Piltdown Hoax

The Piltdown Hoax, was an archeological fraud that took place in the December of 1912. Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward discovered what they claimed to be a mandible of a human ancestor. This piece was found in an English town named Piltdown. The mandible just showed the lower jawbone and 2 molars. There was no proof of which animal this jawbone may have been from . The claims were that this was the jaw of a human ancestor because of the way the jaw it is shaped, slightly similar to an ape, and because the teeth were similarly shaped and were flattened the way human teeth are due to our diet. The discovery was very abrupt and came from a location were no previous fossils had been found.  Not only this, but following the discovery of the  mandible new fossils were being found in this location in Piltdown. It created an unrest within the scientific population because there was no way to prove that this jaw was really related to humans. Even though there was no way to prove it belonged to the ancestors of humans, it was accepted in terms of the evolution of man at the time. No one was going to come up with an argument against Dawson or Woodward. Forty years later, science had progressed enough to test this finding and see how old it was. The results showed that it was not millions of years old but instead with 100,000 years of range. The bones had been stained, the coloring was not natural. The teeth of the jaw were filed down.  Further testing showed that this jawbone dated within 100 years and belonged to a female orangutan. The parts of the jawbone that would have shown the connection were broken or cut off.  This was very shocking, now the tables had turned to finding out who would create such a hoax.

We as humans have faults. When we make decisions some may be based off of logic others opinions. In this case the creator of this fraud seemed to want to create a name for himself, even if it meant falsifying information. Making rash decisions based off of wants may also lead to a downfall. These types of actions impact the scientific process in major ways. Take for example the Piltdown man, whoever planted the orangutan bone seemed to only be interested in having their name in history. It did not matter to them that it would affect the way evolution of humans was seen and researched. It did not matter that it would scientists in a different direction.

Science benefits us all because no discovery is every left untouched if the resources are not available at the time. Years after the discovery was made new technology created a way to test whether this bone was legitimate. Within the scientific process there are always continuous tests completed when new information is found or when information is lacking. Without these tests and continuous search the fraud of Piltdown man would not have been solved and the evolution of man would have been misleadingly derived.  

I feel as though it is impossible to remove the “human” factor from science. A person can be as detached from their feelings or opinions, yet it is in out nature to behave in certain ways. Reducing the chance of error can only be done by following morals and following the scientific process. If we could remove the human factor from science it may disrupt certain views of theories. Morals and ethics play a big role in observations no matter what the subject in science, without which science would not be the same.

In terms of this historical event, it is a reminder that even if the face value of an unverified discovery or point seem to be correct or substantial there is still a need to find underlying facts to prove the point or discovery.