Has Piltdown man mystery been 'solved' ?

Posted on Sunday, 16 December, 2012 | Comment icon

9 comments | News tip by: Still Waters

Image credit: John Cooke

Scientists may have finally solved the mystery behind one of the most infamous hoaxes in palaeontology.

The fossil remains of what became known as the Piltdown man were discovered in a Sussex gravel pit in 1912. The find was hailed as a missing link in the evolutionary ladder between apes and humans, evidence of an ancient human ancestor that lived 500,000 years ago. It would take another 50 years for Piltdown man to be exposed as a hoax, how it had been orchestrated and who had been responsible for it however was to remain a mystery.

Now a group of archaeologists, palaeontologists and anthropologists are to hold a meeting to discuss the results of a new investigation in to the hoax aimed at solving the mystery once and for all. Among the suspects are amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson who discovered the bones and Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle.

Now scientists believe they can finally put to rest the mystery of how one of the most famous scientific frauds in history was orchestrated and who was responsible for creating the fake remains of a human ancestor known as Piltdown man.

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Source: Telegraph

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Recent comments on this story

#1 Posted by Hilander on 16 December, 2012, 16:58

What people won't do to be recognized. This is the reason you should get a second opinion.

#2 Posted by Lava_Lady on 16 December, 2012, 23:28

I don't understand Sir Arthur Conan Doyles role...why is he a suspect?

#3 Posted by HuntrSThompsun on 17 December, 2012, 3:55

Sherlock Holmes was fictional..bigfoots DNA is looking less credible now

#4 Posted by theSOURCE on 17 December, 2012, 4:51

The reason Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a suspect in the Piltdown hoax is because he was really into spiritualism, something that the scientific community frowned upon and never accepted as fact. According to science historian Richard Milner, Doyle perpetrated the hoax in order to get revenge. Some have claimed that Doyle left a number of clues to the hoax in his novel The Lost World which came out the same year Piltdown was discovered. Doyle was so into spiritualism that he sometimes got taken in by hoaxes himself, such as the Cottingley faries case. I'm not saying I believe he was the ... [More]

#5 Posted by ShadowSot on 17 December, 2012, 21:26

Yeah... this is sort of like "Who was Jack the Ripper/Atlantis found/Noahs Ark found/ect." stories that come out ever few years.

#6 Posted by DieChecker on 18 December, 2012, 1:35

My money would be on Dawson.

#7 Posted by Lion6969 on 18 December, 2012, 1:59

Next....java man, then Nebraska man just to name a few more hoaxes!

#8 Posted by DieChecker on 18 December, 2012, 2:10

Some of my favorates were the Cardiff Giant and the Minnisota IceMan.

#9 Posted by highdesert50 on 29 December, 2012, 11:20

So it seems, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. And, this remainder is often the most mundane of truths.

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