A couple years ago I summarized some findings regarding defensive fortifications among the ancient Mayans and their apparent connections to the Book of Mormon (see my page, “Mesoamerican Fortifications and the Book of Mormon“). The site of Becan was of particular interest. Today I noticed that aerial photos of ancient earthworks in Becan are available on the MayaRuins.com site at http://mayaruins.com/becan/aerial1.html and http://mayaruins.com/becan/aerial2.html.
Enjoy.
For the issue of whether Joseph could have plagiarized available materials to come up with his description of fortifications, see my Mormon Answers page, “Was the Book of Mormon Plagiarized from Modern Sources?.” Also see “What Could Joseph Smith Have Known about Mesoamerica?.”
Anti-Mormons would consider this a “lucky guess.” That is their response to everything that fits perfectly in the Book of Mormon, but that was unknown or not general knowledge at the time of Joseph Smith. Of course, any perceived discrepancy is “obvious” proof that the Book of Mormon is a fraud.
There are many things that I believe on pure faith alone, i.e., I accept the fact that there is no scientific proof of their existence. The Book of Mormon is an exception to that. The internal and external evidences of the Book of Mormon are simply too staggering to be dismissed.