Creationists cite the Piltdown Man hoax as evidence that scientific efforts to date prehistoric material are unreliable. In the 1910's, a hoaxer or hoaxers (just who is still uncertain) placed a human skull with an ape's jaw in a gravel pit in Piltdown, near Hastings, England. The skull and jawbone were artificially stained and filed to simulate age, and fake prehistoric tools were placed with it. The find was touted as a "missing link" in the prehistory of humanity. Its spurious nature was not discovered until the 1950's. Creationists argue that if physical anthropologists can be hoaxed, and for so long, why should their contentions about other prehistoric material be accepted?
The reason such contentions should be accepted is that methods of examining items to test their age and authenticity have improved since the Piltdown Man was found. In 1910 physical anthropology was an infant science. As decades went by, anthropologists improved their craft, developing better methods of testing and examination. The Piltdown remains were re-checked and found to be fakes. Now objects thought to be possibly prehistoric are subjected to extensive chemical tests and physical inspection to ensure authenticity, procedures that weren't available in the 1910's. Scientists, not creationists, dis-authenticated Piltdown Man in the normal course of scientific work, an example of the ability of scientists to admit errors and correct themselves.
Home | Search | Meeting Program | Feedback | Skeptical Blurbs | Newsletters | Skeptical Links | Send E-mail
Copyright 1992-2005, The Association for Rational Thought