ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON TRANS-OCEANIC VOYAGING AND CULTURE CONTACTS IN PREPARATION

The Book of Mormon reports that Jaredites, Nephites-Lamanites, and Mulekites arrived In ancient America by sea. To help understand such travels in general, a major project Is underway to organize scholarly Information about ancient seafaring.

Transoceanic voyaging and culture contacts is the topic of a current research project by John L. Sorenson and Martin Raish, a librarian and art historian, under F.A.R.M.s, auspices. Professional writings on this topic have considered only a small number of earlier studies. To provide a key tool to upgrade the quality of future studies, Sorenson and Raish are preparing a nearly exhaustive annotated bibliography on the topic. At least 3000 titles will be included in many languages. Articles and books on the theory and method of comparative culture study and on pre-modern ships and navigation are included, as well as concrete studies that support or attack the proposition that the Old World peoples and cultures influenced the New before the time of the European discovery of the Americcas. The results will first be made available on computer disk, then in print. Several major figures worlwide in this area of research are collaborating on the project, which promises to make a substantial contribution to scholarship.