Piltdown Hoax
In 1912, an amateur archaeologist by the name of Charles Dawson was digging in a gravel pit in the small town of Piltdown located in Essex, England. He claimed to of found a piece of a human skull which was over 1 mya old and was believed the be missing link between apes and humans. Scientists at first marveled at the findings as it would of provided some insight into human ancestry and help to explain how we as a species evolved. In the 1920's however other fossils were being discovered which began to raise questions regarding the discovery at piltdown. These new fossils were from other human ancestors who lived hundreds of thousands of years after piltdown man. However due to the piltdown man fossils being heavily guarded and no way at the time to accurately date the remains. In 1949 a flourine test was finally performed on the remains which showed the remains were somewhere around 100,000 years old rather than the million years that was originally claimed. In 1953 a full scale analysis was finally performed on the remains which showed the remains had been stained, cut, and the teeth filed down in order to make the remains look like ancient human fossils. These tests determined that the jaw bone which was found was actually from a orangutan and was less than 100 years old.
There were quite a few human faults that played a role in the piltdown man hoax. Charles Dawson was obviously trying to make a name for himself. He had a perpetual desire to be an important figure in the field of archaeology, he wanted to be the one who found the 'missing link' in human evolution and to unravel the truths behind how we evolved. This is shown not only in the piltdown man hoax but also in the other fossils he had forged during his career. The same can be said for Arther Keith who an anatomist at the time, he was a strong supporter of the findings as it backed up his personal theory that humans evolved larger brains before they walked upright. These faults negatively impacted the scientific community because these individuals were falsifying findings, duping fellow scientists and the public, and going along with the idea to just to prove themselves right without the ability or knowledge to substantiate their claims. The government of England also played a large, negative role in the hoax as they carefully guarded the remains and allowed very few people to view the remains. England was caught up in the idea of that these remains proved that some of the oldest human ancestors originated from their country that they went along with hoax, presumably unknowingly, without allowing the remains to be tested in fear of the results of the discovery being redacted.
The introduction of fluorine tests was the first major breakthrough. This test was able to roughly date the age of fossils and the results of this test on the piltdown man remains showed the fossils were much younger than originally claimed. Then in 1953 a full scale analysis was performed. It showed that the artifacts had been stained, they were cut after fossilization, and with the use of microscope they were able to determine the teeth had been recently filed down. The advancement in technology and research methodologies provided the evidence to show the fossils had been falsified.
I believe that with current technology it is not possible to remove the human factor from science. Humans are still required to perform or at least oversee the tests that are performed on fossils. Studies and fossil excavations will always require the presence and involvement of humans, there is no way to completely remove humans from the process. I honestly wouldn't want humans removed from the process though, our species being a part of the discovery and testing of fossils to better understand our ancestry is crucial. Humans need to make the discovery and determination themselves, allowing machines or other means to do that would remove the validity of the claims from most of the public's eyes. That's not to say that we need to be careful and make sure that the findings are true and honest. Fossils need to be researched and tested by numerous individuals and with as many tests and methods as possible to confirm or deny our theories.
It unfortunately is all too common for people to take what they hear or read at face value. Society has become less interested in the actual facts and rely on what they are told to be the truth. Research should be and needs to done by each and every person, just because you read a headline somewhere does not make it true.
There were quite a few human faults that played a role in the piltdown man hoax. Charles Dawson was obviously trying to make a name for himself. He had a perpetual desire to be an important figure in the field of archaeology, he wanted to be the one who found the 'missing link' in human evolution and to unravel the truths behind how we evolved. This is shown not only in the piltdown man hoax but also in the other fossils he had forged during his career. The same can be said for Arther Keith who an anatomist at the time, he was a strong supporter of the findings as it backed up his personal theory that humans evolved larger brains before they walked upright. These faults negatively impacted the scientific community because these individuals were falsifying findings, duping fellow scientists and the public, and going along with the idea to just to prove themselves right without the ability or knowledge to substantiate their claims. The government of England also played a large, negative role in the hoax as they carefully guarded the remains and allowed very few people to view the remains. England was caught up in the idea of that these remains proved that some of the oldest human ancestors originated from their country that they went along with hoax, presumably unknowingly, without allowing the remains to be tested in fear of the results of the discovery being redacted.
The introduction of fluorine tests was the first major breakthrough. This test was able to roughly date the age of fossils and the results of this test on the piltdown man remains showed the fossils were much younger than originally claimed. Then in 1953 a full scale analysis was performed. It showed that the artifacts had been stained, they were cut after fossilization, and with the use of microscope they were able to determine the teeth had been recently filed down. The advancement in technology and research methodologies provided the evidence to show the fossils had been falsified.
I believe that with current technology it is not possible to remove the human factor from science. Humans are still required to perform or at least oversee the tests that are performed on fossils. Studies and fossil excavations will always require the presence and involvement of humans, there is no way to completely remove humans from the process. I honestly wouldn't want humans removed from the process though, our species being a part of the discovery and testing of fossils to better understand our ancestry is crucial. Humans need to make the discovery and determination themselves, allowing machines or other means to do that would remove the validity of the claims from most of the public's eyes. That's not to say that we need to be careful and make sure that the findings are true and honest. Fossils need to be researched and tested by numerous individuals and with as many tests and methods as possible to confirm or deny our theories.
It unfortunately is all too common for people to take what they hear or read at face value. Society has become less interested in the actual facts and rely on what they are told to be the truth. Research should be and needs to done by each and every person, just because you read a headline somewhere does not make it true.
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