The Archaeologists
1. lass, like so many delicate things, is surrounded by mysticism. Before the advent of synthetic glass, humans used natural glass created by the lava of volcanoes and the strike of lightning on desert sand. The Maya relied on obsidian, that solid blackness created from the blood of the earth, for mirrors and scrying, and fashioned it into sharp blades to slice the necks of sacrifices. An old legend says that a group of sailors accidentally discovered how to create glass when their vessel carrying sodium carbonate shipwrecked on the shores of Judea. When they brought the soda onto the sand and built a fire, a strange liquid spilled from the ashes, and when it cooled, it glistened, like ice hardened into permanence, like another state of matter. Translucent, created by chance, as malleable as prophecy, glass became the perfect medium for acquiring spiritual knowledge. Once they discovered glass’s fundamental ingredients—sand, soda, lime, and heat—glassworkers created lenses for monks to magnify religious texts, jars to hold the ashes of the dead, crystal globes for seers to see all the world.
GWhen I was six, I learned to read by studying scripture, sounding out the poems of prophets as I gathered with my family around my parents’ bed every night. We took turns reading from the Book of Mormon, engrossed in stories of prophets who prayed all day and night. I was born into the Mormon Church by devout parents: a “child of the covenant.” Before I learned to read, even from the time I was conceived, I listened to scripture. My mother carried me to church every week, before and after my birth, and not just on Sundays. We were there for Sunday school, Monday family home evenings, Wednesday Primary, Saturday baptisms, and endless potlucks, funerals, service projects, and social events. Prayers marked the beginning and end of every get-together. In prayers we promised God our faith; in scripture we listened to God’s promises to us. Before my mouth had even formed, I was immersed in our language, belief built into my very bones.
Although Mormonism was officially founded in 1830, it really began in 1823, when, after a long prayer, Joseph Smith received a vision. There was a burst of light so bright that Joseph shielded his eyes; when the