The Missing Link That Wasn’t
When amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson came across some unusual human skull fragments in 1912 Piltdown, England, it was allegedly evidence of the earliest human ancestor ever found, a discovery that would forever change our understanding of human evolution. The find was hailed as a missing link, until it turned out to be fake. The venture came to be known in science circles as The Piltdown Man Hoax.
So yet another mishandling of fossil evidence dimmed the theory of the missing link. “There is no missing link in our lineage,” says PBS Eons host Kallie Moore. “That’s not how evolution works. Back then, the search for the missing link was just one more phase in our thinking of human evolution. The missing link was never missing. It turns out it had never existed at all.” She explains further in the following video.
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