It's a Hoax, Folks (The Piltdown Hoax Blog Post)

Shira Diamant

Piltdown Hoax Blog

The Piltdown Hoax was an event that is perhaps known as one of the most famous frauds in the history of modern day science. In the early 1900s, Piltdown was an archeological site located in England where mammal fossils, such as human and ape, were found together. However, in 1912 an ape’s jaw was discovered at a site nearby by Charles Dawson. The apes jaw was unlike one seen before due to the fact that it featured a worn-down canine tooth, like a human has. The discovery took the community of paleoanthropologists by storm, making them come to the conclusion that the fossil was indeed the remains of a creature that featured a human cranium with an apes jaw. The men involved with finding the Piltdown man were Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodward, and Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. During their time excavating at Piltdown, the three men found some very strange objects at the site, but nothing as unseen as the Piltdown man.  The science community was certain that this discovery connected the missing link that would serve as the merging gap between man and ape. The discovery at Piltdown supported Darwin’s original theory and proved that humans had indeed evolved from apes, which was contradicting to all other fossilized evidence of the time period. Many paleontologists were excited about the discovery at Piltdown, however many still remained suspicious of the evidence provided. Some began to point out things wrong with the fossil and even provide new ideas of what they thought it was. Dawson kept the evidence of the Piltdown man alive when he allegedly made another discovery in 1915 of similar artifacts at a different site. This second discovery silenced many of those who doubted the first Piltdown man, but some were still not fully convinced of its authenticity.

 By 1953, nothing had been proven otherwise until a geologist named Kenneth Oakley met Joseph Weiner at a conference. The two began discussing their shared doubts regarding the Piltdown, and started to compare notes. The men decided to run multiple tests on the Piltdown artifacts in order to find out a precise dating and time period/range. What the men discovered was shocking; the bones were not 500,000 years old like everyone was told, around about 100,000 years old.  This discovery also showed that many of the fossils had been altered so that they would appear older. It was even apparent that the teeth had been shaved down to resemble the human canine tooth. The whole scientific community was deeply effected by these new discoveries and frankly very embarrassed. The fossils found at Piltdown were not genuine and were even believed to have been placed there by someone. What many thought to be the scientific discovery of the century had turned out to be nothing but one of the biggest jokes in history. At the time Dawson, Woodward, and Teilhard de Chardin were all “accused” of being the mastermind of the elaborate hoax.  Father Pierre remained fairly quiet when everything went down and didn’t speak much to defend himself or not, leaving many people very suspicious.  Charles Dawson, of course, became the prime suspect because he made the first and last finds at Piltdown. Arthur Woodward is viewed as the one who was tricked the most because he kept searching for more pieces of the Piltdown man even after Dawson died. The reaction to the Piltdown hoax by the science world as well as regular society forever changed people’s views on the true credibility of science. Before this hoax people believed all scientists to be honorable and scholarly men, no one ever expected anyone could pull something like this off. Scientists were embarrassed and humiliated and recognized this as a setback.

            Scientists may have a different nature about them being that they are naturally curious, creative and persistent; however, they are still human and human beings do have flaws. In this scenario many human faults come into play such as selfishness, pride, vulnerability, and the overpowering/persistent need to rise to the top. These faults, as well as many more, definitely impact the scientific process. Science is supposed to be based upon facts and research, but when all of these human faults come into play it is easy for the scientific process to get off track. Whoever was responsible for the Piltdown Hoax let their pride and thirst for fame get in the way of the scientific process. By letting these emotions get mixed in with the work being done at Piltdown, many of the things we knew about science were somewhat turned around by the discovery.

            There are many positive aspects of the scientific process, and these aspects are what lead to the discovery of the fraud lying within the Piltdown man hoax. The positive aspects of the scientific process are that it allows questioning and testing. If Kenneth Oakley hadn’t of had the doubts he did and wasn’t allowed to voice them, we may still be studying the Piltdown man as a real thing in our classrooms today. The beauty in the scientific process is that it allows questioning and ideas to spur and be tested, there is always a way to search and strive for an answer. Many tests were set to test the Piltdown man fossils, one being a fluorine test. The fluorine test allows the fossil bones to be dated. This is so because fossil bones actually absorb fluorine while they are in the soil and from water. This shows that fossils that have been around the same foil for a long amount of time should consist of around the same amount of fluorine. This test proved that the bones were not even close to how old Dawson revealed them as. Another test done was on the Piltdown teeth. By taking x-rays and observing the teeth under the microscope, scientists were able to see that the teeth had actually been filed down to resemble those of a human. It was also discovered that the jaw had come from an orangutan and nothing more.

I believe it is impossible to remove the “human factor” from anything even science because we are human and that can never change. People have different drives in science; some want to cure, some want to change, and sadly some just want to make a name for themselves. I believe the best way to begin to “remove” or decrease this human factor in science is to simply educate. Knowledge is the best tool we have and by informing the public on recent discoveries as well as informing scientists on the right and wrong things to do, another hoax like this can be avoided. I personally do not believe the human factor should be completely removed from science because it is a motivation. The human factor played a role in creating the Piltdown man, however it also helped in uncovering the truth of the fossils. There are going to be all types of people in life and in the field of science but by keeping our eye out on suspicious finds and staying up-to-date I believe the human factor will not come into play in such a negative way again. People are aware of the hoax and can now prevent these things by doing extra research and testing’s. The human factor is what sets us apart from all other living things and can continue to influence the science world in a positive manor.

What is most important in a situation like the Piltdown man is to learn and grow from it. There is a lesson in everything and I believe that this hoax has taught people not to just believe everything you see or read. The hoax actually reminds me a lot of the Internet. Many people nowadays believe that if it is on the Internet, it is real and factual. But the truth of the matter is, I could open my own website in a matter of minutes and post false information about almost anything and everything. The Piltdown hoax has hopefully taught not only the scientific world but also society as well to not always trust unverified sources and that it is okay to second-guess and ask questions. Knowledge is powerful and events like the Piltdown hoax only give us more knowledge on what to do in the future and how to improve our ways right now.