http://www.mormontimes.com/DB_index.php?id=1197

Raiders of the lost Book of Mormon DNA

By Michael De Groote
MormonTimes.com writer
Published: Thursday, May. 29, 2008

Part one of a series.

"And 'X' never, ever, marks the spot." – Indiana Jones

Rod Meldrum is like a latter-day Indiana Jones -- except he doesn't look
the part at all. He is tall, in his 40s, and has a mustache more
reminiscent of David Niven than Harrison Ford. And unlike Indy's adventures
in the spider web-infested caves of Peru, Meldrum explores the mysteries of
DNA, the Book of Mormon and geography in peer-reviewed journals and on
scientific search engines.

If he is right, most theories about where the Book of Mormon took place are
off by about 2,000 miles.

Meldrum saw an anti-Mormon banner at a 2003 church general conference that
declared: "DNA Evidence Proves Book of Mormon Wrong!" The critics claimed
the Book of Mormon says American Indians were only descended from
migrations from the Middle East. They then argued DNA studies showed
American Indians have only Asian DNA markers.

This didn't bother Meldrum. As early as the 1920s, LDS scholars had
recognized that the Book of Mormon not only allowed for but also gave
strong hints that the Americas were populated long before the Book of
Mormon prophet Lehi led his people from Jerusalem to the Americas by boat
in 600 B.C.

What troubled Meldrum was that most of the responses from the LDS community
were highly technical explanations why no DNA related to Book of Mormon
people had yet been found. The thrust of these arguments is twofold: First,
the DNA makeup of the various Book of Mormon peoples is unknown. Second,
these groups were small enough that it is possible that the larger existing
populations could have diluted their distinctive DNA out of existence. The
chance of finding any Book of Mormon DNA may be unlikely. Lehi's DNA might
be lost to time.

Meldrum accepted this as a possibility. But he wasn't satisfied.

His career as a salesman, marketer and president and CEO of a factory and
wholesale company taught him how to look for solutions. His work at
AnQuest, Inc., a company working on a natural sciences textbook, taught him
how to use scientific publications and specialized search engines.

Even though he was not a geneticist, he was determined to find evidence.

"I went into this research with a huge bias," Meldrum said. "I already knew
the answers. Because, you see, I know from a personal, spiritual standpoint
that the Book of Mormon is a true document -- that it is a literal
history."

As Meldrum explains it, there are only a few major population groups:
African, European and Asian. These are the largest categories and each has
specific DNA markers. People from the lands surrounding Jerusalem would be
broadly categorized as European.

Critics of the Book of Mormon tout DNA studies that concluded that American
Indians belong to the Asian group. These studies use more precise
categories of DNA markers called haplogroups; the American Indians usually
have some combination of DNA from haplogroups called A, B, C or D. There is
no room in the critics' story for American Indian DNA to come from any
other source than Asia.

Meldrum, however, was intrigued by recent studies that showed another
haplogroup appearing in American Indian populations. This haplogroup is
identified by the letter "X." The curious thing for researchers is that X
is one of several known European haplogroups. It is not Asian.

Although the studies are still preliminary and the exact source of the X
haplogroup hasn't yet been determined, Meldrum became excited. If X was
European that meant it was also possible it came from ancient Jerusalem --
just as the Book of Mormon recounts.

There are, however, three problems with connecting the American Indian X
with the Book of Mormon.

First is that a few studies found X markers in Asia. In fact, some critics
of the Book of Mormon told Meldrum this proved that X came from Asia just
like the A, B, C and D haplogroups. Meldrum responded by referring the
critics to the text of those studies that concluded that the Asian X is not
the same as the X found in the Americas.

The second problem is that DNA timelines didn't match up with Book of
Mormon chronology. Meldrum explained that standard DNA chronology is based
on projected rates of mutations in specific areas of the DNA. He parts from
geneticists because he doesn't believe mutations are predictable enough to
calibrate the "DNA clock" accurately. He believes the DNA clock is just too
uncertain at this point to discount the possibility of X coming from Book
of Mormon time periods.

The third problem is the distribution of X among American Indian tribes.
Meldrum knows most LDS scholars think the events of the Book of Mormon took
place in a limited area in Central America. Common conceptions among
members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including
artists from Arnold Friberg to Walter Rane, imagine the events of the Book
of Mormon in a lush tropical environment.

"I was fully expecting to find this European DNA amongst the Mayan people,"
Meldrum said.

Although there are some traces of the X haplogroup in Brazil, Meldrum found
no traces of X in Mayan populations. Instead, he found that the highest
concentrations of X were in North America -- particularly around the Great
Lakes region.

Meldrum knew the DNA evidence was preliminary, but he began to wonder if it
was leading him to a startling conclusion: If the highest concentrations of
European DNA were in the Great Lakes region, could it be that some of the
events of the Book of Mormon took place in that area as well?

Instead of waiting until more certain DNA evidence presented itself,
Meldrum began to expand his research. As he describes it on his Web Site,
www.bookofmormonevidence.com, he looked at "prophetic, scriptural,
historical, climatological, archaeological, social and cultural evidences."
He needed to know whether it was possible if the DNA was pointing to a
whole new way of thinking about Book of Mormon geography.

He needed to know if X marked the spot.