In the writings of Isaiah, reference is made to a beard (2 Nephi 17:20), which was part of the Semitic culture. According to Diane Wirth, Indians do not grow beards--this is a genetic fact. Either the men have no beards or they have only a few sparse hairs. The rest of their bodies have much less hair than do American Caucasians. So how are the numerous sculptures, the stone bas reliefs, the terracotta portraits of bearded Indians explained? Are they true "Indians," as these early Americans were called?
Kirk Magleby has done a statistical analysis of more than 230 bearded figures in Mesoamerica and found a remarkably even distribution of them throughout this area. Although bearded figures date from all time periods of the pre-Conquest era, Magleby found that they were more frequent during Book of Mormon times. This coincides quite well to the period called pre-Classic by archaeologists approximately 2300 B.C. to A.D. 300. By the time of the Aztecs, conquered by the Spanish in A.D. 1521, such portrayals of the beard were relatively rare. (Magleby, A Survey of Mesoamerican Bearded Figures, F.A.R.M.S.).
Several Mexican codices depict leaders with appended false beards, apparently an important feature of the elite. The Indians took pride in their ancestral heritage and false beards were symbolic of greatness and royalty. This was not unlike men of the Jewish culture in the Old World who considered a man's beard a sign of dignity and honor. . . . An obvious decline in the number of bearded figures took place at the close of the pre-Classic period, precisely when the Nephite civilization collapsed [circa A.D. 385]. According to Alexander von Wuthenau, "I began an intensified study of pre-Columbian terracotta heads . . . what I was looking for were typical "Indian" heads. It was not long, however, before I discovered that in the early, lower levels these "genuine Indians" were not to be found. The earliest figures encountered were those with Mongoloid characteristics, and . . . all kinds of white people, especially Semitic types with and without beards . . . What is considered to be genuine Indian only developed, so far as I am able to judge on the strength of these terracotta representations, in early and middle Classic times, and probably derived from earlier types. [Diane E. Wirth, A Challenge to the Critics, pp. 29,32]
2 Nephi 17:20 The beard ([Illustration]): Bearded man, incense burner from Maya zone at Iximche, near Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Reproduced from Discoveries of the Truth by Diane E. Wirth, 1978. (Photo courtesy of Musee de l'Homme, Paris.) [Diane E. Wirth, A Challenge to the Critics, p. 30]
2 Nephi 17:20 The beard ([Illustration]): A bearded figure from the Rio Balsas, Guerrero, Mexico (Neg. #274381, courtesy Dept. Library Services, American Museum of Natural History.) [Diane E. Wirth, A Challenge to the Critics, p. 30]