Piltdown Hoax Blog Post
1. The Piltdown Hoax was a fossil in which the bone fragments were presented as remains of an unknown early human being. It was first discovered in 1912, but then shown to be a hoax in 1953. The Piltdown Hoax was originally founded by amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson as he was digging up at a gravel pit in Sussex, England. The scientific significance of the hoax was that it presumed a hominid's skull and jaw, which originated from both the human and ape species. The Piltdown Hoax taught us that there was a connection between both apes and human beings.
2. We have to remember that all scientists are human, and that it could be very possible for them to make mistakes and errors. Even though some may be unintentional, mistakes will be made. Us humans are not programmed like machines and robots. We cannot be perfect. Mistakes could also be made by believing in thing that may not always be right. There are moments where we can be so passionate and motivated by a thought or idea, to where it can lead us to making the wrong decision. In this scenario, human faults could have been a huge possibility. There is a reason the Piltdown Hoax was recognized to be a hoax 41 years after it was discovered. Another example of human faults could be that scientists could have been too driven to assume that this hoax was linked to both apes and humans. I am sure that the incentive of money had a huge part of achieving this goal of finding out what the Piltdown Hoax truly was. This could have easily thrown some scientists off, because of how eager they were to research this artifact. Another fault that I want to bring up is that the hoax was found to be a fraud. Again, eagerness and desire could have played a huge part in this.
3. Around the year of 1949, new technologies came along the way. Dr. Kenneth Oakley discovered that the Piltdown Hoax's remains were only 50,000 years old and not older. This lead to the idea that the hoax was a fraud and that it was fake. Biological anthropologist Dr Joseph Weiner, as well as human anatomist Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, both agreed to help Dr. Oakley with further tests of the hoax. They later discovered that the skull and jaw fragments of the hoax came from both the apes and human species, as mentioned previously above.
4. I believe that it is possible to remove the human factor of science to reduce the amount of errors made. With all the complex technology that we have today , it is possible for machines to do the research of anything when it comes to science. Do I think that we should remove the human aspect when it comes to science? I would say no, don't remove it. Even though there may be risks of making errors, I still believe that the human factor of science, is what makes findind new discoveries so special and exciting. So I would say no, just because it wouldn't feel special researching the discoveries to come.
5. One lesson that I could take from this historical event, is that no matter how much we humans have and will evolve, there will always be margin for mistake. Historical events like the Piltdown Hoax have taught us to me more careful with our research, but some things will never change. In this case, the thing that will never change is being human, and that is okay.
A little short on information in your synopsis. This section was worth the most points, so more detail should have been provided. How was the fossil found? Who else was involved? Can you describe the fossil bones themselves? What was the response to the discovery by the scientific community? Why did it take so long to uncover the hoax and how was it uncovered? By whom? What else was going on during this time period which may help us understand why this was accepted by the scientific community and why it was eventually re-tested? Expand.
ReplyDelete"The scientific significance of the hoax was that it presumed a hominid's skull and jaw, which originated from both the human and ape species."
This is not the "significance". This is just claims made about the fossil itself. Furthermore, remember that humans *are* apes, so this statement doesn't make any sense.
So the issue of significance remains, and providing more detail might have helped you here. Piltdown was characterized by large cranium combined with other more primitive, non-human traits, suggesting that the larger brains evolved relatively early in hominid evolutionary process. We now know this to be incorrect, that bipedalism evolved much earlier with larger brains evolving later, but Piltdown suggested that the "larger brains" theory, supported by Arthur Keith (one of the Piltdown scientists) was accurate.
In your "fault" section, don't confuse "mistakes" with "human faults". Humans do make mistakes, but the problem here was intentionally misleading the scientific community. That isn't a "mistake". So what faults led to this? Greed (you mention money) and ambition might come into play here, but how about the scientific community? Why did they accept this find so readily without proper scrutiny? What might have inspired them (particularly the British scientists) to not do their jobs properly when it came to this particular fossil?
" that scientists could have been too driven to assume that this hoax was linked to both apes and humans."
Again, since this statement isn't accurate, it wouldn't have come into play here.
Good discussion of the technology used to uncover the hoax, but what made scientists come back and retest Piltdown? What was happening in paleoanthropology in those 40 years that pushed them to re-examine this find? What aspect of science does that represent?
"I believe that it is possible to remove the human factor of science to reduce the amount of errors made."
Okay, but again, we aren't talking about "errors" here. This is about deliberate intent to mislead the scientific community. And is it really impossible to remove human faults from the process of science? Could we even do science without the curiosity in humans that push them to ask those initial questions? Or their ingenuity to create tests of their hypotheses? Or the intuition that helps them draw connections and conclusions from disparate pieces of information? Humans don't just make science "special and exciting". They make it possible.
Good life lesson.
Dear Nerses,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. It was filled with lots of information that I did not know before. One thing that I really liked was how you were straight to the point in answering your questions with facts and supporting evidence to your statements. Great job and keep up the great work!
-Emma Remnant.