Darwin caused fossil rush

In other European nations, scientists were excavating unique fossils of prehistoric humans. The British had struggled to follow suit, and the discovery of Piltdown Man in 1912 came during an intense English fossil rush. Over the previous 80 years, archaeologists and palaeontologists had excavated bones from prehistoric people across Europe, while the British had watched from the sidelines.

In 1829, the earthly remains of a Neanderthal were discovered in Belgium. The French followed suit with the Cro-Magnon, while the Germans discovered Homo Heidelbergensis. The British, meanwhile, had not made any fossil finds worth mentioning. Despite ‘ruling the waves’ and having the biggest empire ever, the UK was lagging behind embarrassingly in the fields of archaeology and palaeontology. Everywhere across the British Isles, professionals and amateurs were trying to make a big discovery that could restore the nation's honour.

The fossil rush was nourished still further in 1859 when Charles Darwin published his book “On the Origin of Species”. Darwin claimed that all species were the result of gradual evolution from more primitive creatures.

This was also true for humans, who had primitive ape-like ancestors. Various fossil finds confirmed Darwin’s theory, according to many scientists. But the remains of a decisive link between ape and human were still missing.

Soon this ‘Missing Link’ became the Holy Grail of palaeontology, and British scientists were doing everything possible to make the breakthrough. Hence the discovery of Piltdown

Man in 1912 was really too good to be true – yet nobody raised the alarm.

Cro-Magnons were anatomically modern people who died out some 10,000 years ago.

Homo Heidelbergensis is considered a precursor of the Neanderthals. Existed 400,000 years ago.

Neanderthals co-existed with modern man until around 30,000 years ago.

Piltdown Man