POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

The Challenge of The Qur’an ~ 337 ~ counted the discovery among the great triumphs of modern man. In authoritative works such as H.G. Well’s Outline of History and Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy, it was mentioned as though there was no doubt about the Piltdown Man’s existence. For nearly half a century scholars remained enthralled with this “great discovery”. It was only in 1953 that some scientists became doubtful. They extracted the Piltdown man from its iron fireproof box in the British Museum and subjected it to detailed modern scientific analysis, studying it from every relevant angle. Their final conclusion was that the Piltdown Man was a forgery. The great acclaim it has received was totally unfounded. What had actually happened was that someone, who wished to discredit a rival by playing a trick on him, and taken the jaw of a chimpanzee and dyed it to make it look ancient and had then filed its teeth to make them look human. He then submitted his “find” to the British Museum, saying that he had come across it in Piltdown, England. He intended at a later stage to reveal the whole affair as a hoax, in order to make his rival look foolish, but when he saw the