence supports a view of these two stones as highly valued and widely traded while lacking similar evidence for gold and silver. This suggestion is speculative; nothing in the Book of Mormon suggests that “gold and silver” were anything but the literal minerals; but Joseph’s translation method requires us to consider the possibility that he used those terms to help his modern audience understand the value of the media of exchange.