The Earliest Englishman - a 1948 book about Piltdown

UnrepentantSinner · 8th March 2012, 02:17 AM

A very interesting read, especially in light of what we now know.

http://www.clarku.edu/~piltdown/map_...t_english.html

I was made aware of this work via a Creationist quote mine that, when taken in context, belies the myth that all of anthropology and paleontology were smitten with Piltdown from "discovery" to exposure.

Quote mine:
"I am firmly convinced that no theory of human evolution can be regarded as satisfactory unless the revelations of Piltdown are taken into account.” The Earliest Englishman (1948) p.xii

More context:
[xii] Of the various honours which have fallen to my lot none has touched me more deeply than that which Smith Woodward paid to me in the summer of 1938. He had resolved to erect a monument at Piltdown to mark the site of discovery and to keep green the memory of his friend, Charles Dawson. He invited me to unveil the monument and I gladly accepted the invitation. 2

The Piltdown enigma is still far from a final solution. At this present moment I find Dr. Franz Weidenreich, who has won a just mead of praise for his restoration of the ancient men of Java and of China, rejecting the Piltdown fossils as authentic documents, so much are they out of keeping with his theory of human evolution. 3 On the other hand I am firmly convinced that no theory of human evolution can be regarded as satisfactory unless the revelations of Piltdown are taken into account. In amplification of this statement I may cite a recent experience of my own.
----

This is an introduction by Sir Arthur Keith and he goes on to describe reconfiguring the Piltdown parts in light of a discovery at Mount Carmel Israel whereby the Piltdown cranium seems to match better. That's not surprising since the finds by Dorothy Garrod in the 1930s were of Neanderthal and anatomically modern humans - and as we all know the Piltdown cranium as the latter.

dlorde · 8th March 2012, 04:58 AM

My first job post-graduation, was working in the Medical Research Council Environmental Physiology Unit under Joseph Weiner, in the Dept. of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. It was Joe Weiner, who, with Kenneth Oakley, helped expose the fraud:

Quote:

In 1953, Joseph Weiner, an Oxford professor of physical anthropology, met Kenneth Oakley at a banquet. They got chatting about the Piltdown puzzle and Weiner couldn't get it out of his mind. He had reports on the research and casts of the fossils and began examining each minutely. He was amazed to see that the fossil teeth seemed to have been deliberately ground down with something abrasive to give them a unique wear pattern. He called Oakley, who had access to the real fossils and asked him to look at them with a magnifier. He too became convinced the teeth had been purposely changed to fit the Piltdown Man. Weiner and Oakley now undertook new chemical analyses, including an improved fluorine test, and found that the jaw and teeth were not the same age as the skull and were not even fossils, just old bones. Some of the bones had been stained with chemicals and some with ordinary paint to make them match each other and the color of the soil where they were found. Weiner, Oakley, and Oxford anthropologist Wilfrid Le Gros Clark were now certain that the Piltdown fossil collection was a fake, and not just that, but a hoax.
A Science Odyssey

Nice bloke.

8th March 2012, 02:17 AM	#1
UnrepentantSinner A post by Alan Smithee Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USAian is not a word Posts: 26,349	The Earliest Englishman - a 1948 book about Piltdown A very interesting read, especially in light of what we now know. http://www.clarku.edu/~piltdown/map_...t_english.html I was made aware of this work via a Creationist quote mine that, when taken in context, belies the myth that all of anthropology and paleontology were smitten with Piltdown from "discovery" to exposure. Quote mine: "I am firmly convinced that no theory of human evolution can be regarded as satisfactory unless the revelations of Piltdown are taken into account.” The Earliest Englishman (1948) p.xii More context: [xii] Of the various honours which have fallen to my lot none has touched me more deeply than that which Smith Woodward paid to me in the summer of 1938. He had resolved to erect a monument at Piltdown to mark the site of discovery and to keep green the memory of his friend, Charles Dawson. He invited me to unveil the monument and I gladly accepted the invitation. 2 The Piltdown enigma is still far from a final solution. At this present moment I find Dr. Franz Weidenreich, who has won a just mead of praise for his restoration of the ancient men of Java and of China, rejecting the Piltdown fossils as authentic documents, so much are they out of keeping with his theory of human evolution. 3 On the other hand I am firmly convinced that no theory of human evolution can be regarded as satisfactory unless the revelations of Piltdown are taken into account. In amplification of this statement I may cite a recent experience of my own. ---- This is an introduction by Sir Arthur Keith and he goes on to describe reconfiguring the Piltdown parts in light of a discovery at Mount Carmel Israel whereby the Piltdown cranium seems to match better. That's not surprising since the finds by Dorothy Garrod in the 1930s were of Neanderthal and anatomically modern humans - and as we all know the Piltdown cranium as the latter.
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8th March 2012, 04:58 AM	#2
dlorde Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,646	My first job post-graduation, was working in the Medical Research Council Environmental Physiology Unit under Joseph Weiner, in the Dept. of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. It was Joe Weiner, who, with Kenneth Oakley, helped expose the fraud: Quote: In 1953, Joseph Weiner, an Oxford professor of physical anthropology, met Kenneth Oakley at a banquet. They got chatting about the Piltdown puzzle and Weiner couldn't get it out of his mind. He had reports on the research and casts of the fossils and began examining each minutely. He was amazed to see that the fossil teeth seemed to have been deliberately ground down with something abrasive to give them a unique wear pattern. He called Oakley, who had access to the real fossils and asked him to look at them with a magnifier. He too became convinced the teeth had been purposely changed to fit the Piltdown Man. Weiner and Oakley now undertook new chemical analyses, including an improved fluorine test, and found that the jaw and teeth were not the same age as the skull and were not even fossils, just old bones. Some of the bones had been stained with chemicals and some with ordinary paint to make them match each other and the color of the soil where they were found. Weiner, Oakley, and Oxford anthropologist Wilfrid Le Gros Clark were now certain that the Piltdown fossil collection was a fake, and not just that, but a hoax. A Science Odyssey Nice bloke.
dlorde Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,646	__________________ Simple probability tells us that we should expect coincidences, and simple psychology tells us that we'll remember the ones we notice...