The same fluorine test—which fortunately applies to such fossilated
things as bone, antler, and ivory—exposed an even more notorious
impostor, expelling him from the select corps of early men. This was
Piltdown man, alias _Homo eoanthropus dawsoni_, alias _Eoanthropus_,
alias Dawson’s Dawn Man. It was demonstrated to be a fake and a forgery
that led its discoverer to try to match a reasonably human skull to the
jaw of an ape. The jaw and its teeth had been modified by the faker—not
Dawson—to make it appear less apelike. Both jaw and skull had been
artfully treated with chemicals to appear as antiquated as the unusual
assortment of fossils with which they were salted into early
interglacial deposits. Many of the fossils, while authentic in their own
right, also were chemically stained and planted. And tools were added to
complete the assemblage. The latter included a bone pick thoughtfully
carved from the femur of an elephant, but it was carved with a modern
steel knife, as careful scrutiny under a powerful lens disclosed, and
not with the stone flakes of prehistoric man. (See illustration, page
74.)
The British scientists Kenneth Oakley, J. S. Wiener, and Sir Wilfrid Le
Gros Clark exposed the forgery in a most conclusive manner.[9] In laying
the ghost of Piltdown, these authorities resolved four decades of
controversy as to his place in human evolution. Although Piltdown’s
contribution to human evolution now is known to have been nil, his
contribution to physical anthropology has been considerable. As the
academic dust settled on this issue, the anthropologists returned to
their laboratories with greater confidence in their science and with
somewhat sharper tools in their research kits. It is unlikely that any
new hoax will ever acquire the same importance as Piltdown.
Ancestors from Heidelberg and Swanscombe?
We still have at least four authentically early human fossils from which
European men may have descended. Each has its own interesting story.[10]
The fragment of jaw found under 80 feet of sand at Mauer, Germany, we
call Heidelberg man, although he is the least human of the lot. He seems
also to be the most ancient, perhaps belonging to the first interglacial
period. At least the bones of horses, elephants, bears, and other
animals found at the same level in the sand pit derive from the early
stages of the Ice Age. Heidelberg man clearly lacks a chin, and his
molar teeth are reminiscent in some ways of cattle rather than men or
even monkeys, for that matter. This is an important clue, for the same
thing, “taurodontism,” occurs much later among some of the Neanderthals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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