AI Article Synopsis
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher who attempted to illustrate the connections between human fossils in his articles from 1943 and 1951.
- In his 1943 publication, he included a reference to "Eoanthropus" (Piltdown Man) in his figures, but this crucial subject was not discussed in the text or in the 1951 article.
- There are suspicions that Teilhard was aware of the Piltdown Man hoax as early as 1913 and may have inadvertently participated in the academic joke that ultimately misled many.
Article Abstract
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit paleontologist, priest, and philosopher. In the figures published in articles in 1943 and 1951, he attempted to draw a "plausible schematic reconstruction of the natural connections between fossil men" and a "phyletic composition of the human group". I draw attention to Teilhard's reference to Eoanthropus ("Piltdown Man") in small print in his figure that was first printed in 1943. Most suspiciously, there is no reference to this (supposedly important) genus in the associated text, nor is there any reference whatsoever to "Piltdown Man" in the article published in 1951. Even as early as January 1913, Teilhard may have been aware that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax or joke, artificially associating a human cranium with a modified orangutan mandible. A new suspect is Edgar Willett (rather than Charles Dawson). Teilhard may have been an advisory accomplice in a joke that went seriously wrong.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/evan.21773 | DOI Listing |
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