Mosiah 11:11–12 (between 160 and 150 B.C.)

There were towers built in the land of Nephi by the people of Zeniff after they had returned to the land of Nephi from the land of Zarahemla in about 180 B.C. These towers appear to have been built for lookouts to watch for the Lamanites approaching from the surrounding lands. King Noah, Zeniff’s son, built “a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about” (Mosiah 11:12–13; 19:5). The ability to overlook the activities of the Lamanites in lands surrounding the temple site implies the landscape and vegetation of this area in the land of Nephi was open and not heavily treed and not covered with the continuous canopies which form the uppermost foliage of tropical forests. King Noah also “caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land; and thus he did do with the riches which he obtained by the taxation of his people” (Mosiah 11:13).

The towers were to serve as part of an early warning system. Zeniff and his people were an exceptionally small group, probably less than a thousand, therefore, we would have to assume these towers were built quickly in a simple manner with a limited number of workers (see Mosiah, chapters 9 to 22). There is no mention of how these towers were built nor the materials used, but this small group certainly did not have the time or resources to build stone towers. And no stone construction is mentioned for towers or for any of the numerous structures built by the people of Zeniff (Mosiah 11:8–13).