The Piltdown Files: Science vs. Dawson

    In Southeast England, in a rural town called Sussex was an amazing discovery in the early 1900s. A laborer was digging near the village of Piltdown at the Barkham Manor and unearthed what was going to be known as a great scientific and historical discovery. The remains of a fossilized skull was given to an amateur archeologist by the name of Charles Dawson.
**editors note: the video states that Dawson was digging and found  the remains but in the transcript of the video from the assignment's provided link, the narrator states that it was uncovered by a laborer and handed over to Dawson**
    Dawson claimed that with closer examination of the skull that it was thicker than that of a human and appeared to be primitive. This discovery became an important one as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution had recently been publish just 50 years before. After the publication Charles Darwin's Origin Of Species the first remains of primitive man were discovered in Germany and was named "Neanderthal". Soon after Germany became the birthplace, discoveries were made in France and Spain but no British discoveries were made until the discovery in Piltdown.

     Dawson enlisted the help of a geologist, Sir Arthur Woodward of London's Natural History Museum. An apelike jawbone with humanlike teeth was discovered while he accompanied Dawson in digging at the site. There was still some speculation of it's origin due to a missing piece which would connect the jawbone to the skull and a canine that would help determine if this fossil was more human or apelike. A year later, the missing canine was uncovered and then in 1917 another skull and tooth of a second Piltdown Man.
     For over forty years this was an extraordinary breakthrough because until the discovery of the Piltdown Man little was know of man's early ancestors. Scientists were able to observe and build their careers around this miraculous find. But after twenty years more remains of early man have been discovered in other parts of the world and was shown to be much more apelike that Piltdown Man, but was dated to be more recent. Then in 1953, it was discovered to all be a hoax. Dawson was dubbed a phony and the credibility and careers of all scientists who built their work upon the Piltdown Man was at stake. With the scientific community in an uproar and the reputation of London's Natural History Museum at stake, the museum ran more tests that confirmed the allegations. It was a fake. The humanlike teeth were obviously filed down to appear more human like, the jawbone actually belonged to an orangutan and the skull was not as old as it appeared. The pieces were all filed and stained to appear to be the fossils of man's early evolution. Till this day there have been many suspects as to who was an accomplice in this crime and the mystery still remains.

    Science is an amazing field. It helps us understand the world around us. There are many great scientist that have made valuable contributions to how we understand our world. These men such as Galileo, Copernicus and Einstein will be always be remembered and valued for their work and discoveries. But not all scientist will make major break through discoveries. Some will never be listed in our history books, and for some that may be very frustrating. People generally want to be recognized for their work and efforts. No one wants to be stuck in a job where they feel unvalued but others take it a step further. People such as Charles Dawson crave the praise and fame so much that they are willing to risk the credibility of their respective fields and others who work hard to maintain their integrity. Such selfish acts also set real science back because what scientists know to be true isn't and all of their work was in vain and must start again with a clean slate at no fault of their own.

    Testing of authenticity and hypotheses are vital in science. Everything must be tested thoroughly several times and looked at from an objective perspective. In 1949 with new technology scientists were able to more accurately date the fossils using fluorine tests. These tests confirmed the speculation of the falsehood of Piltdown Man. More tests were conducted and the fossils were more closely examined under a microscope revealing the filing of the teeth and the orangutan origins of the jawbone making the entire discovery a sham.

  Although human error or sometimes lack of integrity can cause an enormous setback in scientific studies I don't think it is possible to take the human factor out of science. Without the human factor we wont be able to look at things from different angles. Computers and machinery do not have a curiosity about the way things work. The human factor is essential in the scientific method. It causes curiosities that lead to hypotheses. If an experiment or study is done correctly and for it to be sound science, all hypotheses and discoveries will be questioned by other scientists which is also part of the human factor which then should lead to vigorous testing to solidify or disprove the claims.

    It is very important in science and in life that as much as we want something to be true, regardless of how great it may seem, we must always approach it with at least a bit if skepticism before leaping in full heartedly. And if that thing does seem to be a bit sketchy we should never be afraid to speak up and vocalized our concerns. Things should always be tested before for taken for face value because the human factor is in everyone's DNA and sometimes we even lead ourselves astray so we can't expect less from anyone else.