Piltdown Man How fake fossils can be interpreted by different Social Groups Presentation by Marit Heideman and Renato Ponciano

Piltdown ManHow fake fossils can be interpreted

by different Social GroupsPresentation by

Marit Heideman and Renato Ponciano

Presentation ESST 2002 - Module 3

Presentation Outline

Introduction Theoretical frame

• Evolutionism• Creationism

The Piltdown man “discovery” Interpretations on Piltdown case Conclusions


Theoretical FrameEvolutionism

• Before Darwin– God created Earth; man is a masterpiece of His creation– c. 1800 de Lamarck: Linear Evolution

• After Darwin– Different species stem from the same ancestor (natural

selection, struggle for existence, habitat changes)

God designed species Human just another animal

Controversy


Creationism

Theory that appears as a scientific response to evolutionism

Claims that fossils and geological findings do not contradict the Genesis as described in the Bible


The Beginning (Eons Ago) Glacial Period? The Present

Day - Age "Day" 1 "Day" 2 "Day" 3 "Day" 4 "Day" 5 "Day" 6

Matter Created Fossils Formed Humans Created Noah's Flood (Perhaps Local)

The Beginning (eons ago) 4004 BC 2348 BC The Present

Gap or Run & Restoration

Perhaps Multiple Cataclysms and Creations 6-day Edenic Restoration

Noah's Flood (Perhaps Local)

Matter and life created Fossils Formed

4000-8000BC ca 3000 BC The Present

Flood Geology

Perhaps a Lifeless Earth

6-day Edenic Creation of Life and Humans

Noah's Flood Fossils Formed

(and perhaps even matter)

Source: Numbers, 1992, pp xii-xiii

Creationist Interpretations of Genesis


• 1856: Neanderthal Man discovered

• 1859: Darwin’s Origin of Species

• 1908: Discovery of hominid bone fragments in Sussex, England.

• 1912: Public Presentation of Piltdown Man I

The Piltdown Man: Chronology (I)


• 1917: Discovery of Piltdown Man II

• 1925: Reports on errors in Piltdown case (ignored)

• 1949: Fluorine Test on Piltdown Bones

• 1953: Exposure of the Hoax: Bones were fixed up!

The Piltdown Man: Chronology (II)


Importance of the Discovery

• Evolution theory launched a major search for “the missing link”

• Piltdown Man met theoretical expectations:– Brain size similar to human– Jaws similar to ape

• First major British palaeo-anthropological discovery


Exposure of the Hoax

• Piltdown man didn’t fit with the following findings (e.g. Peking man– Homo erectus)

• New dating techniques available around 1940 -fluorine tests- showed bones more recent – Cranium – human (± 1300 AD)

– Jaw – Orangutan (± 1500 AD)


Why Piltdown Man lived so long?

• Scientific Credentials of the Discovery team• Primitive Analytical Tools available at the

time• Excellent skill of forgery (Gee, H; In Nature

381, 1996)• Matched with what was expected from

theory• Hoax led charmed life.



Evolution is a Fraud!Interpretations of Piltdown Case

• Creationists:– Piltdown shows how Evolution science is fake– Missing link doesn’t exist (online source, <http://www.pathlights.com>)

• Criticism: Ideological; disqualifies theory based on one case

• Evolutionists:– Piltdown shows how science will develop its own course

despite fraud – Man’s evolution is still a fact: other discoveries confirm

theory (Carroll, online source, <http://skepdic.com/piltdown>)

• Criticism: Deterministic view of development of science


Conclusions1. Development of science is dependent on available techniques.2. In the Piltdown case, early evidence of fraud was neglected

because scientific community eagerly wanted to find the “missing link”.

Piltdown Hoax doesn’t prove science right or wrong: shows it as a human activity, dependent on contemporary means.


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Piltdown Man How fake fossils can be interpreted by different Social Groups Presentation by Marit Heideman and Renato Ponciano