Piltdown Man Hoax

Piltdown Man Fossils

The Piltdown hoax was a fraudulent attempt to find a Paleolithic ancestor in England in 1912. Neighboring countries such as France, Germany, and Asia having already found primitive fossils may have been the motive for the culprit(s) to conjure up such an elaborate and dishonest scheme. Amateur archeologist Charles Dawson claimed to have found a piece of a human skull in a pile of rock pebbles. After calling in two colleges, Author Smith Woodward, who worked for the natural history museum, and French paleontologist Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the three man found more remains of what looked to be a Paleolithic ancestor right there in Piltdown, England. To add to the intricate hoax, animal remains were also found among the fragmented skull pieces so scientists were able to date the bones to around a million years old. The most important aspect of the Piltdown hoax is that the evidence found seemed to provide the missing link between human and ape relations and evolution. Dawson himself is credited with finding the most shocking bone of them all, a jaw bone which seemed ape like, yet had a pair of human like teeth. The scientific community celebrated the news that finally England had fossils from ancient ancestors; furthermore, that those remains were the missing link in evolution, finally tying humans to their primate cousins and the oldest discovery of all ancestral fossils. Woodward’s credibility as a scientist added a level of confidence in the findings. In addition to the mentioned motive for the Piltdown hoax, Author Keith, England’s leading anatomist, theorized that larger brains developed before bipedal locomotives in humans; the remains found at Piltdown supported Keith’s theory of evolution, making him one of the largest supporters of Piltdown man. The dig site for Piltdown mans remain continued to offer more evidence, silencing skeptics to any fallacies in the findings. However, ironically after the death of Dawson, no more Piltdown remains were found at the site, or anywhere else in the year. Until Piltdown man was proved to be fake, the model lead scientist in human evolution for the next decade.

                Human beings are susceptible to their own faults. In the case of the Piltdown man several human flaws come to mind: jealousy, pride, optimism, trust, reputation, recognition to name a few. All of these played an important part in the Piltdown hoax of 1912. The first to speak of could be reasons for motive: jealousy, reputation, and recognition. All of these human feelings can be taken into consideration when looking at the suspect list. Scientist in England may have felt jealous that they were not making great finds like neighboring countries, therefore creating this scheme so they could prove their worth in the scientific community. Reputation and recognition go hand-in-hand with the motive as well, not only to credit England with having ancient remains, but also to provide the support needed for Author Keith’s theory that humans’ developed larger brain sizes prior to walking upright. If the Piltdown man was real the findings would have credited Keith’s theory and provide the evidence he needed. The other traits, optimism and trust are not so much flaws, but rather human’s necessity to want to believe in something amazing. I think that Woodward and others in the community at the time were optimistic in the findings and had high hopes for the new breaking evidence to human evolution. Trust plays a role as well because when you have trust worthy people involved in something it makes it easier to believe that to be true. When you tie all of these human feelings together it can be easy to see how human nature played a heavy role in the Piltdown hoax, playing off human emotions rather than scientific evidence.

                About ten years later, in the 1920’s scientist were digging up remains in Asia and Africa that were less human, not more human, yet were relatively younger than the Piltdown man remains found in England. While these remains lead to questions of the Piltdown mans authenticity or evolution path, the technology was not available during the time to fully study the bones. After WWII a new technology was created that allowed scientist to measure the fluorine content in fossils allowing them to give the fossils a date.  The test is called a fluorine analysis and was conducted on the Piltdown fossils in 1949. The fluorine analysis showed that the remains were only around 100 years old, rather than the previous claim that they were 1 million years old.  In 1953 scientist conducted an even more thorough exam of the fossils with better dating methods. The exam revealed that the staining on the bones was superficial, materials were cut with a steel knife after being fossilized and the teeth in the jaw showed groove lines providing evidence that the teeth were filed down to make them look more human. Belonging to a female orangutan, the jaw bone was modified to make it look less ape-like in shape and the canines were filed down to make them look more human. After the extensive examination, scientist concluded that the Piltdown fossils were not real.

                Anytime humans are involved in anything it is inevitable to avoid the human aspect that occurs. It is human nature to have errors, egos, optimism, ambition, curiosity, greed, etc.  In science the opportunity to have human error is present as well, yet there are ways, methods, to help limit human error in science. The scientific method is a very strict and rigid method which regulates scientific hypothesis testing and is universal in the scientific community. Since this method is accepted universally it greatly reduces human error in science. That said the human factor in science is important to have because without it there could be the potential for scientist to miss something that they would have otherwise overlooked if nobody ever made a mistake. If mistakes were not made, complex analysis would not occur, if more extensive research was not perform than the scientist would/could miss important breakthroughs that could have significant impacts in the scientific world. For this reason and more, the human factor in science cannot and should not be removed.

                The lesson learned in the Piltdown hoax is that even the most morally based professions can become vulnerable to personal bias, agendas, and gain. Humans are capable of failing themselves and their profession if the reward is profitable and lucrative enough for a small few. The Piltdown hoax serves as a learning tool to not accept things for face value just because a selected few support the findings. It is a learning tool for scientist to be more thorough in their investigations. This lesson can be carried outside the scientific realm and applied throughout many aspects of everyday living from the politicians we follow, the doctor’s advice we take, and the food and products we buy. Do not take for face value what unverified evidence gives us, instead do your own research and find the truth through credible sources.