Charles Dawson
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Charles Dawson (born July 11, 1864 , † August 10, 1916 ) was a British archaeologist , amateur archaeologist and geologist . He was a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London and became internationally known as the discoverer of the “Piltdown Man” : skull finds that for decades were regarded as pre -human , but ultimately turned out to be scientific forgery .
Charles Dawson collected fossils a . a. for the British Museum . Presumably as early as 1908 he discovered the skull find made public on December 18, 1912 from a gravel pit near the village of Piltdown, County Sussex , which was given the Latin species name Eoanthropus dawsoni in his honor . In 1915, Dawson discovered - allegedly several kilometers from the first location - another skull, called "Piltdown II".
For almost 40 years, the skull finds from Piltdown had a great influence on the scientific hypotheses of human tribal history and were the cause of numerous misinterpretations. It was not until November 21, 1953 that they were unequivocally found to be forgeries.
literature
- Miles Russell: Piltdown Man: The Secret Life of Charles Dawson. Tempus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7524-2572-6
- JS Weiner: The Piltdown Forgery: 50th Anniversary Edition. Oxford University Press, 50th edition November 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-860780-9
- Christian Müller-Straten: Files closed: The "Wizard of Essex" and his world-famous Piltdown skull . In: Museum Aktuell. No. 216/2015. Pp. 23-30
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dawson, Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British archaeologist, amateur archaeologist and geologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 11, 1864 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 10, 1916 |