In the centenary year of the discovery of the hoax, Dr Miles Russell, Senior Lecturer in prehistoric and Roman Archaeology has spoken to the Observer about the Piltdown Man.
Between 1908 and 1912 human skull fragments, an ape-like jaw and flints were found close to the Sussex village of Piltdown. The discovery was, at the time, the most sensational archaeological find ever, the ‘missing link’ that proved Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Forty-one years after he first became famous, the “Earliest Englishman” was unveiled as a hoax. The whole discovery had been part of an elaborate and complex archaeological forgery.
Dr Russell will be speaking at a Centenary conference in September and also at the Geological Society in December about the hoax, and sharing his views about the conspiracy theories that surround the find. His book Piltdown Man: The Secret Life of Charles Dawson will also be re-released to co-inside with the 100 year anniversary of the archaeological hoax
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