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HistorySurprise 5/5Difficulty 4/5Reviewed on September 13, 2026

Piltdown Man was one of the greatest scientific frauds in history.

Why it is true

In 1912, skull and jaw fragments were presented as a missing link between humans and apes. In 1953, it was discovered that the bones were a mixture of a modern human skull with an orangutan jaw, deliberately manipulated to appear ancient. The hoax fooled the scientific community for decades.

Source: National Geographic

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