Piltdown Hoax

    The Piltdown hoax began with a discovery of unusual and intriguing fossils in Piltdown, England.  The fossils discovered in this large gravel pit resembled that of an ancient type of human with a prominent jaw resembling an ape.  These fossils were dug up and discovered by Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist at the time.  This discovery alone meant that not only did humans develop a big brain before they began to walk, but also that England could very well be the location of some of the earliest humans.  Essentially Dawson has discovered the missing link in the evolution of ape to man.  Fellow scientists were relatively convinced that this was indeed the missing link, and had no reason to doubt Dawson in his findings.

    Since scientists are humans just like you and I, they too posses common human faults that anyone may have.  The biggest fault that came into play in this hoax would be greed.  The greed to be famous, the greed to make a name for yourself in the history books, and the greed of respect from your fellow colleagues for apparently making the most important fossil discovery in England to date.  Unfortunately these faults impacted the scientific world negatively by proving that they can be incorrect and potentially fooled if the evidence is convincing enough.

    Thankfully the scientific method prevailed against the hoax proving it to be false, even though it was about 40 years late on doing so.  It wasn't until the advent of fluorine testing on fossils could scientists accurately prove the specimens just didn't match up to the period of which they would be coming from.  Through this experimenting and analyzing results it was officially announced that the Piltdown man was indeed a fake.  Nothing more then a fabricated orangutang jawbone with some pieces of a modern day human skull placed within the same gravel pit.

    Although this was an unfortunate event for science as a whole, I don't feel like anything of this grand scale could ever happen again considering the technology we now posses.  I also don't think the human element should ever be removed from science due to the thought process necessary to put together sequences of events, experiments, hypothesis, etc.  Like I said, I just don't see it possible for someone to pull the wool over so many people's eyes for such a long time with the technology and number of fellow scientists willing to disprove a questionable discovery.

    From learning about this event I have seen how easily one can be convinced with the right evidence and willingness, or even desire, to believe that something is true.  I think there is a life lesson in all of this and that would be to not take everything you hear or see at face value.  Not to say you should go out and become a sceptic of the world, but maybe do a little research for yourself every now and then when something doesn't seem quite right.  Unfortunately in life when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.