The Piltdown Man was a series of discoveries and claims of an ancestor between modern man and ape. The discovery made at the time was monumental as Britain had yet to find any hominid remains. After many discoveries in France and Germany, Britain was beginning to feel the pressure. Then in 1908 at a gravel pit in East Sussex, England Charles Dawson had found a fragment of what was a first he claimed was a fossilized coconut. Then after several other finds in the same area he believed them to be the remains of a fossilized ancestor of apes and man. After some time roughly in 1912 he had brought the remains to Arthur Smith Woodward, who was working for the geological department at the British Museum. It was then the two set out to find other remains of the Piltdown man accompanied by many others, which included laborers and even a goose named Chipper. (Which if you read into some of the more comical theories of the forgery they name Chipper the mastermind.)
Despite the attempts of Woodward and the other excavators it was only Dawson who had found fossils. Even with this knowledge many in the scientific community questioned the legitimacy of the skull, The skull presented had only bits and pieces intact, and those left behind were not enough to distinguish if the jawbone even matched the upper portion of the skull.
The main fault of this skull being exposed so long fter its discovery, 50 years or so. Can be contributed to human emotion. Feelings of jealousy and desperation was the cause of so many British scientists claiming that this skull was in fact the real deal. They refused to believe it was a hoax and that Britain would be the birthplace of modern man. That is why it is important for many to come together to test and establish findings and theories. It is an unfortunate part of our nature that I feel can not be removed. For us to question our own origins I feel it is also necessary for us to find them ourselves. Not for gloating or showboating purposes but for the few who say it can't be done. Or for the people like in this case fail to accept evidence no matter how much is given to them.
Great description of the hoax it was very well put and the added pictures was a nice touch. I agree that there will always be fault in humans that try to falsify experiments and create false theories. But at the same time there will always be people who actually want to learn and grow and know the truth. This is what makes science great and as long as we have people like this working hard the false information will be proven wrong and the truth will prevail.
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather! It would appear that this instance is only one of the examples of the drawbacks of having the human element. They say a scientist can not have any feelings toward his or her work. Although I feel it is those same emotions that cause people to question and strive for greater achievements. A little competition also proves to be a great motivator.
DeleteI feel I could have elaborated more on that fact as well. There are scientists who simply want to find the answers and solve sme of lifes great mysteries. I also should mentioned more names in my examples.
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ReplyDelete"The Piltdown Man was a series of discoveries and claims of an ancestor between modern man and ape."
ReplyDeleteIs this an accurate description of the place Piltdown would have held in the primate family tree? Or was he just in the hominid ancestry?
You mention Arthur Keith but you don't mention his theory of humans evolving larger brains early in their evolutionary history. Why was he enthusiastic about Piltdown (hint: this is the significance of this fossil find, had it been valid).
I agree with your assessment as to the faults of the scientific community or accepting this hoax so quickly, but what about the perpetrators? Someone created this hoax. Why? What faults were involved?
Missing the discussion on the positive aspects of science that helped to uncover the hoax. What was the technology credited with producing definitive evidence of the hoax? Besides new technology, what about the process of science itself helped to uncover the hoax? Why were scientists still analyzing this fossil some 40 years after it's discovery?
"For us to question our own origins I feel it is also necessary for us to find them ourselves."
That is poetic, but is difficult to apply in the real world. What encompasses the "human factor"? Is it only negative aspects? What about curiosity, ingenuity and innovation? Could you even do science without these aspects of human nature?
Missing the life lesson?
You opening synopsis was detailed and told the story well. The rest of the post seemed to be crammed into that last paragraph and it was difficult to tell what point you were addressing. Give all the points the same attention you gave to the synopsis and I suggest you would have done quite well with this assignment.