We find references to "highways" in the New World in a number of places: Helaman 7:10; 14:24; 3 Nephi 6:8; 8:13). According to Hunter and Ferguson, the Maya (of Mesoamerica) like the Romans, were finished builders of roads. In the days of their greatness, macadamized roads, raised from six to eight feet above the ordinary level of the country and surfaced with hard, smooth cement, led from palace terrace to temple, from temple center to temple center. Such highways radiated form Chichen Itza toward all the other great centers of population. From Coba a road led all the way across the peninsula to the Coast of Cozumel which was a sacred place with the ancients and contained many shrines. . . . Roman roads, proverbial for their permanence, have disappeared, and can be traced today only with difficulty, or not at all. Our modern roads, if left to the forces of nature, will completely disappear without leaving a trace in 500 years, but this great Maya road has withstood the passage of centuries in a country of heavy rainfall and luxuriant vegetation. With the exception of its cement facing, this road is almost the same now as it was the day when the last Maya trod its smooth level surface. [Milton R. Hunter and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Ancient America and The Book of Mormon, p. 261] [See the illustrations on 3 Nephi 6:8]
“The Highway Which Led to the Chief Market”
According to Wallace Hunt, Helaman 7:10 is the only place in the Book of Mormon where the word market appears, to say nothing of the phrase chief market. 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. After all, the native Americans with whom he was familiar had no marketplaces! Moreover, why would he jeopardize the integrity of his work by adding any unusual word or description?
If we look at Mesoamerica, the reference to a market (marketplace) is not only proper but crucial to Mormon's description of Nephi's praying and its effect upon the people. . . . The marketplace has been and still is a continuing and important part of their culture. J. Eric Thompson comments, "The present-day markets of highland Guatemala are enchanting, colorful, and thought-provoking, but they are but pale shadows of the markets in pre-Columbian times." . . . In Bernal Diaz's account of the "great market" of Tlatelolco, . . . his fellow soldiers, who had been in many parts of the world, commented that "they had never seen a market so well laid out, so large, so orderly, and so full of people." Interestingly in this same dialogue Diaz also comments on the beauty and number of Montezuma's gardens and describes the courts and enclosures on the road to the market. . . . Even today, to stand on the road leading to a marketplace can be an especially moving experience when one is observing a routine that has been followed for millennia. . . . Early in the morning the road is busy. Men and women are on their way to sell and purchase wares. . . . Thus Mormon, being intimately familiar with the markets of his day, surely knew that his description of Nephi's garden and tower as being on the road to the chief market was very important in adequately conveying the impression of the large number of people who would hear Nephi praying and who would quickly assemble to hear him speak. [Wallace E. Hunt, Jr., "The Marketplace," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Fall 1995, pp. 138-141]
“The Chief Market”
Hugh Nibley notes, Here's a December 1980 National Geographic. You can always pick this stuff up in anything. Here's a typical marketplace. Of course, this is during the time of the Conquistadors. This is much later, but there's this lavish wealth. As it says here, "Cortez reports a crowd of 60,000 bartering for goods in one market [that's business, you see]--turkeys, armadillos, rabbits, cotton boles, girds, bolts of finest cloth, quilts filled with gold dust [notice it talks about the weaving and the gold here], straw mats, corn, pottery, feathers for lavish ornament. . . . When disputes arose they were settled by a judge. Dress identifies region or occupation. . . . In other words, the Book of Mormon isn't exaggerating. It is not Joseph Smith letting his imagination run wild, as some people have said--Mrs. Brodie, for example. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, p. 227]
Here [in National Geographic] is the ancient city [Tenochtitlan?] as the Spaniards saw it when they discovered it. It's all very neatly laid out, all planned with streets wide open, all at right angles to each other, etc. and notice here are the gardens. As you go up, these are garden plots. Here the road approaches the city and passes a garden plot here. You get in the city and you see their towers here and there. Everything is laid out in a very proper manner. The interesting thing is the garden surrounds it, and they still do. This is one thing that has been discovered, archaeologically, down at Teotihuacan today at the big Pyramid of the Sun there. It was a large city, and moreover, the city was surrounded by garden patches, very systematically, and Mormon describes it here. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, p. 256]
Helaman 7:10 The Chief Market ([Illustration]): Some of the color and liveliness of the huge marketplace that Cortez described is caught in this museum reconstruction of that scene. [John L. Sorenson, Images of Ancient America, p. 55]
Helaman 7:10 The Chief Market ([Illustration]): This market at Chichicastenango, Guatemala, has changed from its pre-Spanish status mainly in some of the merchandise, the use of coins, and the costumes of the participants. The basic social and economic functions are unchanged, as are the color and bustle. [John L. Sorenson, Images of Ancient America, p. 55]