Who buried the metal plates, and why?

Q: Who buried the metal plates, and why?
 

A: A man named “Moroni” buried the plates which had the record of his people engraved on them. Like his father, Mormon, he was a prophet of God. He and his father had witnessed the entire destruction of their people, and then for many years Moroni hid himself from his enemies wherever he could. Around the year 421 AD, he built a “box” by laying stones in cement, and then setting the box into a square hole he'd dug in the ground. Into this box he carefully deposited the plates along with an instrument the Lord had prepared anciently to allow his prophets or “seers” to translate ancient—read “dead”—languages into their own tongue. He then placed a large stone over the box to conceal it from view.

Why did Moroni carefully hide the record of his people? Because the same enemies that had destroyed his civilization and now sought his life would destroy the record if they found it. They no longer believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and would kill anyone who did not deny His existence, so they certainly would destroy a record that over and over again bore witness of Him.  Moroni also knew that many centuries down the road, the Lord would reveal the record to a modern prophet and give him the means to translate it into his own language and publish it so all could read it—including the descendants of the people who were Moroni’s mortal enemies.