Piltdown Hoax Blog Post

Prompt #1:

The Piltdown hoax was an interesting occurrence in the brief history of the study of human evolution. The hoax included the discovery of various fossils, mostly parts of a skull, that were later proved to be fabrications. The prime discovery of the site was an "early human" jawbone that had many repercussions down the road. The hoax occurred in 1912 and was named after the place it occurred, a small village named Piltdown in England. These fossils were found by three men: Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodward, and Father Pierre, and Teilhard De Chardin though Dawson made most of the discoveries. Their discoveries where significant for several reasons, the first being it showcased that ancient humans did have a history in England and they seemed to be more ancient than those of any other discovery. Additionally, the jawbone provided a definitive link between humans and apes since it had a very apelike shape but contained teeth that appeared human. This find would have taught us that there were ancient humans in England and that they had very apelike appearances. This hoax effected the scientific community greatly. Not only would excavations begin in earnest in England, but many scientists adopted this discovery into their own theories and observations. The hoax was finally discovered when ancient humans much younger than Piltdown man began to be discovered in many countries; they're appearances did not match and this cast doubt on the discovery. Finally, in the 1940's, basic dating techniques were used on the fossils showing they were less than 100,000 tears old. Later more advanced testing would show the fossils were less than 100 years old. It was discovered that the fossils were the remains of an Orangutan, doctored to look ancient and broken in a way so they were unrecognizable. Scientists were surprised and disappointed by this discover. Not only did it mean they had been fooled but the theories and observation they had based the skull on were now false.

Prompt #2:

Like every person in this world, scientists can be wrong (likely significantly less than the average person though). Three main faults come into play when discussing the Piltdown Hoax: deferment to seniority, adaptation of a narrative, and a failure to rigorously test the discovery. Deferment to authority played a huge role in this hoax. Arthur Smith Woodward was part of this discovery and his seniority and the respect he had among the scientific immunity gave him somewhat of an immunity to criticisms and a perceived immunity to fault. Woodward, and expert on fish bones, was so respected that few rose to debate the discovery which led to it's adoption as fact though many inconsistencies were present. Additionally, the adaption of the discovery to a pre-existing narrative by Arthur Keith granted it more credibility. Arthur Kieth was England's leading anatomists and the discovery supported his theory that ancient human developed big brains before they began walking so he adopted the discovery as true. Finally, the fact that the discovery was kept under lock and key was another fault of this occurrence. Scientists had very limited access to the fossils and, as a result, they could not be widely studied or scrutinized. These faults negatively effected the scientific process because they showed the practitioners of the process, not the process itself, to be flawed. Many people will do whatever they need to get ahead in a  competitive situation and the Piltdown hoax was no different. This event showed that even scientists, the most trusted among us, can not always be trusted.

Prompt #3:

Despite the scientific communities failure to refute the hoax early on, several positive aspects of the scientific process would come to fruition later. Observation played a huge role in proving the fossils to be fakes. Scientists from all corners of the globe began discovering ancient human and there were many inconsistencies between these new discoveries and the Piltdown man. Additionally, later observation under a microscope showed that the teeth of the jawbone had been filed down. After substantial observation had taken place the credibility of the Piltdown discovery was thrown into disarray. The final nail-in-the-coffin on this hoax came in the form of new dating techniques. In the 1940's scientists used fluorine to date the skull. The results of the fluorine test showed the skull was relatively young compared to others that were recently discovered. Later, in the 1950's, a more in depth analysis of the skulls showed their staining was artificial and that they were merely 100 years old. 

Prompt #4:

I do not believe it is possible to remove the human factor from science and I believe there is always a chance of errors in scientific practice. Even if robots are used to uncover artifact in the not-so-distant future human will still be needed to interpret and classify these finds. The human factor is irreversibly intertwined with the scientific process; after all, it is itself a construct of the human mind. While scientific processes may seem removed or higher than the petty squabbles of human it is still people that must facilitate these processes; that is why error will always be a part of science. Just as error is part of the human race so too is the scientific process. Only through careful and unbiased observation and the scrutiny of other experts can errors be avoided or rectified.

Prompt #5:

There is definitely a life lesson to be learned from the Piltdown hoax: no one, not even scientists, can be trusted. In any competitive field there will be cheaters to will do anything to get ahead. This us true in sports, life, and even science. It is important to make decisions for yourself but also to back up these decisions with ample observations from multiple sources. This is true in every aspect of life. Information is the most trustworthy when it has been scrutinized excessively and still holds up. Never take anything at face value, dig and dig until you KNOW not just trust that something is true.