ONAN DOYLE WAS NO STRANGER to controversy, and in fact seemed to enjoy churning up his fair share every now and then. For example, he was a prolific letter-writer to the papers, he publically challenged what he saw as miscarriages of justice, and his latter-day lectures and articles on fairies and Spiritualism, replete with sensational photographic “evidence,” were obviously meant to stir his audiences to action. However, there were several controversies attaching themselves to him which weren’t of his own accord. Case in point: the Piltdown Man, one of the greatest hoaxes of the 20th century.

It was a tumultuous time in the scientific world. The turn of the century brought with it a questioning of the established theories in almost every area of science. Medical researchers were delving into the true causes of diseases, physicists were plumbing the origins of matter, astronomers were shaping a new view of the cosmos, and biologists were hotly debating Darwin’s theory of Evolution, often finding themselves at odds with religious institutions, funders, and the fervoured opinions expounded daily in the papers. The one argument that continually broke apart the so-called scientific proof of the Evolutionists was the absence of the evolutionary bridge between the lesser primates and mankind, the Missing Link.

And then, in 1912, it was found.

The specimen, dubbed The Piltdown Man, caused an immediate sensation, providing seemingly verifiable evidence of Darwin’s theories. Science yet again asserted its superiority over religion and superstition, and the Piltdown Man became a rallying point for the much-berated scientific community. Unfortunately, it was eventually found to be a fraud. Scotsman.com presents an article entitled Conan Doyle and the hoax of the 20th century:

Forty years later when JS Weiner discovered that this so-called Piltdown Man was a fake made out of a 500-year-old skull and an orang-utan jawbone, the hunt began to find out who had perpetrated the fraud.

The main suspect has always been Dawson, possibly with the aid of his colleagues Sir Arthur Smith Woodward and Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit who had also assisted at the dig. But there is someone else in the frame. According to one theory this man had the means, motive and opportunity. He is none other than the Scottish creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I wish to draw your careful attention to the first comment, left by author Doug Elliott, who produced what I’m told is a remarkable book called The Curious Incident of the Missing Link. It apparently does an excellent job at debunking the claims that Sir Arthur was involved in this hoax.

For more information about the Piltdown hoax, see the Wikipedia entry and the many links at its page bottom, including the Piltdown Plot site.