Piltdown was an archaelogical site in Sussex, England. It is known as the site where they found the missing link between apes and humans. IN 1908 a digger found a primates skull and in 1913 a jaw was found with canine teeth worn down like a human's. The community came to accept the idea that the fossil remains belonged to a single creature that had a human cranium and an ape's jaw. This was proof of Darwin's Theory of evolution. 40 yrs later Piltdown man turned out to be a fake. The skull was that of a modern human skull and the jaw was that of an ape but the teeth had just been filed down and both had been painted to look like ancient fossils.
The Piltdown forgery demonstrates the lack of critical thinking. So many scientists were fooled due to wishful thinking and cultural bias. Back then anthropologists believed that a man's brain must have developed to its human size before other changes occurred in human structure. They really wanted to believe that Britian was superior to other countries especially Germany. They wanted to prove the "Piltdown Man" existed and to prove the theory of evolution. People shut their minds to other evidence and continued to believe in Piltdown because it fitted their beliefs. The reason the Piltdown was not spotted earlier was because back then scientists weren't allowed to see the evidence which was locked up in the Museum. They didn't have the tools or the authority to examine the physical evidence at all. So they had to deal plaster molds and from that claim whether it was accurate or not. Also, back then scientists would've never thought that someone would actually be involved in such deception.
When the scientists looked at the fossils teeth through a magnifying glass they saw that the they had been diliberately filed down to give them a unique wear pattern.And through chenical analysis and flourine tests proved that the jaw and the teeth were not even fossils just old bones. The bones were stained with chemicals and paint to make them look old.
The scientific community can really benefit from the research that has been done to reduce the consequences and likelihood of human error in scientific studies. Research shows that error occurs in all human endeavors whther you try hard to prevent errors from occurring or not, error exists. Many errors occur due to weak aspects of cognition. But there are always ways to get around this errors or find the root of the problem. I believe that human factors are the cause of a lot of scientific errors but without them I we wouldn't be able to prove or disprove certain hypothesis or theories. I believe you learn from your mistakes so where would this world be without human error?
What I have learned from this story is that credibilty and scientic reasearch is very important. We can't let preconceived ideas fool us. And specimens should be thoroughly examined and tested before anything else.
A caution: The Piltdown fossil find was not "proof" of Darwin's theory. You say this several times through your post. Darwin's work was already well accepted and this find was inconsequential with regard to the strength of Darwin's theory. The key is that this was thought to represent an intermediary organism between apes and humans, i.e., the "missing link" (which is a horrible term, by the way!).
ReplyDeleteGreat catch on the idea that the human brain expanded in size before other human traits arose! That is exactly correct. Now we know that bipedalism arose long before the cranium grew, but back then, Piltdown seemed to support this argument. Notice that supporting the idea that humans developed large brains before other traits evolved is a separate argument from simply the concept of evolution itself. In fact it assumes evolution is occurring in the shaping of the brain expansion hypothesis.
Were there any other non-scientific influences that encouraged the acceptance of this find as valid? What was going on in the world during this time period that might have had an impact?
Hi Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteI liked what you said about how the Piltdown forgery demonstrated a lack of critical thinking. I am actually taking a philosophy class that is about critical thinking, so seeing you write that made me think of my class. Many of the scientists were fooled by the find because the wanted so badly to believe that Britain had found something significant, that it clouded their judgment. They were not able to see what was right in front of them because they wanted to be ahead in the "my horse is bigger than your horse" race. You did a superb job.