Piltdown Man: What a Fake!

        In 1912 in England, near sussex in the village of Piltdown, a laborer discovered what was thought to be a prehistoric pieces of human skull. The man then showed this find to Charles Dawson, an amateur archeologist, who believed that this piece could be just what Britain needed to stay in competition with the rest of the world in terms of prehistoric findings. He then contacted Sir Arthur Smith Woodward at London’s Natural history Museum to join him at the dig to perhaps find evidence of humankind's missing link. The seemed lucky because at the dig they found a jaw bone that both men said matched this piece of skull that they had found initially. Their luck seemed to grow when they found the creatures canine, which silenced all those who doubted this find in Piltdown. Later the men found a second jaw and skull in a village near Piltdown, which sent people around the world in an uproar. This was the biggest find at this time and the world thought they had found their missing link, and it was a prehistoric englishman. 

However in 1953 the announcement was made that the Piltdown Man was a fake. This news humiliated England and all those people who were so devoted in thinking that the jawbone and skull were genuine. However when they were dating the skull, it was discovered that it was not nearly as old as everyone had originally thought. The jawbone was also not as old as everyone thought, it was in fact just an old ape’s jaw probably from and orangutan. The teeth however were the interesting part. It was clear that they were the most fake, they were crudely filled down to match the distributed size and colored to match the color of a prehistoric fossilized tooth. 

Human nature is one of imperfection, and sometimes these faults find their way into the scientific community. In this particular case ambition, greed, fame, perhaps revenge, and anger also had some part in this discovery. One man thought responsible for this discovery was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. He was first considered because they felt he wanted revenge on the scientific community because they laughed at his belief in spiritualism, communicating with those deceased. However, if it was a prank geared at humiliation then he would have not let many men waste their lives on this project, he would have reveled that he fouled everyone and got the last laugh. The next suspect was the man responsible for the initial find Charles Dawson. As an amateur archeologist with a series of suspicious finds he had a lot to prove. He wanted to climb the ladder of scientific discovery and so ambition played a huge role. Today he still stands the most likely suspect, although we will never know for sure especially with his early death only four years after his discovery. 

However, even though science was initially fooled it was the scientific process that helped save sciences reputation. Hypothesis and theories must be tested, must be falsifiable and in that sense the Piltdown man could come through. First the bones were tested with a chemical to discover the age, and found to be much younger then originally thought. Then they were tested to see how much nitrogen they contained. All these tested were performed by Giles Oakley, he discovered that the skull wasn’t all that old, and the jawbone was one of an orangutan. Although this forgery lasted for forty years, it was still the scientific method that eventually proved it false. 

Although this was a tragic part of the scientific community it is impossible to remove human flaws. We can try to take away as much as human error as possible, such as by suing the scientific method, however it is impossible to do it completely. Even so, it wouldn't be prudent to do so, the good parts of human nature are needed. Drive, desire, hope, belief, and dedication are all human qualities that would be denied if we removed human nature. Without these qualities there would be no science, human kind would just be complacent with what we know, but as humans we always desire to know more. Unfortunately with the good always comes that bad, but that is why science has checks and balances like the scientific method. 

The life lesson I take away from this story is something science has always taught me, to always question. Nothing is one hundred percent accurate at face value. Everything desires digging and research and proving, nothing should ever be accepted, we should always question.