Piltdown Man

            One of the most famous scientific hoaxes in the past century is known as the Piltdown Man. Surprisingly, not many know who or what this is. Piltdown Man is a set of fossilized ‘hominoid’ cranial remains discovered by Charles Dawson in 1912 in Sussex, England. At the time, many scientists, including Arthur Smith Woodward (a renowned geologist at London’s Natural History Museum) who worked with Dawson studying the remains, believed that these fossils were the key to the connection between human and ape evolution. It is important to note that at this time many believed that man directly evolved from apes, which we now know is not true. Rather, they are more like cousins, evolving from a common ancestor and following two separate paths. From the remains, Dawson and others interpreted that the brain and skull evolved to be more human-like than ape-like before upright walking, which we also now know is the exact opposite of what happened. The scientific community exalted Dawson and Woodward, and proudly agreed with the two. Any doubts were either dismissed because of Woodward’s status or kept quiet because of the popular opinion. The hoax was not discovered until almost half a century later when other fossils being unearthed in other continents like Asia had no resemblance to the Piltdown Man. In 1949, Dr. Kenneth Oakley, a geologist at the Natural History Museum, used fluorine testing to date the remains. Fluorine from the soil is absorbed into bones as they fossilize so, the older the bones, the higher the fluorine content. He discovered that they were much younger than the million years old that Dawson had originally suggested. When newer and better dating techniques were created, scientists found that the remains were no more than 100 years old and belonged to a female orangutan. Most scientists were baffled, betrayed, and disappointed with the fraud. It was then that they realized that science was something that people could fake if they wanted to; it wasn’t as honorable as they thought. The Piltdown Man steered human evolution studies in the wrong direction for years, preventing many from studying other important and true finds.

            Fortunately and unfortunately, scientists are human and have their faults. Whomever was behind this hoax, whether it be Dawson or other insignificant aids, they let their jealousy, hubris, and need for attention get in the way of science. Many have noted that the reasoning for doing this might have been to gain fame for himself and/or his country. At the time, there had been no hominoid remains found in England, so it is possible that this may have pushed someone to create this elaborate hoax. With everyone being so excited about the remains, many forgot the scientific process. When finding remains that could be potentially theory altering, scientists are supposed to question and test the hypothesis to the best of their abilities. In this scenario, it seems that with all of the excitement and pride for their country, there was no questioning whether or not the remains were real. As we have learned from the ancient Greeks, hubris may result in tragic consequences and this was one of those tragedies. Fortunately for modern scientists, scientists in the mid-twentieth century remembered what it meant to be a scientist. After doubt concerning the authenticity of the skull was made public, scientists began using new dating technologies to test the legitimacy of the fossils. First, scientists tested the fluorine content in the fossils, which concluded that these were too young to be from before Homo sapiens’ introduction to the world (the content was much to low for something that was supposed to be millions of years old). Then in 1953, scientists used more advance dating methods such as nitrogen and carbon level testing to completely analyze the fossils. From these tests, scientists discovered that the fossils were no more than 100 years old and had been stained artificially with iron. This hoax is an example of how important it is to continually test and re-test fossils until the evidence can be falsified or proven true. Removing the ‘human’ factor from science may reduce errors like this from happening again in the long run, but it could also halt the furtherance of scientific knowledge. I don’t see a way of removing the ‘human’ factor from science, but it could be disastrous if it were so. Without the ‘human’ factor, there wouldn’t be the curiosity involved in science that pushes people to pursue new and wild ideas, which so often result in the discovery of something new. Curiosity is the key to science, and if everyone thought like robots, who knows what would become of our future knowledge. There is much to learn from this unfortunate hoax, but most importantly, it is essential to remember that one must not always rely on one source of information, especially in the scientific community. Checking the facts and sources of new information is key to making sure that the truth is being told. Scientists ignored the part of the scientific method that recommends multiple tests be done to check credibility of unverified sources, and in the end it wound up being one of the biggest regrets in the scientific community.