Piltdown Man

Record summary

Piltdown Man was announced as a supposed early human ancestor after Charles Dawson presented fossil material from Sussex. The skull and jaw appeared to combine human and ape features, influencing interpretations of human evolution for decades. In 1953, chemical and anatomical examinations demonstrated that the specimens had been artificially altered and planted. The case matters for comparison because it illustrates how expectations, nationalism, museum authority and incomplete testing can sustain an archaeological fraud. The existence of the hoax and its later exposure are well established, while the precise perpetrator or perpetrators remains debated.