The Greatest Scientific Hoax of the Century.

A missing link to the human evolutionary tree has been discovered.  It was a revolutionary discovery that completely changed the way we look at our phylogenetic tree.  The new creature has been named and placed on the tree where scientists can agree where it belongs,  but it took years to complete because there was so much controversy over the new species discovered, like whether it was real or not.  The human ancestor has caused complete uproar because it was discovered in a highly religious age, creating tension between scientists and religious leaders.  The primitive creature has been determined to exist around 500,000 years ago, long before humans existed and was named Eoanthropus dawsoni, and was given the nickname “Piltdown man”.  It immediately became a worldwide phenomenon. 

Piltdown man was an extremely well thought out hoax, but the mastermind behind it is still unknown. In a quiet town in England in the early 1900s, Charles Dawson, an amateur naturalist, strolled by a quarry and discovered a skull.  He began his research and gained many followers in the scientific community because of this skull and also a few jaw bones and teeth discovered in a nearby area.  Many could not believe Piltdown man was real, so research was constantly being conducted to unveil the hoax, but Dawson became a rich and famous man from his discovery.  Eventually, long after Dawson's death, from the use of modern dating techniques, Piltdown man was named a hoax: the greatest scientific hoax of the century.