Piltdown was an archelogical site with fossil remains of human, ape and other mammals which were found in England. Soon after the discovery an ape's jaw with a cannine tooth worn down like a humans was found. Many paleoanthropoligists accepted the idea that the fossils belonged to a creature who had a human cranium and an ape's jaw. In 1953 a man was exposed as a forgery which ended up resulting in the disovery that the skull was modern and the teeth on the ape's jaw had been filed down.In 1950 it was shown by the fluorine method of relative dating that the Piltdown mandible and cranial bones were considerably younger geologically than the Lower and Middle Pleistocene fossils said to have been found at the same site.
The piltodwn hoax began in 1912 when Charles Dawson contacted Sir Arthur Smith Woodward about the skull which was found in England. Dawson and Woodward formed an excavation team and by the end of 1912 the rest of the Piltdown man was uncovered. THe piltdown man remained a controversial topic within the scientific community. It was a topic of debate amongst them. The Piltdown forgery demonstrates the fallibility and human quality of scientific knowledge. Steve Jay Gould offered a good reason of why scientists were duped it was because of wishful thinking and cultural bias. After the publication scientists found similarities between the jaw that was discovered and a chimpanzee.
Some scientists always had doubts about the piltdown man but failed to expose the hoax because of the credentials held by the scientists who made the discovery. I would not want to remove the "human factor" from science even though i believe the chance for errors would not be as much, because if we remove the human factor there would not be enough curiousity and drive to discover new things. Even though this story reveals how scientists are not always accurate and can commit forgery we were able to reveal that and learn from it.This story helps us understand not to believe everything people say. If we ever doubt something it is good to investigate and research it before believing it.
Good layout of the hoax. Just a couple of points. I agree that curiousity is a trait to valuable to give up in exchange for the reduction in errors.
ReplyDeleteThe jaw was actually an orangutan jaw.
What were some of the positive aspects of science and the scientific method that led to the discovery of this hoax?
In response to your question in the post i said that
ReplyDeleteI think the positive aspects were that we were able to discover the truth even though it did take a long time.Scientists now know credentials should not be enough to conclude that a theory or discovery is right. Before the Pilt down Hoax scientists believed that the large modern brain had preceded the modern omnivorous diet, and the forgery had provided exactly that evidence. Europeans also discovered that the earliest humans were found in Britain. (Eurasia)Also The improved chemical testing helped discover the the pilt down hoax.