Plates are pieces of ore used for engraved records. Nephi made “plates of ore” so that he might engrave “the record of my people” upon them. He engraved the record of his father, his people’s wilderness journeyings, and prophecies upon the plates he made (1 Nephi 19:1-4).
Nephi received a commandment that “the ministry and the prophecies” should be written upon these plates (1 Nephi 19:1-4). Mormon found plates containing “this small account of the prophets,” from Jacob to King Benjamin, and many of the words of Nephi (Words of Mormon 1:3-5).
People brought a record concerning people whose bones they had found, and it “was engraven on plates of ore” (Mosiah 21:27).