At this point it is highly likely that we are seeing Mormon’s synopsis of the information in Alma’s record. Neither Alma nor Mormon would have known the reason that the Lamanites ceased to kill the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, but instead chose to attack Ammonihah in Nephite lands. The idea that it was because they were “more angry because they had slain their brethren, therefore they swore vengeance upon the Nephites,” does not make much historical sense.
Mormon has already told Alma’s Nephite-side of the story of the destruction of Ammonihah, and now Mormon makes certain to include that destruction in its Lamanite context. He will explain it in terms of what it meant to the Nephites, but he may not have understood what it meant to the Lamanites.
We now have the information we need to provide the Lamanite context for the raid on Ammonihah. The essential elements are:
1) The Lamanites were attempting to install a new king. Alma 24:20.
2) The Anti-Nephi-Lehites did not resist. Alma 24:22.
3) It was a surprise raid on Ammonihah. Alma 16:2-3.
4) In the raid on Ammonihah, the Lamanites didn’t attempt to establish a tribute relationship, but did attempt to take back captives. Alma 16:3.
All of these aspects of the Lamanite actions fit together if we place them in Mesoamerica. The first important piece of information is that the Lamanites wanted to seat a new king. Certainly, they were able to remove the previous king, because they fought and won.
Maya art contains depictions and texts of the later seating of kings, and what has been learned is that it is part of the ceremony to sacrifice captives who were taken in battle. This underscores the Lamanite problem when the Anti-Nephi-Lehies did not resist. They were certainly available captives, but they hadn’t fought back.
In later Maya art and texts, it is discovered that, in many cases, the new king conducted a lightning raid on an unsuspecting city so that captives might be acquired. This gives ample reason for the attack on Ammonihah, even though the Lamanites would not have understood that they were fulfilling prophecy by doing so.
Thus, these events, that might otherwise be difficult to explain, are easily understood as part of the common story of the seating of a new king in at least the Maya regions of Mesoamerica.