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Article: Rear window: The First Englishman
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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HIS SKULL was the skull of a man, but he had the jaw of an ape
and big canine teeth that could serve as formidable weapons. He was
proof, if not living proof, of man's descent from the apes. They
called him Dawn Man, or Eoanthropus dawsoni, after his discoverer,
Charles Dawson. The more theatrical called him the Missing Link,
but he has gone down in history as Piltdown Man.
For four decades after his existence was announced in 1912,
Piltdown Man had a place in archaeological textbooks all over the
world. Reputations were made on him. No family tree of man's
descent was complete without him. Academic papers by the dozen
discussed him. A monument was raised over the gravel pit in Sussex
where ...