A skull was found in the English county if Sussex in 1908. It appeared to be closely related to a human's, but the jaw appeared to be very ape-like, and its discoverer, Charle Dawson, hurried home with his find and began some research. Over the years, Dawson gained many followers who strongly believed Piltdown man was a missing ancestor of humans. But of course with followers comes those who deny it. The people against Dawson ranged from the religious community to his fellow scientists who believed this discovery was too good to be true.
Many of his followers were world renowned scientists, so the oppositions against Piltdown man began to slim, except for the Americans. American scientists refused to believe that there was the possibility of human ancestors in Europe, but none in America. At the time, no one knew where humans actually originated (which was in Africa), so there was much dispute among different countries because they all wanted the origin of humans to be from their homeland. Americans believed humans originated in America, so therefore Piltdown man had to have been a hoax.
Years later, in 1953, long after Charles Dawson passed away, Piltdown man was indeed discovered to be a fraud. It turns out, the skull of the creature was a human skull and the jaw of an orangutan that were both artificially aged. They were dropped near each other into a gravel pit left to be discovered.
To this day, the mastermind behind this hoax remains unknown, but many believe it was the discoverer of Piltdown man, Charles Dawson, that forged this "scientific breakthrough".
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