Piltdown Post

In December of 1912, archeologists Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward claimed to have discovered human-like findings dated 500,000 to a million years old.  Dawson found pieces of a skull and a jawbone with two teeth in a gravel pit in Piltdown in Sussex, England.  These findings would have shown that there was early human existence a longer time ago than what has been said, with a large brain that set it apart from apes or other species.  This finding could have been the ancient common ancestor of apes and humans scientists have been trying to find for decades.  The evidence would have had a dense impact on confirming the theory of evolution, as well as our thoughts on early human development in terms of brain size and locomotive patterns.  The hoax was discovered years later using new technology on radiometric dating and identification of species, while closely examining the findings and noticing the skull and jawbone were from different species.  The scientists also revealed the teeth were filed down to resemble a human’s teeth structure and the other findings were artificially stained to closely resemble each other.  The skull was found to be a modern human’s skull and an orangutan’s jawbone.  The responses of the scientists involved included assuming Dawson and Woodward created the hoax or Martin Hinton, a volunteer who helped analyze the findings and possessed a trunk with a ton of findings dyed just as the Piltdown man’s findings were.  Dawson and Woodward both passed away before the hoax was revealed, but Hinton never claimed he was the perpetrator. 

            Many human faults came in to play here in the Piltdown hoax including greed and lack of suspicion.  The scientists responsible for the hoax let greed overtake them, as they wanted the fame and glory of finding what scientists have been trying to find for many years.  Science definitely relies on truth and dignity, and this hoax shows that scientists have valued their own fame and prominence over the success and truth of science.  Also, many of the other scientists faulted in addressing their doubts of the findings because they were afraid to confront or refute the work of famous scientists.  Science must accept all perspectives and opinions as discovering truth uses the work of many, not merely one finding.

            The Piltdown hoax has shown how strong and reliable the scientific method is.  The aspect of testing the hypothesis and evidence and analyzing the results with the hypothesis is the backbone of the process. Also, the aspect of repeating the experiments and tests many times with multiple scientists is the key to confirming the conclusion.  When dozens of scientists analyzed and tested the Piltdown findings, surely, the scientists finally discovered the truth and the results became clear.  Using a microscope to analyze the teeth and discover the unnatural scratches of files was a great way to truly examine the anatomy of the teeth.  These processes showed that the flat style of the teeth was not because the jawbone is of human ancestry, but because someone shaved it down to create the hoax.

            I do not believe there is a way to remove the “human” factor of science because I believe science is set on the foundation of theory.  The scientific method cannot even be started without a thought, theory, or hypothesis.  We need the thoughts and assumptions.  I believe a way to minimize the error is to analyze more thoroughly and with more tests.  I also believe we need to make sure we have enough evidence to change a hypothesis or theory into a conclusion or a fact.  I would not want to take out the “human” factor of science or we would not improve our findings and conclusions.

            A lesson we can take from this event would be to completely verify our source with many tests, scientists, and evidence before we claim the source as true and factual.  I believe we took a huge step back with these many decades of false evidence.  The scientific community must be extremely thorough in its testing, claiming, and publishing.