The Piltdown Man otherwise known as "The Bold Hoax", was a hoax in which amateur archeologist Charles Dawson claimed to discover the fossilized remains of a jaw bone of an early human. The remains were discovered in Piltdown, East Sussex, England in the year 1912. For over 40 years after its discovery, the remains were considered to be the missing link between apes and humans, and made a strong case for Darwin's theory of evolution. It wasn't until 1953, when carbon dating had come into the realm of archeology that the Piltdown Man was proven to be a hoax. The original jawbone found by Dawson was dated to only be 100 years old, and was more than likely the product of an altered orangutan jaw, a human skull of medieval age, and Chimpanzee fossil teeth. Piltdown Man had also been forcefully stained to sell its appearance as a fossil, with an iron solution and chromic acid. Filing marks were found on the teeth with the use of a microscope, and it was presumed this had been done to give the teeth a shape more suited to human diet.
The hoax was successful for several reasons. It satisfied European expectations that the earliest humans would be found in Eurasia. British nationalism played a bias role in the hoax because the British wanted a "first Briton" to stand against hominid remains found elsewhere, in France and Germany.
Skepticism of the hoax had been apparent from the onslaught by members of the scientific community such as G.S. Miller. Miller stated that "deliberate malice could hardly have been more
successful than the hazards of deposition in so breaking the fossils as
to give free scope to individual judgment in fitting the parts
together." Scientists also maintained that Piltdown Man didn't match up with the path of early human evolution as demonstrated by fossils found elsewhere.
Piltdown Man is a direct example of how the faults of human character can spoil the scientific process. The greedy and malicious acts of those responsible for the hoax could have greatly jeopardized years of delicate, and calculated scientific examination by dozens of scientists. Whether those responsible did it for the satisfaction of being immortalized in history books as the champions of evolution, or if money played a role in persuading the hoaxers, we will never know. However, greed and deceit are key players in the character flaws of those responsible for the hoax.
The scientific method proved to be the true champion of justice in the case of the Piltdown Man. Through consistent testing, and the furthering of scientific technology such as carbon dating, the Piltdown Man was brought down by science.
The Piltdown Man is likely not the last time the scientific community will be faced with deceit, forgery, or mistakes. These are all by products of the "human factor" in science, and will continue to exist so long as humans are conducting science. The only sure way to remove the human factor from science would be to conduct science without humans at all. An improbability unless the human race is one day taken over by advanced life forms from another planet, or by artificial intelligence created by us.
From the Piltdown Man hoax we can learn that deceit and greed have no place in science. Science has nothing to do with fame or fortune and should never be conducted in a manner that supports such desires.
Overall, very good post. You did a great job pulling in all the factors involved in this event. I like how you say that the "Piltdown Man was brought down by science". Great remark. It was human fallibility that created the fraud. It was the scientific method that uncovered it.
ReplyDeleteOne caution: You say early on that the Piltdown fossil was considered to be evidence in support of evolutionary theory. That isn't the case. Had it been valid, Piltdown supported the idea that larger craniums/brains were developed early in hominid evolution and that early humans evolved in Europe. Uncovering Piltdown as a fraud didn't damage evolutionary theory, but it did throw doubt onto these other two sub-sub-arguments within the study of human evolutionary theory.
I completely agree on the lesson you took, personal gain or fame should never be an aspect of science. Also exactly my take on the human factor, while it would remove the chance for error, there is no way for us to fully remove the human factor from science, I also used the example of robots, but not life forms from other planets, very clever.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post!
I agree that the human factor can never be fully removed from science. Science also should never include fame, fortune or emotions, science is based on conclusions and results from experiments and hypothesis.
ReplyDelete