The inaugural seminar of this year’s CAHO seminar series: Piltdown; Nationalism, Human Origins and the Faking of the Earliest Englishman
Date: 26.10.2012
Time: 5PM
Speaker: Dr John McNabb (Mac)
Location: Wymer Lab (building 65a), Avenue Campus
Source: Wikipedia
This year sees the centenary of the Piltdown man. In December 1912 a tremendous discovery was announced. A fossilised human ancestor which perfectly fitted the prevailing expectations of evolutionary theory, and it was found in Sussex. What could have been more appropriate, unless it was the discovery of an ancient cricket bat – and the forger even provided that as well. This talk will concentrate on a much neglected aspect of the Piltdown forgery – the material culture. This is usually side lined in favour of the more dramatic human remains. However the bogus tools that were planted by the forger have important insights to offer into the practice of anthropology and archaeology in the post-Edwardian era.