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The Face The Specimens The Skull Tools and Fakes The Sussex Dig
The Face

Piltdown Man went from being one of the biggest discoveries of the 20th Century to being its greatest scientific embarrassment.

On 21 November 1953, the fossils discovered 40 years earlier and acclaimed as the "missing link" between apes and humans were finally revealed to be forgeries.

Today, the word Piltdown is a term of abuse, used to label any fraudulent or shoddy research.

Click through these pages to read more about the fake hominid.

THE UNMASKING OF PILTDOWN MAN
Shocking times
Text books had to be revised
FEATURES
Fossil fools: Return to Piltdown
Charles Dawson: 'Piltdown faker'
Piltdown Man: The chief suspects
Greatest hoax: Timeline of deceit
WATCH/LISTEN
Hoaxer 'is identified'
Faking is 'still rife today'
RELATED BBCi LINKS:
Walking With Cavemen

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