Charles Dawson

In 1889, Dawson was a co-founder of the Hastings and St Leonards Museum Association, one of the first voluntary museum friends' groups organised in Britain. Dawson worked on a voluntary basis as a member of the Museum Committee, in charge of the acquisition of artifacts and historical documents.^[2] His interest in archaeology developed and he had an uncanny knack for making spectacular discoveries, leading The Sussex Daily News to name him the "Wizard of Sussex".^[4]

In 1893, Dawson investigated a curious flint mine full of prehistoric, Roman and medieval artifacts in the Lavant Caves, near Chichester, and probed two tunnels beneath Hastings Castle.^[2] In the same year, he presented the British Museum with a Roman statuette from Beauport Park that was made, uniquely for the period, of cast iron. Other discoveries followed, including a strange form of hafted Neolithic stone axe and a well-preserved ancient timber boat.^[4]

He analysed ancient quarries, re-examined the

In appreciation for the donation of fossils Dawson provided to the British Museum, he was given the title of 'Honorary Collector' and in 1885, he was elected a fellow of the Geological Society as a result of his numerous discoveries. He was then elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1895. He was now Charles Dawson F.G.S., F.S.A at the age of 31, without a university degree to his name. Dawson died without receiving a knighthood.^[2]

His most famous 'find' was the 1912 discovery of the Piltdown Man which was billed as the "missing link" between humans and other great apes. Following his death in 1916, no further 'discoveries' were made at Piltdown.^[5] Questions about the Piltdown find were raised from the beginning, first by Arthur Keith, but also by palaeontologists and anatomists from the United States and Europe. Defence of the fossils was led by Arthur Smith Woodward at the Natural History Museum in London. The debate was rancorous at times and the response to those disputing the finds often became personally abusive. Challenges to Piltdown Man arose again in the 1920s, but were again dismissed.^[4]

Posthumous analysis

In 1949, further questions were raised about the Piltdown Man and its authenticity, which led to the conclusive demonstration that Piltdown was a hoax in 1953. Since then, a number of Dawson's other finds have also been shown to be forged or planted.^[4][6]

In 2003,

Dawson claimed to have discovered a collection of fossils that have been dug up in Piltdown, Sussex, including an ape-like jawbone and a human-like skull. However, after his death, it was proven that the remains were evidently forged. For years, the creator of these remains was unknown, though it was then determined, through a meticulous inspection of his finds and collections, that Charles Dawson was most likely responsible for this forgery.^[2]

Unmasking the hoax

As more human fossils were discovered, it appeared that they had little similarities with the Piltdown Man.

Revealing the forger

Most agree that the Piltdown Man was forged by a single individual, and that this was most probably Charles Dawson. Dawson was the suspected perpetrator in this hoax for many reasons. First, Dawson had previous history of deception: he was responsible for about 38 forgeries, plagiarized a historical account of Hastings Castle, and had pretended to act on behalf of the Sussex Archeological Society. However, most people were unaware of this.^[11] Second, he was majorly involved in the Piltdown findings. He initiated the story of the Piltdown finds and was the one who contacted Woodward about them.^[5] He was the sole person to have seen the Piltdown II site and never disclosed the facts about this site; the fact that the techniques used to create both Piltdown I and Piltdown II were so similar suggests a single forger.^[12] Also, he was the only person present at every discovery; nothing was ever discovered at the site when he was not physically present and no other fossils were found after he died. Third, not only did he have access to the museum and antiquarian shops that carried these objects, he was also a popular collector, an amazing networker, and knew what the British scientific community expected in a missing link between apes and humans.^[5]

It has been suggested that Dawson's motive for this forgery had been his strong desire for scientific recognition and to join the archeological Royal Society. Between 1883 and 1909, Dawson wrote 50 publications though none were important enough to elevate his career. In 1909, he wrote a letter to Smith Woodward, with an unhappy heart, saying that he wanted to uncover a significant discovery though he never seemed to come across one. Just six weeks later, Dawson's wife wrote a letter to the Home Secretary, pleading on behalf of Dawson's expertise. Sorrowful that he never unearthed a major discovery, he created the Piltdown Man which resulted in his election to the Royal Society.^[5]

Although there is not a substantial amount of evidence, many believe that he received aid from other experts such as