Piltdown Man Hoax – Ingliando

On this day, after an intensive investigation, a team of scientists announced to the world that the famous Piltdown Man was actually a hoax. In 1912, amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson announced the discovery of a skull and jawbone in Piltdown, England. The find, which was initially hailed as the missing link between apes and humans, was widely accepted by the British scientific community, which was eager to prove Britain’s part in human evolution. Over the next 40 years, however, doubts continued to grow. Eventually, in 1953, scientists used advanced dating techniques to reveal that the skull belonged to a medieval-age human, the jawbone and teeth were from a modern orangutan, the bones had been chemically stained to make them appear ancient, and the teeth had been filed down to mimic human wear. The identity of the Piltdown forger remains unknown, but Dawson, who was not new to archaeological hoaxes, remains the chief suspect.