Hocus Pocus the Piltdown Man was a Hoax(us)

1. The Piltdown Hoax was a false discovery of the possible "missing link" between humans and apes. The jaw of the subject was cut, removed, and the teeth were filed down in order to look human. But it was, in fact, the jaw of a young orangutan. The skull was completely unrelated to the found jaw, and much of it was purposefully stained after being fossilized. It was found in the early 1900s in Sussex, England, which is why it was so popularized because they foolishly thought the ancient ancestor of humans lived in Britain, therefore making it the birthplace to humanity. The scientific community found it to be revolutionary, though some had their suspicions that they kept to themselves. The Piltdown Man was "found" by Charles Dawson, who was thought to be the suspect of the falsified find.



2. Humans are faulty, and science can't always be logical and concise fact when it is being altered and falsified for human reasons like fame or pranking or money. Because of this hoax, the scientific community was met with outrage and distrust. How could anything be found truthful when it could be a man-made lie?

3. But humans aren't only full of faults. They're also a curious bunch that strives to advance and progress further, whether it be humanity or the technology they create. Prof. Kenneth Oakley tested the "fossil" with his fluorine analysis. which was a crucial advancement in the scientific process. He could then date the fossil, which he found to be consideredably young. Where scientists thought the fossil was a million or so years old, it was in fact only a few hundred thousand years old.  The skull was ultimately found to be roughly five hundred thousand years old while the jaw of the orangutan was roughly six hundred years old. Because of this find, the scientists were able to pinpoint what was so strange about the Piltdown Man and progress such technology to be more accurate in the future.



4. It is impossible to remove the human factor from science. Curiosity and deceit make us human. It is also why scientific data is tested again and again and with different, more advanced technology in order to assure the hypothesis remains true. Lessons can be learned, and tricks can be avoided. Humans are the best counter to humans, so the human factor should never be removed.



Humans are faulty, but they are also just as creative, curious, and determined (almost, ironically, to a fault). We can learn from mistakes as long as we learn the lesson. With the Piltdown Man, the lesson was to be fully accurate about the source. Many scientists at the time did, in fact, feel there was something off about the fossil, but they just didn't stand up to Dawson and Woodward. And the public largely didn't even question it. To learn from this lesson, the public and the scientists must ask more questions to get the scope of the full, true answer. Know your sources, and don't trust them at face value unless it is a truly credible source.