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What was Piltdown man?

Updated: 12/20/2022
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Piltdown Man is the common name for one of the most famous scientific hoaxes. The skull and jawbone were found in a gravel pit near Piltdown in Southern England in 1912 and were originally believed to be that of a new species of early man, specifically the "missing link". The fossil was attributed to the new species Eoanthropus dawsonii.

It was not until four decades later, in 1953 the skull was finally shown to be a fake; made from a modern skull and the jawbone of a orang utan carefully broken and aged and placed among the genuine fossils. Fluorine dating in 1949 had first shown the find to be not what it seemed but it was not until 1953 when further analysis confirmed this, and the suggestion was first made that the fossil was the result of intentional deception rather than innocent misinterpretation. The exposure of the hoax resulted in the need for a major overhaul of our accepted views of human history, and it was necessary to literally rewrite the textbooks.

There were various reasons for the long delay before the specimen was identified as a hoax, despite the fact that there were early suspicions among the scientific community. In 1913 claims were made that a further tooth had been discovered at the site, and in 1915 it was claimed more remains were found nearby. This quietened some of the first to express their doubts about the legitimacy of the find. Early enthusiastic support came from the fact the specimen represented exactly what palaeontologists at the time were expecting to find. Dawsonii appeared to have a large brain but still a relatively robust jaw, fitting in with the prevailing belief that increased brain size relative to the body was one of the earliest human developments. No one noticed any flaws in the fossil because the original specimen was kept away from the scientific community, with only casts of the original being made available for study.

One of the saddest aspects of the Piltdown forgery is the fact that it sidelined genuine hominin fossils and affected the careers of those who supported them, pushing species such as Australopithecus africanus out of our family tree. These species only regained their place with the exposure of the Piltdown hoax.

There have been other archaeological fakes through history - particularly of religious artifacts but Piltdown Man is so well known - partly because it was thought to be an early human, and partly because it was so long before it was exposed as fake.

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England. It was a total fake. Scientists accepted it without question.


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What has the author Pat Perrin written?

Pat Perrin has written: 'Retold Classic Novel' 'World War I (Researching American History)' 'Architecture' 'The mystery of the Piltdown skull' -- subject(s): Piltdown forgery 'Slavery'


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How old is the Piltdown man?

The Piltdown man, as an archaeological discovery, didn't exist.Piltdown Man was a hoax. Allegedly dug up from a gravel pit in Piltdown, Sussex, England in 1912, a large number of experts were hoaxed into believing the remains were fossils of a previously undiscovered early man.It was more than forty years later that the remains were publicly revealed to be a modern human skull with the jawbone of an orangutan tacked on.Nobody knows the identity of the hoaxer, or at least nobody has ever admitted publicly to knowing. There are many suspects, even Sherlock Holmes' creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, was under suspicion, but Charles Dawson or Martin Hinton remain the prime suspects. The odds are on Dawson, an amateur archaeologist, who was under suspicion from the time of the 'find', partly owing to his previous frauds.Even though Dawson had a disgraceful history of many previous fake 'finds', most scientists at the time were afraid to speak out against him.Some scientists who studied and reported on Piltdown Man received knighthoods and other honors, though Dawson didn't live long enough to collect any such recognition himself.Forty years later, of course, some of those scientists still alive were telling the world they knew it all along, which didn't make them look any less silly.But other scientists never stopped investigating the convenient evidence, and finally in 1953 several scientists had their evidence published in The Times and, the word of The Timesbeing the last word as far as many Englishmen were concerned, the whole hoax was finally laid bare.Dawson was long dead by then, having died in 1916, aged 52.We sometimes wonder how any sensible person could believe some of the internet and email hoaxes that we see; Piltdown Man reminds us we're all too easily fooled, especially if we really wantto believe. Piltdown Man made some popular theories about the development of mankind appear to be proven; this was one reason the 'find' was so eagerly accepted.The link below has more information on Piltdown Man.