The Piltdown Hoax

In 1912 in the small village of Piltdown, in Sussex, England one of the greatest hoaxes of all time took place.   Amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson was digging for fossils at the Pleistocene gravel beds when he discovered what appeared to be remains of a human like skull. Dawson was very excited about his find and called upon a colleague, Arthur Smith Woodward, who was an employee at the Natural history museum. Smith-Woodward started working alongside Dawson, and they soon discovered a set of teeth, a jawbone, more skull pieces as well as tools that were from long ago. These tools made them believe they belonged to the species they had found. They eventually pieced the skull fragments together, and it seemed very human like, but wasn't quite human. Scientists believed this could be a human ancestor from thousands of years before. The common ancestor we share with other primates. This discovery was huge news and shared with everyone, people in France, Germany, and other countries were trying to find fossils of our common ancestor so the news was some of the biggest. Some however, doubted this find from the beginning, Several prominent scientists questioned the authenticity of this find. Most scientists truly believed this was the find, everyone was hoping to find. This would have proved Darwin's theory one hundred percent, about natural selection. For many years, people believed this to be the true remains of one of the earliest human ancestors. In the 1920's and 1930's people were starting to have doubts. Scientists started to discover the remains of other human ancestors, and none of them showed the large brain or ape-like jaw of the Piltdown man.  They also had new technology that could date bones, by using fluorine to test the bones. These tests were used a lot starting around 1939. They would later have carbon dating technology which would support their findings even more.  The Piltdown gravels were found to be much newer then the fossils would have been, this made people start calling the Piltdown man into question. In 1953 a group of paleontologists got together and for the first time ever, called the Piltdown man a fraud. They had done an intensive study of the remains, which proved they were a modern human skull, less then 600 years old. The jaw and teeth were from an orangutan, and the tooth was from a chimpanzee. Some of the bones had been filed down, to be convincing. The bones had also been covered in a chemical, to make them appear older then they actually were.  A lot of scientists were very angry and upset about the deception, as it  cost the field of science a great deal. It delayed acceptance of another ancient  early human found in South African in the 1920's. Also many respected scientists were deceived. 

The human faults that came into play here, were greed, and dishonesty. Scientists all want to have that one big moment they will be remembered for. So many were anxiously trying to find this one common ancestor that they let greed get the best of them. This actually slowed down the study of human evolution. In 1925 Raymond Dart found a fossil in South Africa, which he actually believed to be the earliest human ancestor, but due to Piltdown man, very few wanted to accept his find, they accepted Piltdown man as the earliest. Dart would eventually be found to be honest with his findings.  Sadly this kind of stuff still takes place in the scientific world, in 2000 Japanese archaeologist Shinichi Fujumura buried stone tools he had collected from previous digs, only to unearth them later and claim they were fresh finds. 

Around 1939, paleontologist Kenneth Oakley discovered a chemical analysis called fluorine testing. Fossils absorb the fluorine from soil and water, so fossils that have been in the soil for many years together would have roughly the same amount of fluorine. They used this to test the Piltdown man, and this is how it was discovered he was maybe 50,000 years old, not 500,000 years old. They had also used a file to ground down the teeth. 

I don't think it is possible to remove the human factor from science, who else is going to do the archaeological digs, date the fossils and chart the remains they find. Humans have done more for the scientific world then they have hurt it. Greed will most likely always get in the way of people, but in the end science will tell the truth. The truth always comes out in science. The scientific method will always expose the truth. I would not want to remove the human factor from science, I think we need it to be able to challenge each other, share discoveries. 

I don't think you can take anything at face value, each person should do their own research and come to their own conclusion. If we take things at face value, we will fall for anything. Eventually the truth always comes out, especially in science. One should do their own research, there's enough information available now a days, to make research easy and accessible. A hundred  years ago, most of us would have probably believed Dawson, as we wouldn't have been able to do our own research or knowledge, which is why I believe so many trusted his findings. But in today's day and age, we have a ton of knowledge at our fingertips. We all need to research and draw our own conclusions, not just trust what we are told.  

                                                                                                                                                                

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