Popular Science Review - The Piltdown Forgery

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Review - The Piltdown Forgery - Joseph Weiner

This has to be one of the oldest popular science books we've ever come across, first published in 1955, but here in a new edition with an introduction and afterword to bring the story up to date.

And what a story - the Piltdown Man, trumpeted as a missing link between ape and man from its discovery before the first world war until its discrediting at the start of the 1950s.

The author was one of those responsible for the detective work that showed up the skull fragments to be faked and provides a fascinating insight into the gradual build of evidence demonstrating the doubtful nature of the Piltdown find, followed by an attempt to pin down just who was responsible.

The writing has aged well - it isn't nearly as stilted as you might expect from a book of this age. The only real criticism is that it goes into a bit too much detail for a popular account, and occasionally you may feel the need to skip read a couple of sections - but this doesn't obscure its very powerful insights.

The Piltdown story has something in common with conspiracy theory analysis of historical events - "who was Jack the Ripper?", or "was it the Olympic rather than the Titanic that hit the iceberg and sank?" - there's all the detective story fun, the analysis of characters involved, the scientific discoveries, but the approach here is based on good scientific reasoning, and undertaken by someone on the spot[of the discrediting] at the time, rather than by a random observer with an axe to grind or a whacky theory.

Professor Christopher Stringer in his afterword summarises the labyrinthine alternative culprits for the Piltdown fraud that have been identified since Weiner's book. But Stringer has to admit that Weiner's chief suspect (a man he does not actually accuse, but builds a strong case for being responsible) is the most likely one still, and points out that there is further evidence now for the suspect's ability to bend the truth. (Weiner, belonging to a more gentlemanly age, was obviously very pained to have to suggest that a respected man could be a faker.) Fascinating though some of the alternative perpetrators may be - from Teilhard de Chardin to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - the obvious culprit is also the most likely one. Life tends to be like that, whatever we like in our detective fiction. Who dunnit? Read the book. Recommended.

Only in paperback.

Reviewed by Jo Reed

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