Piltdown Hoax

          The Piltdown hoax is one f the most famous frauds in the history of science. In 1912 Charles Dawson, discovered the first of two skulls found in the Piltdown quarry in Sussex, England, skulls of an apparently primitive hominid, and ancestor of man. These fossils were called Piltdown Man or the scientific name, " eoanthropus dawsoni", was a spectacular find, because it was expected to be the missing link between a mixture of human and ape with the noble brow of Homo sapiens and a primitive jaw. The most interesting fact that would of been shocking is that the fossils appeared to be British decent. The reactions to the find was mixed. The announcement of the find at Pildown caused a great stir in both public and scientific circles. The newspapers and the public imagination were fascinated by the idea of the missing link and the find instantly gained importance because it was so popular. There were several supporters from the scientific community, mostly British.  Scientist were in a competition with scientist in Europe. They wanted a significant find in order to establish Britain's paleontological community. Scientist in other countries were skeptical of the remains. Many believed that this was merely the jaw of an ape and the skull of a human, brought together by accidental placement. The features simply did not fit with the rest of what was begin discovered increasingly more around the world. In 1949 a test was applied to the Pitdown fossils and they were found to be no more that 600 years old. Even so the test was new and did not immediately give rise to suspicion. Many scientist doubted the accuracy of the technology used. JS Wiener was a professor oh physical anthropology at Oxford. He had long believed that the Piltdown bones were from two different species. Wiener has also questions the exact location that the fossils were found, and now one could give a certain answer of a exact location, which is a staggering lapse for any paleontologist who discovered a new fossil. Wiener found this to be curious that the exact location was not documented. Weenier examined the original fossils, The evidence of forgery was immediately obvious. The teeth had been worn in the wrong direction. A glance through a microscope instantly revealed regular, crosshatched abrasion patterns, which is a sure sign of the work of a file. Wiener compared the Piltdown teeth to a chimpanzee teeth that he filed down himself, and found the markings identical. The bones had been coated with a solution of iron to give them an aged look, but upon drilling beneath the surface the teeth were found to be pure white. More test were done by Sir Kenneth Oakley who found the following: Piltdown skull was of a medieval man 60 years ago, the jawbone was of a Orangutan jaw 500 years ago, the molar was of a Elephant and the teeth were from a Hippopotamus. Reaction among scientist was immediate. Most were relieved at last, no one had to try to make the Piltdown fit with the rest of the fossil record, and impossible task which many had already tried accomplishing but could not.

          The Piltdown man fraud significantly impacted early research on human evolution. It led scientist down a blind alley in the belief that the human brain expanded in size before the jaw adapted to new types of food. Discoveries in the 1920's in South Africa were ignored because of Piltdown man, and the reconstruction of human evolution was confused for decades. The Piltdown case is a good example of how popularity, competitiveness, and bias thoughts can shape science in the wrong way. Piltdown was most likely a deliberate hoax. I think that the human faults came into play because who ever decided to produce the hoax didn't think that the fossils would ever be tested to the extent that they were. I think the who ever is responsible for this hoax also banked on their credentials. The two men who discovered the Piltdown man thought they could hide their alterations because who would question them. This is a problem with science today, that people sometimes feel intimidated to question people that hold such great credentials. The negative impact that it has on the science field is that this hoax made it harder for the public to believe anything after the Piltdown hoax because people didn't have the technology to trust the information present to prove the finding correct through experiments. Even though 40 years after the discover they fossils were finally proven the hoax through fluorine absorption technique, it still leaves a bad taste in the public mouth. Another fault is that I think the British scientist were looking to put themselves on the map of show that they have discovered something no one else has, trying to boos their credibility across the world. What was good is that scientist from around the world disagreed time and time again, which lead to constant testing, that proved a false species.

          In 1953, it was published by Kenneth Oakley, Wilfrid Edward and Joseph Wiener proving that the Piltdown man was a forgery and demonstrating that the fossil was composite of three distinct species. It consisted of human skull of medieval age, the 500 year old lower jaw was a orangutan and chimpanzee fossil teeth. The appearance of age had been created by staining the bones with an iron solution and chromatic acid. Microscopic examination revealed file marks on the teeth in the wrong direction, and from that it was developed that someone had altered or modified the teeth to give them a shape more suited to a human diet. Chemical studies found the fossil to be less than 50,000 years old, not 1 million years as Dawson and Woodward claimed.

          I don't think it is possible to ever remove the "human factor", from science to reduce the chance of error. I think its the nature of the beast, that humans will always have flaws or want something they cant have like in this Piltdown Hoax. I seriously think the scientist were looking for some kind of recognition and to be famous. As technologies evolves we can prove more and more if something is a hoax. Also with so many scientist in the field, you have to prove your self correct and when the majority of the science field are not agreeing on something, this is a sign that something may be wrong or altered.  I don't think you would want to remove the human factor from science because the benefits out way the costs. Sometimes people mistakenly discover new bones or archaeological sites by human fault. Then we test the findings to compare them to other findings that have been tested the same way. When the experiments match then we can feel 95% confident that what we have is true. I also think as humans evolve and the technological advances, it will weed out the bad science that may exist, or that  had been suggested because someone had been idolized by the science field. This is what is great about human nature, we are always seeking for the truth, and when the truth is altered we usually expose it because something doesn't line up with previous experiments or theories or evidence.

          Never take information at face value, it will always lead you down the wrong path. You must always look deeper into the truth expressed by others and determine if it really matches the facts.  Just because some one holds a high ranking position it doesn't always mean they are right. Again this is why I relay on experiments and comparing experiments to others who have conducted the same experiments to insure the outcome is the same. In the Pildwon hoax, scientist from around the world disagreed with the scientist from Britain, but didn't have the courage to stand up to them. Thus letting the information provided by the hoax distorted human evolution for years, sending scientist in a spiral loop that didn't make any sense. When this happens people need to really look at the facts and not let people with big names push around their weight. If your truly interested in the truth or determining the truth you will bring it to an experiment or testing. When experiments and testing cant help you, you must look at the past experiments and analyze were does your truth fit in, if it can truly fit in to the order of life. So when the puzzle is coming together and then you stubble across a piece that just doesn't fit, you test it and examine it over and over until your 100% sure the peice wont fit. Your throw that peice away and start over with a new one.