Cultural: This verse is the best description of the physical residence of an important man. We should not expect that all Nephites lived in such a residence, for Nephi had been a chief judge, and would have been according not only place in the city, but larger residence. It is interesting to note that this description of the residence fits well with the archaeological evidence coming from Mesoamerican residences.
The first point to note is that this residence is “by the highway which led to the chief market.” While inter-city roads are later additions to the Mesoamerican city-state landscape, the internal roads are part and parcel of the planned layout of the ceremonial centers, including the residences for those who live in the city proper. It is thus quite to be expected in Mesoamerica that a road might lead by the residence of a man who had been the chief judge, and thus would merit a residence in the city proper.
The next aspect of the road is that it “led to the chief market.” Wallace Hunt notes:
“Significantly, this is the only place in the Book of Mormon where the word market appears.
One hardly notices the words chief market in this particular chapter, and upon deeper perusal of the verse, the use of the two words at first seems unnecessary. Why add this description? If Joseph Smith were authoring the book, there would be no need to include such a description. In fact, any unusual word or description could jeopardize the integrity of the work. After all, the native Americans with whom he was familiar had no marketplaces!
We can, however, draw several conclusions from Mormon’s inclusion of the phrase chief market. First, the description was important to include, since he was limited for space and therefore would have included only words, phrases, and events that he felt were significant. Also, this description signifies that cities in this time period not only had more than one market, but that one of the markets was either larger or more significant than the others.” (Wallace E. Hunt, Jr. “Notes and Communications-the Marketplace”, FARMS Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 4, no. 2 (Fall 1995), 140.)
Welch corroborates Hunt’s conclusions with additional information on the Mesoamerican context for multiple market places:
“Cortez and his fellows were amazed by the market in Tlatelolco in the Valley of Mexico, by its diversity of goods, and by the complexity of its organization. Yet until recently, only little attention has been given to the fact that a number of these cities had multiple markets.
The evidence, however, seems quite clear. Blanton and Kowalewski, for example, have noted that Monte Alban had both a chief market and subsidiary ones. For Teotihuacan, Rene Millon identifies one location as “the principal marketplace” and suggests that other markets existed for special products, such as kitchen wares. fn George Cowgill, the other leading expert on Teotihuacan, concurs. fn The Krotsers point out the same phenomenon at El Tajín. fn Meanwhile Edward Calnek’s reexamination of documentary evidence on the organization of the Aztec capital, Tenochititlan, has established that each major sector of the city had its own market, in addition to the giant central one. fn Apparently Zarahemla was no different.” (John W. Welch, ed., Reexploring the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992], 237. See also Wallace E. Hunt, Jr..Notes and Communications-the Marketplace, FARMS Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 4, no. 2 (Fall 1995), 140.)
So far, then we have a road leading to a chief market, both quite typical features of a larger Mesoamerican city. To this point, Nephi’s residence rings true to time and space.
We also learn that Nephi’s residence was a compound surrounded by a wall in which there was a gate. This wall enclosed at least the “garden of Nephi” and the “tower.” While it isn’t stated, we presume that it also enclosed, or was attached to, the residence itself. Are these features of a Mesoamerican elite residence? Yes.
“…garden areas were cultivated immediately adjacent to single habitation complexes. At the archaeological site of El Tajín near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico east of Mexico City are the remains of a city that occupied at least five square kilometers at its maximum period, probably between A.D. 600-900. At that time, the houses of its middle-class people were surrounded by gardens and fruit trees. fn Likewise, the famous city of Tula, north of the capital of Mexico, was even larger, up to fourteen square kilometers around A.D. 1000-1100, and gardened houselots were common there too.” (John W. Welch, ed., Reexploring the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992], 237.)
The walled compound is equally well attested at multiple locations. This leaves the question of Nephi’s tower. What was this tower?
The attested “towers” inside the walled compounds are pyramidal structures. Those attached to private residences were not nearly as high as those used for public ritual, but they were nevertheless similarly constructed, if not nearly so high. Certainly the top of Nephi’s tower was sufficiently close to the ground that he could discourse to the population. As a place for prayer and communion with God they were symbolically well-suited:
“In Old Testament times Israelites and surrounding nations built and used such holy elevations. The Canaanite “high places” (bamoth) to which the backsliding Israelites resorted were strongly condemned by the prophets (for example, in Ezekiel 43:7). Archaeologists now know that those structures were earthen platforms quite like those found by the thousands in Mesoamerica. In Israelite thought, they stood for mountains or hills just as elsewhere in the Near East. On them, it was felt, heavenly powers were especially accessible; this was a divine contact point, “the navel of the earth.” The underworld (not necessarily conceived as hell) was thought accessible at the same “world axis.” The Baal worshippers of Canaan believed that El, progenitor of the gods, dwelt at Aphaca, a spot on the coast where a mountain rises immediately above a huge cave. So this great deity of theirs was connected not only with the mountain but also lived in “aqueous and subterranean environs.” That sounds perfectly Mesoamerican. Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun, it was recently discovered, was built over a cavern and spring of obvious sacred significance.
This business may all sound thoroughly pagan, but worship upon elevations was orthodox in Israel if done right. Moses’ experience in Sinai comes to mind, as well as Nephi’s vision on a mountain (1 Nephi 11:1). The temple seen in vision by Ezekiel was “upon a very high mountain” (Ezekiel 40:2-5). One of the Hebrew names of God was Sur, “Mountain” (for example, 1 Samuel 2:2 literally reads, “There is no Mountain like our God”). Chapter 32 of Deuteronomy uses this name for deity eight times. fn Among the Nephites we find expectable sacred significance for mountains. Nehor was carried to “the top of the hill Manti … between the heavens and the earth” to be executed (Alma 1:15). The prophet Nephi got upon his private tower in his garden that, he said, “I might pour out my soul unto my God” (Helaman 7:10, 14); to him a tower was a special place to pray, and like the natural hilltop, it was considered “between heaven and earth.” (John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1985], 174.)
All aspects of this short description of Nephi’s residence fit the Mesoamerican model of an elite residence in the city center. Of course a farmer’s home in the outskirts of the town would be quite different, even though it would also likely have been a compound area. The farmer’s residence would not be by a road, and would not have a tower. It probably would not have a wall with a gate, though it would certainly have some type of “garden” surrounding the house where the family kept various plants for foodstuffs.