Piltdown Man Skull 1912 Fraud BH-014
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Piltdown Man Skull 1912 Fraud. This skull is a replica of Dawson's so-called "Dawn Man," which had been unearthed in a gravel pit at Piltdown near Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson in 1912. The find consisted of a modern appearing cranium, with a modern sized brain, combined with a primitive apelike jaw, and was found near the teeth of extinct animals dated at 5 million years old. For 40 years the skull bones of "Dawn Man" were considered genuine and hindered understanding of human evolution by supporting the biased view that a large brain led the evolutionary way toward modern humans. By 1953, the application of fluorine analysis and the work of two anatomists and an archeologist exposed Piltdown Man as a hoax. The "find" turned out to be a modern appearing human cranium and the mandible of a modern orangutan, buried along with the bones of the extinct animals. Unfortunately, this hoax misdirected anthropologists for some time, contributing to the original rejection of the Taung Child (which had a jaw of human-like features and an ape-sized brain, a reversal of the pattern observed in English Piltdown Man) and also suggesting that pre-sapiens existed in Europe, a view which has since been discredited. The black portions of the skull indicate the "original" find. The rest is a recreation commissioned by Bone Clones® in 2000. Custom Display Stand available below.

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Piltdown Man Skull Stand, S-BH-014 $35.00 Order This / View Your Cart Shown here is a typical stand having a metal base and rod with a resin cradle, coated with thin rubber to prevent scratching and damage to paint on skull. Please note that the cradle is custom made for each different specimen. Color and shape may vary from the sample shown.