Tin Foil Ha... Piltdown Hoax

For as long as there has been humans there has been hoaxes. Some of those hoaxes include Orson Welles' broadcast of the classic horror novel "War of the Worlds", which lead many Americans to panic thinking that the world as they knew it was coming under attack by mars invaders. The iconic "Helicopter Shark" which shows a Great White leaping from out of the water towards a soldier hanging from a ladder off of USAF helicopter in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Even charging one's iPhone with an onion or a microwave.


-----Hoaxes------


There is one hoax however that shook the scientific community to its core, and no its not the Patterson-Gimlin Film (Sadly).


The year is 1912 in the small English village of Piltdown. Charles Dawson, an amateur archeologist, claimed to have found a piece of an ancient human skull. With other findings in the pit that lead to the thought of the findings being over one million years old. It was a huge spectacle as no ancient human remains have been found in Great Britain. After further interest was found in the pit, Charles discovered a jaw that seemed to be apart of the skull fragment he had found earlier. The jaw bone finding was especially intriguing as it was a primate jawbone, however it had the wear down of human teeth which were flat. Now this was a HUGE deal to say the least as finding a jaw bone that was a million years old. This helped show that there could have been more steps in the evolutionary process between apes and humans.

 - What was found in the Pit by Charles Dawson.


Fun Fact: Charles Dawson specialized in fish fossils.

 - Charles Dawson.

Arthur Keith was one of Charles Dawson's biggest supporters, as Dawson's findings helped Keith's theory that humans had to develop a big brain before they could walk up right. The findings found much public praise however it is thought there were doubters of the authenticity of the remains, they more than likely did not speak up in fear of backlash.

Charles Dawson passed away in 1916 from a Sepsis infection.


                                            

FAST FORWARD: Its the 1920's; the League of Nations was created to prevent a second world war, America banned alcohol, the Ponzi Scheme was invented, AND scientist from Asia and Africa have discovered more ancient human remains. These ancient human remains were dated to be hundreds of thousands of years younger than Piltdown Man's yet they looked less human.

 Two types of fossil dating are shown in this picture.

Post World War Two would lead to new fossil dating technology. In 1949 a test was conduced on the Piltdown fossils and it was discovered they were only one hundred thousand years old if that. In 1953 with further advancements in technology scientist discovered that the stains on the bone were superficially placed. While looking at the teeth of Piltdown Man they found traces of scratch marks from an object used to file the teeth down. Finally they were able to get an exact fossil date. The jaw line of the Pitdown Man was less than 100 years old and came from an orangutan.

Scientist were stunned as to why and who would do such a thing. Prior to Piltdown Man scientist were seen in high regard as truth seekers and professionals. The main corporate was Dawson himself, now there is conflicting remarks on how involved he was in the scheme but most agree he was involved to a degree. There seems to be a very cut and clean motive too. For someone to find a skull like Piltdown Man it would lead to a high prestige and honor along with some fame.


The jig was up, Dawson was found to have falsified more than two dozen other archeological finds.

I believe when a persons self interests or pride gets in the way of their work too much it can lead to skews in their research whether on purpose or accidental due to oversight. As it showed with Mr. Dawson his wanting of prestige may have caused him to falsify records which has left a scar on the scientific community. I also believe that there is always a chance that someone can have their pride or the interest of another take over their work and cause falsifications in their findings. One great way to counter balance this is having others in the scientific community test and retest those hypothesis and communicate their findings, especially in this day in age. 

Overall I was interested with this ordeal as I have never heard of the Piltdown Man before or the hoax surrounding it, however I was not surprised to it happening as it seems people throughout history have caused hoaxes whether to cause their personal gain, fame or fortune.

Stay Safe.