“HOW’S THAT FOR HEIDELBERG?” CHARLES DAWSON AND A PILTDOWN MAN CENTENARY

Piltdown Man was the most notable forgery in 20^th Century paleoanthropology. It was first published as Eoanthropus dawsoni Woodward in 1913 and the falsification only uncovered to 1953. Despite published suggestions, commonly based on the flimsiest of evidence, concerning the postulated involvement by various scientists and others, the only certain forger was the amateur geologist Charles Dawson (1864-1916), who died almost 100 years ago. Dawson either ‘found’ or was present at the discovery of every fragment of Piltdown Man.

Few have appreciated the skill of Dawson’s deception; he did much more than merely provide cranial and jaw material that fitted in with prevalent theories. He chose the type locality well (= Piltdown I), on private land and at Barkham Manor in East Sussex, southern England, which to this day is not generally accessible. Dawson had ostracized himself from the local community of amateur collectors, who were the group most likely to collect the site without supervision. The finds were presented for description to the leading paleontologist in the British Isles, Arthur Smith Woodward, whose expertise was in the anatomy and classification of the lower vertebrates, not hominins. Thus, the two leading paleoanthropological experts in London, Arthur Keith and Grafton Elliott Smith, did not have continuous access to the specimens and wasted their energies debating theoretical issues. Dawson provided only minimal field data of the spurious Piltdown II site at Sheffield Park and its precise ‘locality’ was never revealed. And Dawson was certainly not the paragon of care and accuracy that was recorded after his death.