Great episode, as always. During the interview with Kenny Feder, I was extremely happy that Rebecca asked the question about how the new evidence related to Mormon beliefs. As a recovering Mormon, it's always nice to hear (once again) that the science just doesn't match up.
However, I had a minor quibble with her question. She asked if these new findings lent any credence to Mormon beliefs that Native American populations were older than scientists thought.
While it's true that Mormons believe that Adam and the Garden of Eden were in Missouri (putting people in North America "in the beginning") and that humans left the Americas when Noah's boat landed in the Middle East after the Flood, that aspect of Mormon belief isn't nearly as vital as the belief that Feder mentioned - that a group of Jews migrated to North America later. That's the central argument of the Book of Mormon, and I suspect that's also what Rebecca was referring to when she asked the question.
However, Mormons believe that migration took place around 600 BC, making the Native American populations much younger - not older - than what scientists say. The Book of Mormon timeline greatly compresses the amount of time Native Americans had to evolve new languages, shed their Hebrew DNA, lose important technologies like steel making and wheat farming, and, basically, hide every shred of evidence that the Book of Mormon claims are true.
