The Piltdown hoax was a anthropological discovery in the early 1900's in Piltdown, England. Charles Dawson, a fossil hunter, was searching in the hills of Piltdown when he came across a fragment of a skull and jawbone. He touted this as the fossil of an ancient ancestor of modern Englishmen, for England had no Neanderthal discoveries compared tot he surrounding countries. Dawson's hoax was believed to be the final evidence needed to solidify Charles Darwin's claim that man evolved from apes as the jawbone contained teeth that were flat where exposed much like the teeth of humans. However these fossil were in fact from apes and the teeth had been ground down to match human's own teeth.
This hoax served as ego inflation for the English scientific community as well as human kind, which we believed this discovery established our dominance as a species.Scientists were so eager to find such a fossil, that it went un-tested of the most basic tests for over 40 years. The competition to make ground breaking discoveries was fierce which may have lead to the resulting hoax as well. This foul-up stunted the scientific process, as this piece accepted as real evidence misled scientist to make inaccurate conclusions about our history and place in the world.
Some in the scientific community was still skeptical though as the jaw missed two important pieces, the canine tooth and the connection to the rest of the skull (this piece was broken off). A year later the canine was discovered as well as another Piltdown man. For years these discoveries were hailed as truths and many feared to speak otherwise as Piltdown became the status quo. However finally the Natural History Museum had the remains tested for their nitrogen content, only to find they weren't as old as they should be and when examined under a magnifying glass, found fresh grind marks in the teeth as if they had been filed down. When these finds did not add up, they then chemically tested all the artifacts to find that they all were hoaxes, the jaw was quite modern and had been stained to look like a fossil and the canine was crudely filed and painted with everyday paints. Many scientists were outraged as they had accepted this hoax as fact and even dedicated their lives to studying what they thought was a break through.
This entire hoax was founded on human error and as much as the scientific process aims to reduce the chances of such an occurrence, the unfortunate reality is that the scientific process is man-made, thus it is essentially impossible to create a completely human error free process of testing discoveries. However, if removing humans from the scientific process were possible, it would also remove the passion for science and discoveries that we share, and science would possible reach a plateau.
The lesson I take from this, which is way too relatable at the moment, is to not be swept up in passion and excitement of new finds; to always look at the facts before diving into a new craze. This is also very relatable politically given all the name calling and story telling that goes on in the media.
You do provide some good detail with your synopsis, particularly by providing an explanation as to why Piltdown was so eagerly accepted by the scientific community. Corrections are needed with regard to the issue of the significance of this find:
ReplyDelete"Dawson's hoax was believed to be the final evidence needed to solidify Charles Darwin's claim that man evolved from apes..."
No. Darwin's theory, as explained in his original paper and his first book ("Origin of Species") never discussed the evolution of humans, mainly because he knew his ideas were already explosive and he didn't want to include this idea to add fuel to the fire. He does mentioned the concept of human evolution in his second book (Descent of Man) but did not say that humans evolved from apes... we ARE apes. He discussed how humans are a product of evolution, just as all other organisms are, and belonged to part of the primate family tree.
Furthermore, Darwin's ideas of evolution were not in question in the scientific community by the time Piltdown was "discovered". It was no longer an issue of IF humans evolved but HOW they evolved from that common ancestor with non-human apes. And that leads us to what the actual significance of Piltdown might have been, had it been valid. What would it have taught us about HOW humans evolved? And what does the size of the Piltdown brain case have to do with it?
"This hoax served as ego inflation for the English scientific community as well as human kind, which we believed this discovery established our dominance as a species."
I agree that the English scientific community were inclined to accept this find without the necessary skepticism because of the issue of national pride. That said, there is nothing in the Piltdown discovery that supports the "dominance of our species". In fact, all hominid fossil discoveries just confirm that humans evolve like all other organisms do, removing us from that special place of dominance where we tend to place ourselves.
Your second paragraph seems to discuss possible faults ("ego inflation" and "competition"), though "competition" isn't so much a fault or a human trait. How you respond to competition can be determined by your traits. For instance, if a person is greedy or ambitious, they may respond to competition in a deceptive way that cheats the system. "Greed" or "ambition" would be human faults, not "competition".
Good description of the techniques used to uncover the hoax. But beyond the new technology and techniques, what aspects of the process of science itself helped to uncover this hoax? Why were scientists still analyzing this fossil find some 40 years after it was discovered? What aspect of science does this represent?
I completely agree with your conclusion on the human factor, but I want to clarify what you said about the scientific process. Yes, the scientific method was developed by humans, but it is designed explicitly to remove the effect of human error and human bias from scientific conclusions. We need humans to provide the curiosity that drives science but we also need the scientific method to wed out human error. Yes, that is dependent upon humans using the scientific method reliably, but the scientific method is built around the natural competitive urge of humans. Even if one person fails to follow the scientific method faithfully, someone else will, just to prove them wrong! That is the beauty of the scientific method. It uses natural traits of humanity to feed back on itself to only leave behind the facts we need. This may take time, but it will get there eventually.
Good life lesson.
Note: It is a little difficult to figure out where you have addressed the questions from the guidelines. Better to make your points explicity and clearly so your reader (and grader) have no confusion of how you have addressed all the required points.
DeleteHi I enjoyed reading your post because your life lesson that you got from the event was different than others. Your summary was perfect it was brief but it captured all the detailed needed. Very well written you did a great job.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I loved your detail, I loved how I could imagine myself in the era this historic event happened. Like Diana said in the previous comment, by far one of the best lesson learned explanation I have read! I did not even think of it that way.
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