1.
The story of the Piltdown man began in 1912 in a
southern English town in a small village called Piltdown. The guy responsible
for this research is Charles Dawson. He claimed to have found a piece of a
human ancient skull. One of the controversies with this findings was that this
piece of the skull resembled that of an ancient ape not a human. It gave many
people doubts with just this finding but as time went on Dawson and his team
found more pieces to the skull that made most people hesitant to publicly criticize
any of Dawson’s work. Another odd fact was that after Dawson had died there was
no other fossils to be found in Piltdown. However, there was more findings in
other countries like Asia and Africa. Many people questioned if Piltdown man
was a legit part in human evolution. After better technology arose they found
the Piltdown fossil to be skewered with. One example the video mentions was
that the teeth of the fossil was cut down to have the same size teeth.
2.
It seems that Dawson was trying to make his mark
in human evolution. His curiosity, creativity, and persistency is
unquestionable but his motives here were a bit unfair to the people around him
and the outlook on human evolution. It goes back to the earlier chapters where
we discussed human opinion in scientific research. It’s a great deal to learn
about how things were formed and when they were formed but when scientist have
more personal ideas on these things then it’s hard to validate research on
human evolution.
3.
As time went on better research methods were
made specifically technological improvements. Scientists were able to put this Piltdown
skull under review and learn more about it’s coming. The persistent research of
scientist also led to other corrupt findings made by Dawson.
4. I don’t think the human factor should be removed
from science. When researching human evolution there has to be a human
perspective to help guide most findings.
5.
I think its important that we pass on valid
information in anything we do. The reality is that most people if not all are
not overly concerned with someone’s opinion but maybe a premise to based their
own opinion on. We should always make sure there are valid resources before we
agree with something.
Although science was tainted by the hoax, the persistence of other scientist to prove or falsify the findings proves science is mostly verifiable. The human factor allows for individuals to utilize their knowledge to agree or doubt findings. This factor then contributes to questions and tools to verify what has been presented as fact. Great post.
ReplyDeleteA little more detail was needed on the fossil find itself. The skull was actually very human-like (and it turned out to be a relatively recent human skull after the hoax was uncovered) but the jaw was more like a non-human ape (and turned out to be an orangutan jaw). Who else was involved with this discovery?
ReplyDeleteWhat was the significance of this find? What would it have taught us about the process of human evolution, had it been valid? Why was this find particularly important to British scientists?
I like your discussion on the motivations behind the perpetrators creating the hoax (since we don't really know who did it). But that is only where part of the blame lies. The scientific community also bears some blame for failing to receive this find with the level of scrutiny it deserved. Why did these scientists fail to do their jobs? What faults might have encouraged this choice on their part?
More information needed in the section of the positive aspects of science. What technology was used to uncover the hoax? How many years later was the hoax uncovered? And aside from the technology, what aspects of the process of science itself helped to uncover the hoax? Why were scientists still studying this fossil so many years after it was discovered?
"When researching human evolution there has to be a human perspective to help guide most findings. "
While I agree, this needed to be explained more fully.
Good life lesson.
The Piltdown Hoax was definitely a dark time in the history of science. Imagine at the time, most people probably thought that what was found was a radical breakthrough in the field of science. Of course, when it was proved to be a hoax there were some people that were very devastated. However, I believe in science we have learned a valuable lesson. Authenticity of scientific data is extremely important and no longer will we accept anything as being fact without some sort of analysis.
ReplyDelete"The reality is that most people if not all are not overly concerned with someone’s opinion but maybe a premise to based their own opinion on."
ReplyDeleteGreat comment, I think you're right because maybe the conditions were perfect for this hoax to be accepted so quickly the way that it was The British scientific community wanted so badly for it to be true because of their own patriotism and their desire to compete against surrounding countries. Their selfish opinions clouded their judgement and allowed for them to accept false evidence as truth.
Your comment is especially true of Arthur Keith, who had the biggest motive to accept the Piltdown fossils because it validated his own theory that the human's evolved bigger brains before evolving the ability to walk upright. If he was not personally involved in the hoax, then he may have just been blinded by what the findings had to offer his own hypotheses about human evolution.