Who wants to read my essay

[Edutainment]

Here is an essay I wrote for school on the Piltdown man. It's short but that was the required length.



Essay topic: Why do you think such a forgery was so easily believed in the early 20th century? Do you think that a forgery such as this could occur today? Why/Why not?


Introduction to Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology – Diagnostic Essay
Jordan Zanatta


The Piltdown man is one of the most famous archaeological hoaxes in history. Collected in 1911 by Charles Dawson, an amateur British archaeologist, the findings consisted of a skull and a fractured jaw, thought to be the remains of an unknown form of early human. Scattered around the site were the remains of various Pleistocene animals. Despite inconsistencies in the findings, it was considered to be an example of early human. More than 40 years later, the Piltdown man was found to be an elaborate hoax, made up of a human skull and the jaw of an orangutan stained to appear much older.

The fossils (which included those of extinct species of rhino and elephant) found at Piltdown consisted of animals from the early to late Pleistocene era. In the 1950’s study that found the Piltdown man to be a hoax, some of the bone tools found at the site were found to have had modifications that could only have been made with a metal knife. This begs the question as to whether the widespread acceptance of the Piltdown man was a result of a meticulously formulated hoax, or human error. The Piltdown man was though to be the missing link between ape and modern human. It could have been that enthusiasm for this missing link blinded paleontologists to some of the inconsistencies in the findings.

In today’s modern world, it is almost hard to believe that so many people could have been fooled by such a hoax, and for so long, but are we just as susceptible? Today, scientists are afforded such credibility that many people would believe what they say without question, within reason of course. It is not unreasonable to say that a hoax such as that of the Piltdown man could occur today. Archaeological forgeries are somewhat common all around the world, although rarely, if ever, are they widely accepted in the scientific community, especially for as long as the Piltdown man was.