Piltdown Hoax

The Piltdown hoax is one of the most known scientific hoaxes of all time. In 1912, Charles Dawson, a paleontologist had contacted Arthur Woodward about findings of what could be human ancestor skull bones that Dawson had dug up. Other countries had their own skull structures and when the Piltdown Man was discovered was right after these countries already had theirs. In that same year, 1912, was when the rest of the parts were found that formed a skull for the Piltdown Man. However, years later it was discovered that the Piltdown Man was a fraud. It was actually the skull of a female orangutan whose skull was broken apart, and teeth were filed down. Forty years later the truth was found out but no one knows exactly who is responsible for the hoax itself. There are many suspects but no one knows exactly who is fully responsible for falsification of the so called "piltdown man". The remains were only about 100 years old and not even human related. The human faults that came into place in this situation would be self pride, and the fact that these people truly thought no one would notice that it was a fraud. Self pride i believe was the human fault that played the biggest role because other countries had found skulls and bones and i feel that the paleontologists of England felt like this was a race and that they needed to prove they too found remains of ancestors in their country as well to not be left behind and to look smart as well. Also, i think that whoever is fully responsible for the hoax, truly thought no one would find out the truth about the situation, when in fact people did find out the truth. Positive aspects of the scientific process that helped reveal the skull was a fraud would be the technology improvements that were made. The fact that the microscopes could detect that the teeth were filed down was a big help. As well as the chemical improvements such as being able to check the skull remains and examine them carefully with the lab materials. I think people don't have to necessarily remove the "human" factor to reduce chances of errors instead i think people should be honest and do their work able to be supported by facts, tested, and proven  that they are true. What I learned from this historical event regarding taking information from unverified sources is that as humans, we are gullible. Sometimes not intentionally but we do believe what people say and do without facts and i think we need to start to have facts and test what people tell us is correct and prove it for ourselves in order to not be as gullible.