Piltdown Hoax

In Piltdown, England during the year of 1912, an amateur archaeologist named Charles Dawson made a jaw dropping discovery. During the summer of 1912 Dawson found an ancient human skull in a gravel pit that was perhaps a million years old. He asked Arthur Smith Woodward and Father Pierre Tayyar to accompany him in his dig. While digging in the pit the three made discoveries of various fossils. Among their discoveries was a jaw bone thought to have been part of the same skull Dawson discovered. The jaw appeared to be that of an ape’s but its teeth resembled that of a human’s. This led them to believe they had discovered living organism that developed from an ape and evolved into a human. In December of 1912, Woodward announced their discoveries and scientists were extremely enthusiastic. They named the discovered fossil the Piltdown Man. Arthur Keith was among the enthusiastic scientists at this time because the Piltdown Man supported his theory that humans developed a big brain before gaining the ability to walk upright. We now know that statement is false. The ability to walk upright was developed before the development of a bigger brain. Over the following three years, Dawson, Woodward, and Tayyar made many more fossil discoveries hushing people’s suspicions. For the next decade, the model of the Piltdown Man dominated research on human evolution. Dawson’s death in 1916 brought a halt to anymore fossil discoveries contributing to the Piltdown Man. In 1920, scientists made discoveries of ancient remains in Asia and Africa. These remains were thought to have been human ancestors that lived hundreds of thousands of years after the Piltdown Man. That meant the new discoveries did not jive with the Piltdown Man.

The turning point was after World War II. Scientists came up with a technique to better date fossils; measuring the fluorine content. In 1949, scientists conducted the fluorine test on the Piltdown Man fossils and discovered they were roughly a hundred thousand years old, which was relatively young. In 1953, the first full scale analysis with better dating methods was developed. After running that analysis on the Piltdown fossils, it was concluded that the fossils had been artificially stained and the teeth seemed to have been filed down. This meant the fossils were probably cut and put together after they were fossilized. It was then discovered that the jaw bone belonged to a female orangutan and dated to less than one hundred years ago. All of this led scientists to believe the Piltdown Man was forged.

Naturally, Charles Dawson was the prime suspect for the hoax. The discoveries of the fossils for the Piltdown Man began with him and halted when he died. Arthur Woodward was either Dawson’s coconspirator or he was deceived because he continued his dig after Dawson’s death. Father Pierre Tayyar was never suspected to be a part of the hoax because he simply wasn’t involved long enough to have contributed. Arthur Keith however could have benefitted substantially from the Piltdown Man’s discovery because it provided him with principle evidence for his pet theory on human evolution.

Carved bones found in an old trunk at the Natural History Museum in 1975 were analyzed by scientists in 1996. The analysis concluded the bones were modern artifacts with stains consistent with those of the Piltdown Man’s. These artifacts belonged to Martin Hinton. This made scientists think Hinton could have taken part in the hoax or could’ve made them as an experiment while helping investigate the fraud in the 1950s.

All humans lie or cheat at some point in their life. No matter how small or large the lie, a lie is a lie. No matter how serious or playful the scenario, cheating is cheating. Scientists are human so they cannot be held at a different standard. Before the Piltdown Man Hoax, it was not believed that a scientist would commit such a serious fraud. But, this hoax showed scientists that the praise received from such ground breaking discoveries inflicts a great deal of pride and accomplishment. All scientists want to make amazing, historical discoveries. Not all of them are capable or have the resources necessary. This does not mean they should follow Charles Dawson’s footsteps and create a hoax but being human and having a craving for praise, they might.

The human factor should not be removed from scientific equation. As humans, we make mistakes, learn, and grow. If a scientist is proven to be wrong about something, colleagues should analyze the mistake, find a way to correct it, and share it so the scientist can learn from the mistake made. The support among scientists is a crucial tool that aids historic discoveries.

This historical event supported my current belief of confirming information. I don’t think it’s smart to be gullible. You should always find supporting fact for information given by others. Don’t think just because someone is nice or part of your family that they won’t lie. Everyone lies but not everyone is naïve.