“Having All Manner of Silks”

Alan C. Miner

According to Glenn Scott, it is not surprising that no trace of silk has been found in Mesoamerica for silk oxidizes completely in damp climates. However, it is said that silk was produced in China as early as 3000 B.C., and this knowledge may have been brought to the New World by the Jaredites.

Possibilities from the land of promise include a silk-like fabric known at the time of the Conquest, which was spun from filaments of the cocoon of native Saturniidae moths. Another possibility is a native fabric which Fr. Diego de Landa described as "silk," spun from fibers of the Ceiba tree. [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust, p. 51]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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