Geography: For the city of Gideon to be in the valley of Gideon requires that the valley of Gideon be different from the greater valley through which flows the river Sidon. Sorenson suggests that Gideon is a valley on the eastern side of the mountain range ringing the valley of Zarahemla. (See Map, “Proposed Details around Zarahemla [Upper Grijalva Valley],” p. 59.)
It is tempting to think that the valley and city of Gideon were new locastions that were named for him after Nehor killed him, since we do not hear of these names before Gideon’s death. However, since the names appear in the fifth year of the reign of the judges and Gideon was slain in the first year (Alma 1:1), I argue that Gideon and his kin were given the valley of Gideon when they arrived from the land of Lehi-Nephi. It seems unlikely that the city could have become well established in only five years. I propose that Gideon was slain in his home, the valley of Gideon, because Nehor was attempting to gain influence in outlying areas before working into Zarahemla proper.
History: Sorenson notes: “One of the minor points made in recent criticisms of the Book of Mormon is the claim that there is no evidence of a tent-making or tent-using tradition in Mesoamerica and no available material for making the tents that the Book of Mormon mentions. Actually, Mesoamericanist literature makes it clear that tents were in regular use by Aztec armies at the time of the Spanish conquest, and there is good reason to suppose that they were used by other peoples and in earlier times (including Nephite times) in Mesoamerica.”
It would be quite true that Book of Mormon people were not using either canvas tents like modern campers nor buffalo hide teepees. But this no more means that the Mesoamericans did not have tents than the Plains Indians’ lack of canvas meant that they could not make hide tents. Tents are temporary shelters and are built of materials that are easily obtained or easily transported.
Ross Hassig, professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma and an expert on the Aztec military, describes the Aztec army’s encampment: “The camp itself was constructed of tents and huts (xahcalli [literally, “straw house”]) made of woven grass mats. These mats were usually carried as baggage from the home cities, but some tribute labor gathered en route was also allocated to carry them to the battlefield and set up the camp.” Mesoamerican armies used shelters that fit the definition of “tents” as “portable temporary shelters,” regardless of the material from which they were constructed.