Elephants in the Americas

Mammoths are a member of the family Elephantidae, or elephant. Mammoths are closely related to Asian Elephants. The Book of Mormon has been criticized for mentioning elephants.

Mastodons are distantly related to Mammoths.

But the big question is when they died out. No one can find the grave of the last living pre-columbian elephant in America. There is a theory that they died out around 13000 years ago, but it is just a theory, and impossible to prove.

In fact, elephant bones were discovered in Guatemala which date to a mere 6000 years ago:

"En cuanto al proceso de extinción parece que éste ha debido ser gradual, pues no todos los miembros del orden Probocidea desaparecieron hacia finales del Pleistoceno, sino que muchos ejemplares sobrevivieron al menos durante el Holoceno inicial. El caso del mastodonte del sitio paleontológico El Totumo (municipio de Tocaima) en el valle del Magdalena, es un buen ejemplo de esto. Una fecha de C14 obtenida de uno de sus huesos arrojó un resultado de 6.060 ± 60 A.P., lo cual lo ubica en el Tardiglacial (CORREAL et al., 2005: 10)"

This comes very close to Book of Mormon times. Of course, our confidence in the Book of Mormon is not a result of archeology. Archeological discoveries are just icing on the cake. The Book of Mormon continues to stand on its own as a treasure. But when critics say that it isn't supported by archeology, they are making statements that they cannot support.