Piltdown man

(redirected from Eoanthropus dawsoni)
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Pilt·down man

 (pĭlt′doun′)
n.
A proposed species of extinct humans described from a skull uncovered in a gravel bed in England in 1912 but determined in 1953 to be a fake constructed from a human cranium and the jawbone of an orangutan.
[After Piltdown Common in southeast England.]

Piltdown man

(ˈpɪltˌdaʊn)
n
(Palaeontology) an advanced hominid postulated from fossil bones found in Sussex in 1912, but shown by modern dating methods in 1953 to be a hoax, which was perpetrated by a student museum assistant who was refused a wage

Pilt′down man`

(ˈpɪltˌdaʊn)
n.
a hypothetical early modern human whose existence was inferred from bone fragments allegedly found at Piltdown, England, in 1912 but identified as a hoax in 1953.

Piltdown man

A supposed type of primitive human being based on remains found in England in 1912, later discovered to have been a hoax.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Piltdown man - a supposedly primitive man later proven to be a hoaxPiltdown man - a supposedly primitive man later proven to be a hoax
Piltdown hoax
primitive, primitive person - a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization
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References in periodicals archive ?
Under the headline "Darwin Theory Is Proved True," the New York Times similarly concluded that Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson's dawn-man) established the case for direct human descent from simians.
Having first come to public view before the Great War, when Britain still boasted an empire she defended with gunships and cavalry, Eoanthropus dawsoni had survived to see a time of lost certainties, and the advent of the hydrogen bomb and the Space Age.
Piltdown man
Eoanthropus Dawsoni was 'excavated' in 1912 by amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson from a shallow gravel pit in Piltdown, Sussex.
Monkey puzzle: Hugh Miles assesses the significance of the Piltdown hoax, exposed fifty years ago this autumn

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