# Canonical recap data for Piltdown Man Discovered (1912)
# Source: https://recap.at/1912/piltdown-man
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: piltdown-man
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1912/piltdown-man"
title: Piltdown Man Discovered
subtitle: The alleged discovery of Piltdown Man in Sussex dominated paleoanthropology for 41 years before exposure as an elaborate hoax, reshaping scientific methodology.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1912-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1912
decade: 1910
country:
name: United Kingdom
slug: united-kingdom
summaryShort: The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although doubts about Piltdown Man's authenticity began to be expressed almost immediately after its announcement in 1912, it was still broadly accepted for many years,
summaryLong: The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although doubts about Piltdown Man's authenticity began to be expressed almost immediately after its announcement in 1912, it was still broadly accepted for many years, and the hoax was only definitively exposed in 1953. An extensive scientific review in 2016 established that the hoax had been perpetrated by amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson, apparently in pursuit of recognition from other archaeologists.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Piltdown_gang_%28dark%29.jpg/1280px-Piltdown_gang_%28dark%29.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Piltdown Man"
importance: 72
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man"
  title: Piltdown Man
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although
wikidataQid: Q244937
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260703133936/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man"
  capturedAt: 2026-07-03
  label: Piltdown Man
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man"
