Piltdown Hoax Blog Post

 Piltdown fragments were discovered in 1912 by a worker in a quarry and gave to the amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson, who presented them to the eminent paleontologist Smith Woodward (British Museum) in the Geological Society of London. For years the debate has raged about the origin of these remains, and the press said that most likely correspond to “missing link” between apes and humans.The hoax was discovered by a dentist A.T. Marston who examined the teeth and tooth  and a fluorine absorption test. when the true was found out, it was a very polemic because the British were ridiculed, scientific related fields of human evolution began to be more skeptical and people(the mass) started to do not trust in scientific.

To begin, one fault that comes in this case could be that scientific got very excited. The early twentieth century was the golden age of paleontology, and the British were very frustrated because they had not found any human fossil while the rest of Europe and Africa have found a lot. To conclude it is very big mistake make an scientific investigation combining feels, so a scientific must be the most objective possible.

The happiness of British ends when the dentist A.T. Marston found that the teeth of the skeleton belonged to an orangutan course, the loose tooth to a monkey and a human skull. To confirm that, scientific  made the

fluorine absorption test. The principle of this technique is simple: the bones absorb fluoride depending on how long they have been buried. The greater the amount of fluorine present a older bone. The remains of Piltdown’s fragments(both the jaw and skull) contained trace amounts of fluoride. Therefore,  the fragments had been buried in recent times with the intention.

It is impossible to reduce 100% the human factor from the science because science is alive for humans who dedicate their whole life to understand the mysteries of the universe. Scientists still doing mistake in their investigation, but it should not be a signal to stop science.  The Piltdown Man was a dishonesty joke, but in the end authentic scientist found out the true. The only solution to do not have another hoax is remind that scientist must be skeptical about every issues.

  

The story of Piltdown Man as a warning to all of us. We have to investigate further for any issues, so one should make his/her own judgments by and look for every kind of evidence, and be the less impulsive possible in some situations.