Piltdown Hoax Collection

Piltdown forgery meeting
Meeting to present the extent of the forgery at the Geological Society of London at Burlington House on 30 June 1954

Geologists at Piltdown
Geologists Association party visiting the pit at Piltdown on 12 July 1913

Martin Alister Campbell Hinton (1883-1961)
Portrait of Martin Alister Campbell Hinton, a zoologist and keeper of zoology at the British Museum (Natural History). From Piltdown, A Scientific Forgery

The Piltdown man excavation site
Excavation at Piltdown c. 1913 with Cyril Woodward showing scale

The Piltdown (Skull) Gravel Pit
The site where the Pitdown specimens were claimed to have been discovered (1912-1915). Photograph believed to have been taken during the winter of 1913

Barkham Avenue, Piltdown, Sussex
View looking down the drive c. 1912, including from left to right, Venus Hargreaves, Arthur Smith Woodward (with the goose Chipper), Charles Dawson, and Robert Kenward Snr

Searching for the Piltdown Man

Excavations at Piltdown circa 1913
Charles Dawson (left) and Dr A Smith Woodward (right)

Workers at Piltdown

Homo sapiens cranium (Piltdown 1)
Two pieces that represent the Piltdown 1 cranium held at The Natural History Museum, London. This specimen was reported as being discovered at Piltdown

Piltdown Stegodon tooth
Piltdown, Sussex item E.620, part of a molar tooth of the extinct mammal Stegodon, of the Pliocene to the Pleistocene epochs. Held at the Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown Mastodon tooth
Piltdown, Sussex item E.622, edge view of molar of the extinct mammal Mastodon. Held at the Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown flake implement
Piltdown, Sussex item E.612 held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown flints
Collection of Piltdown flints held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown Eolithic flint
Piltdown, Sussex item E.614 held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown rolled flake
Piltdown, Sussex item E.613 held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown flint implement
Piltdown, Sussex item E.605 held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown Palaeolith flint
Piltdown, Sussex item E.685 held at The Natural History Museum, London

Equus sp. horse
Upper molar tooth from a species of the Equus genus. Item E. 602 of the animal fossil specimens found at Piltdown, Sussex, 1912-15, held at the Natural History Museum, London

Castor fiber, Eurasian beaver
Lower molar tooth of a Eurasian beaver. Item E. 603 of the animal fossil specimens found at Piltdown, Sussex, 1912-15, held at the Natural History Museum, London

Echinocarys, echinoid hoax
A hoax fossil echinoid found at Piltdown, Sussex. Specimen now held at the Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown memorial
July 1938, Sir Arthur Smith Woodward next to the memorial marking the site of the discovery of the Piltdown skull by Charles Dawson. Photograph loaned to Museum by Charles Taylor Trechmann

Professor J. S. Weiner
Pretoria born scientist who became Reader in Physical Anthropology at Oxford. In 1953 he famously exposed the Piltdown Man as a fraud

Piltdown 1 jaw
Left lateral view of Piltdown 1 jaw. Held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown 1 jaw and Piltdown 2 left molar
Occlusal view of Piltdown 1 jaw with Piltdown 2 left molar. Held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown 1 cranium
Five pieces that represent the Piltdown 1 cranium (not including jaw). Held at The Natural History Museum, London

Piltdown 1 molar
Scanning electron microscope view of molar surface showing scratch marks

Piltdown skull
Three-quarter view of model reconstruction of the Piltdown skull

Excavations at Piltdown c. 1913
Arthur Smith Woodward and the Abbe Henri Breuil at Piltdown

Homo sapiens molars (Piltdown 1)
Examination of the Piltdown dentition revealed that the molars which had been claimed to have been discovered in 1913 were abraded to make them appear older. They were in fact molars from an Orangutan

Piltdown 1 molars
Examination of the Piltdown dentition revealed that the molars which had been claimed to have been discovered in 1913 were abraded to make them appear older. They were in fact molars from an Orangutan

Harry Morris Flint

Arthur Keith (1866-1955)
Portrait of Arthur Keith, a Scottish anatomist and anthropologist, in 1912. In 1935 he re-evaluated his 1914 interpretation of the Piltdown fossil

Piltdown Man (Model based on Piltdown 1 & 2)

Barkham Manor drive, Piltdown
View looking down Barkham Manor drive, c. 1930, with Woodward in the foreground. This photograph is believed to have been taken by Lady Woodward or her daughter Mrs Margaret Hodgson

Piltdown cricket bat
Side view of sharpened piece of elephant thighbone, presented as a digging implement. Commonly referred to as the Piltdown cricket bat. Held at The Natural History Museum, London

Barkham Manor, Piltdown
The Barkham Manor Piltdown I site, c. 1912, from vantage point due east of the manor house

Preliminary flourine test of the Piltdown remains in 1949
Dr Kenneth Oakley discussing with Mr L. E. Parsons (right) where the mandible of Piltdown man could be sampled with the least risk of damage

Piltdown 1 jaw with Piltdown 2 molar

Still Searching At Piltdown
A general impression of the Piltdown Gravel Pit, East Sussex c. 1913, with the goose Chipper, and from left to right, Venus Hargreaves, Arthur Smith Woodward, Charles Dawson

Cranium and mandible (Piltdown 1 & 2)
Piltdown man cranium and mandible as reconstructed on the left by Dr. A Smith Woodward and on the right by Professor Arthur Keith

Piltdown bone implement (cricket bat)
Several views of a single specimen. Plate XIV, Dawson & Woodward, 1915

Sir Arthur Keith at the Piltdown memorial
July 22 1938, Sir Arthur Keith unveiling the memorial marking the site of the discovery of the Piltdown skull by Charles Dawson. Photograph loaned to Museum by Charles Taylor Trechmann

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