The Piltdown Man

The Piltdown Man 1. A hoax A hoax: n. 1. Practical joke 2. Deceptive trick 3. Play trick upon 4. Decieve example: Piltdown Man For forty years they were considered one of the archaeological finds of the century: A fragment of jaw and a part of a skull that could prove man evolved from the apes. They were the bones of Eoanthropus dawsoni found near Piltdown Common in Sussex. The bones of the "Missing Link." Not since 1953 the name "Piltdown" …

…that Hinton had expected. Dawson also, according to a friend, Samuel Woodhead, had an interest in stained bones and had "asked my father how one would treat bones to make them look older than they were..." The Piltdown bones had been stained with potassium bichromate. We may never know for sure who perpetrated Piltdown. Dawson? Hinton? Or did they work together? There was neverany confession and Dawson, as well as Hinton, are long gone now.