Piltdown Man Hoax

1.) In the year 1912, in a village in England named Piltdown, a shocking discovery was made. An amateur archeologist named Charles Dawson discovered a piece of a human skull and a piece of what appeared to be an ancient human jaw. He recruited geologist Arthur Smith Woodward and French paleontologist Father Pierre Tayard to help dig in the same spot where he discovered the jaw to see if they were any other fossils. His findings were eventually known as the Piltdown Man. When Dawson's findings were revealed, the scientific community was happy and excited. Scientists were pleased that England could possibly have a fossil of one of the first ancient humans. Since Arthur Woodward was a prestigious geologist, everyone believed the piltdown man to be real. An anatomist Arthur Keith also endorsed the Piltdown Man since it justified his theory on evolution. Scientists were happy that the "missing link" between primates and humans had possibly been discovered.
     After World War 2, new scientific advances had been made. In 1949, scientists were able to measure the fluoride inside the fossils to date them. The Piltdown Man fossils were measured and discovered to be dated only 100,000 years ago instead of millions. In 1953, scientists were able to perform a full scale dating analysis which proved the fossils to only be 100 years old. Scientists also discovered the jaw was really that of a female orangutan. Pieces of the skull and jaw had been cut off purposely with a steel knife so that it could not be recognized as a primate fossil. The teeth on the jaw also had been filed down. The fossil along with other artifacts were also artificially stained. It was proven that Dawson had forged this fossil and other fossils he had discovered all because he wanted the scientific prestige. Charles Dawson tricked Arthur Woodward into believing that the fossil was that of an ancient human. The scientific community was shocked and disappointed that they had all been tricked. 

2.) There were a couple of human faults that came into play in the Piltdown Man hoax. People thought of scientists as having prestige so no one ever dared question them. Although, there was a good amount of evidence proving that this may be an ancient human, people still doubted it. They were too scared to challenge a scientist though and therefore did not say anything. Woodward believed Dawson and did not question anything. This negatively effected the scientific process because no one felt the need to experiment to prove that these fossils were that of an ancient human. Everyone was too excited and acted on emotion rather than think and use the scientific process.

3.) The process of dating fossils by measuring the fluoride inside them was a huge scientific advancement. It also played a huge role in figuring out the the Piltdown Man fossils were only 100 years old instead of millions of years old. Scientists were also too see where the jaw and skull had been cut with a steel knife and that the teeth had been filed down. Another positive aspect of the scientific process was scientists being able to see that jaw and other artifacts had been artificially stained to make them appear older than they really are.

4.) I do not believe it is possible to remove the "human" factor from science to reduce the chance of errors. Scientists are humans and humans come with many emotions, feelings, and we all think differently. Even if a scientist is thinking strictly scientifically, he/she still has feelings and it is impossible to function without them. I would not want to remove the human factor from science. I believe that many theories and discoveries have been made based on someone having a "certain feeling" about something. We are not robots and we will always have certain emotions and feelings, I think that some of these actually aid scientists in doing their jobs.

5.) There are many important lessons you can learn from this hoax, but there is one that is the most important of all; Regarding science, even if you trust this person completely, you must provide solid evidence and experiment to make sure that your/their discovery/idea/theory/etc is completely true. If there is something that doesn't quite add up, then don't be afraid to speak up and question it. The scientific method is there to help justify your observation so use it, even if you're using it to justify someone else's observation.

Homologus and Analogous

Michelle Vasquez

Anthropology 101

11/08/12

1. a. Two species that posses the homologous trait are dogs and whales.

b. The homologous trait that the dog and whale posses are the bones in their flipper/feet. Both the flipper and feet have similar bone structures and even have the same bones (phalanges.) However, dogs and whales use this trait extremely differently. Dogs use their feet to walk, run, dig, etc. Whales use their flippers to swim in their water home. Although they share similar bones and bone structure they both use them for entirely different things and do not even live in the same habitat.

c. The common ancestor of the dog and whale is known as the mesonychidae. This animal walked on land and had the similar bones and bone structure that the dog and whale posses today. Some of the ancestors of the mesonychidae branched off to go live in the water while others stayed on land. The ones in the water eventually evolved into whales and the ones on land evolved into dogs.

d. Dogs:

Whales: 

2. a. Two species that posses the analogous trait are sharks and dolphins.

b. The analogous trait these species share are their body shapes, fins, and flippers. These traits show similarities because both species have the same body shape that helps them swim through the water. Their fins and flippers also aid them in swimming and being able to move around. Even though they are from two completely different species, they have similar traits that help them move around in the water.

c. No, the dolphin and the shark do have a common ancestor that posses this analogous trait. Shark ancestors have been hard to find because they have cartilage so their bones do not fossilize. Sharks have pretty much looked the same throughout time. Dolphin’s ancestors actually walked on land and gradually moved to the water.

    

      d. Shark: 

          Dolphin: 

DNA Strand

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