The Piltdown Hoax

The Piltdown Hoax was an attempt to show people that discoveries had been made of a man who’s bone structured differed from ours, thus proving that humans had evolved. This hoax took place in England in 1912 and began when pieces of a skull were found by diggers and given to a man named Charles Dawson. Together Dawson, Sir Arthur Woodward, Pierre Telihard, and others presented the public with what was supposed to be the earliest found human bone structure; However, this structure consisted of animal bones as well as human. Once proud of it’s finding and scientific impact, England was left ashamed and somewhat scarred in the science field after is was discovered that this was only a hoax.

The human faults that come into play in this hoax are deception and the willingness to cheat. We all know what it like to want something unattainable in the worst way, yet only some are willing to cheat and go as far as to lie or trick others in order to get it. In this case these scientist wanted so badly to show their evolution proving man to the public that they deceived everybody and cheated by using animal bones.

In 1953, evidence was given by scientists who had reviewed the Piltdown man that showed that it was a forgery. They provided evidence that proved that the human skull used was dated earlier than Dawson had stated using a chemical test called fluorine absorption.  It was also proved tat the bones had been stained to look the proper age by use of iron solution and chromic acid. And finally after using microscopes, file marks were found on the teeth that proved that the teeth had been altered to resemble that of humans. With these findings they concluded that the Piltdown man had medieval aged skull, jaw from a 500-year-old orangutan, and teeth from a chimpanzee. The positive aspect here is that scientist themselves evolved and found methods to disprove the findings and making the falsifiable.

Removing the “human” factor from science does reduce the chance of error significantly. However, if you were to remove the “human” factor entirely you would be left with nothing after removing the driving force of science itself. It’s the curiosity of human that created science and the urge to better understand the world we live in.  

The life lesson that can be learned here is to trust no one! Even when something seems right, check it and double-check it, before getting a second opinion!