According to John Sorenson, Book of Mormon and Mesoamerican secret groups were up to the same tricks and operated according to similar rules. But were these practices really ancient in America, or were they late developments? Some researchers think the Pochteca (long distance trading) groups' origin goes back to Teotihuacan (the early centuries A.D., but Professor Coe maintains that a similar institution was vital in Olmec civilization before 1000 B.C. J. A. Bennyhoff has interpreted masks recovered by archaeologists as indications of the presence of secret societies anciently. These ritual artifacts are present from about 1200 B.C. to 600 B.C. in the Valley of Oaxaca (Jaredite Moron). . . . Masks again are found in large numbers during developed Teotihuacan times, for a few centuries after A.D. 300. This happens to be just the period when Mormon reports the rise of the secret society that was instrumental in the downfall of the Nephites (Mormon 2:8, 10, 27-28; Ether 8:19-21). [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pp. 308-309]
Mormon 2:8 The land was filled with robbers ([Illustration]): Masks like this one of the Teotihuacan era have been interpreted as evidence for secret societies (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, p. 303]