There several important points in these verses. The very first is that these relics were brought back to Limhi “for a testimony that the things that they had said are true.” This party of 43 (presumed to consist entirely of men, based on the function and cultural division of male/female roles) missed their target. They were gone for a long period of time, and while they did not find what they were looking for, they did find something they found quite marvelous. Rather than be seen as simply telling a tale, the men brought back tokens of their find – verification that the rest of the tale was also correct.
Limhi’s list of the artifacts begins and ends with the plates. They were clearly the aspect of the artifacts that most interested him. Before treating the plates in this discussion, however, we will examine some of the other items brought back by Limhi’s party.
Limhi’s people had stumbled onto a great battlefield, and their trophies were battle-related, except for the plates. They bring back two types of warfare accouterments, the defensive armor (breastplates) and offensive weapons (swords).
The term breastplate invokes a European conception of a metal covering for the chest. Such items were not known in Mesoamerica, at least as discovered in the archaeological record or in the iconographic depictions of battle. The most well known battle scenes for Mesoamerica deal with much later cultures, so there may or may not be any direct correspondence with the Jaredites. There is, however, a type of personal decoration that might be covered by the term “breastplate” even though that word invokes too great a connotation of European armament.
One of the personal decorations seen on many figures in artistic depictions is a large plate hung around the neck, but covering the chest. These take different stylistic forms, but uare susuall flat with some geometric cut to their design. To my knowledge, they are not square, nor are they curved. Nevertheless, they do appear to be metal in the artistic representations (which date from later than Jaredite times). This is at least suggestive that the breastplate was not the European category, but that the European word was simply used to describe this metal piece that hung over the chest. The Mesoamerican plates cover the upper chest, perhaps as literal and symbolic protection for the heart, which was the focus of human sacrifice, and clearly highly significant in Mesoamerican society.
The swords are more difficult to interpret in Mesoamerican categories because these swords appear to be of iron, which is susceptible to rust. Iron swords are unknown, though there is evidence of possible iron working among the Olmec.
Sorenson provides the following information on what is know about iron in Mesoamerica:
“Iron use was documented in the statements of early Spaniards, who told of the Aztecs using iron-studded clubs. A number of artifacts have been preserved that are unquestionably of iron; their considerable sophistication, in some cases, at least suggests interest in this metal. (That is not surprising, since even a culture as simple as the Eskimo found iron—from meteors—valuable.) Few of these specimens have been chemically analyzed to determine whether the iron used was from meteors or from smelted ore. The possibility that smelted iron either has been or may yet be found is enhanced by a find at Teotihuacan. A pottery vessel dating to about A.D. 300, and apparently used for smelting, contained a ”metallic-looking" mass. Analyzed chemically, it proved to contain copper and iron. Linne, the same Swedish archaeologist who made that find, accepted a piece of iron found in a tomb at Mitla, Oaxaca, as probably refined.
Without even considering smelted iron, we find that peoples in Mesoamerica exploited iron minerals from early times. Lumps of hematite, magnetite, and ilmenite were brought into Valley of Oaxaca sites from some of the thirty-six ore exposures located near or in the valley. These were carried to a workshop section within the site of San Jose Mogote as early as 1200 B.C. There they were crafted into mirrors by sticking the fragments onto prepared mirror backs and polishing the surface highly. These objects, clearly of high value, were traded at considerable distances. (This archaeologically established mineral processing was taking place within the valley that chapter I identified as the probable
Jaredite land of Moron)" (Sorenson, John L. An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon. Deseret Book, 1985, pp. 284-5).
None of this quite answers the mystery of iron swords, but does indicate that the possibility for them existed. We do not know why such a potentially valuable weapon would have disappeared.
The plates provide another kind of historical challenge. We do not know precisely where the plates were discovered. It would have been very unlikely that the plates would have been on the battlefield. The party did find ruined buildings, however, and we would expect that the plates would have been kept in one of the buildings.
The only Mesoamerican codex found in situ was found in a temple. That clearly tells us that this was one place where such records might be found, but probably not the only place. When Ammon reads the plates of Limhi, they are probably in the king’s residence, and that is another location which is sacred/important enough to have records. Records would certainly have been sacred/important enough that they would not be risked on a battlefield. However it is very easy to understand that the party would be interested in the buildings as well as the battlefield, and they would most likely have found the plates in the enclosure on top of a pyramid, or in the building that would have been the ruler’s residence.
The very finding of the records, however, indicates that the destruction of the people who had inhabited those buildings had been either complete, or rapid. Either no one was left to carry away sacred records, or the flight from the city was so rapid that these were missed when the people fled. We may surmise that it was in no way an ordered withdrawal, or these records would never have been left to be found. Unlike the records of Qumran, these plates would not have been well hidden, as Limhi’s group would not have taken the time to do extensive searches. They found what they could, and returned. The plates, therefore, must have been in the place where they would have been used, and abandoned due to the battle that clearly had raged around them.