On this day - 21 November
Historical items of interest as featured in the papers of the day.
Piltdown skull confirmed a fraud
In 1912 the Piltdown Man was discovered by Charles Dawson who claimed that the skull evidenced the historical link between humans and apes. 41 years later, on November 21st 1953, the Piltdown Man was proved to be a hoax. Someone had created the skull using a combination of orangutan teeth, a human skull and a modified mandible.
It is most likely that Dawson was behind the forged skull, and on further investigation a great number of his other finds were found to have been faked as well.
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