December 16, 2004 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is an excerpt from The Amazing Story of Creation from Science and the Bible by Dr. Duane T. Gish (2002, Institute for Creation Research):

THE PILTDOWN HOAX

In 1912, Charles Dawson, a lawyer and amateur fossil hunter, discovered a few fragments of a jawbone and pieces of a skull in a gravel pit near Piltdown, England. The jawbone appeared to be quite ape-like, but the teeth and the skull appeared to be quite human-like. Dawson and the English scientists with whom he consulted were certain that all of these fossil bones were from a single individual--a creature combining human-like and ape-like features. it is amazing g how many supposed human-like characteristics they thought they could see in the ape-like jaw and how many ape-like characteristics they imagined they were seeing in the human skull. They declared that these fossils were from a creature intermediate between ape and man that existed 500,000 years ago. This creature was given the official name of Eoanthropus dawsoni (Eoanthropus means “Dawn-man”) and he became known as the famous Piltdown Man. Although some scientists did not believe that all these bones came from the same individual, most scientists declared that Piltdown Man was a genuine subhuman ancestor of man. For nearly 50 years, Piltdown Man stood as one of our ancestors, and about 500 books and pamphlets were written about Piltdown Man.

But in 1950, Piltdown Man got “buried” again! In that year, it was shown that Piltdown Man was a hoax--a fake! Someone had taken the jawbone of an ape and the skull of a modern human, treated them with chemicals to make them look old, filed the teeth with a file to make them look human-like instead of ape-like, planted the “fossil” bones in the gravel pit, and fooled the world’s greatest experts! Why did it take the experts almost 50 years to detect the fraud? Why didn’t they see the scratch marks on the teeth made by the file when they first looked at the teeth? Why didn’t they notice, right away, that the brown stain on these bones was only in a thin, outer layer? Why were they able to “see” human characteristics in the ape’s jaw, and why did they “see” ape-like characteristics in the human skull? All of this happened because evolutionists believed so strongly in evolution that they saw the things they expected to find, and failed to see thing they did not want to see.

NEBRASKA MAN

In 1922, a single tooth was discovered in western Nebraska. The tooth was shown to one of America’s foremost fossil experts, Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn, professor at Columbia University. Dr. Osborn and other American experts were very excited by the appearance of this tooth. They declared that they could see, in that tooth, certain characteristics intermediate between ape and man. In fact, they weren’t quite sure whether it was from an ape-like man or a man-like ape. He was given the official name of Hesperopithecus, became popularly known as Nebraska Man, and was presented as evidence that man had evolved from apes. In 1922, the Illustrated London News published a picture of Nebraska Man, his wife, and the tools they were using--all based upon the discovery of one single tooth!

A few years after the discovery of the tooth, some additional bones of the creature were discovered and Nebraska Man turned out to be neither an ape-like man nor a man-like ape. He turned out to be a pig! That’s right--Nebraska Man was nothing more than a pig’s tooth!

NEANDERTHAL MAN

In 1860, about the time that Darwin published his book on evolution, the first few fossil fragments of Neanderthal Man were found in the Neanderthal Valley, in Germany. Later, additional fossils of the Neanderthal people were found in other parts of Europe, in Asia, Africa, and Israel. In 1908, a nearly complete skeleton was found in France. The Neanderthal people manufactured tools and weapons, and they buried their dead just like modern-day people. furthermore, their brains were somewhat larger than those of modern-day humans. All of this indicated that they were fully human, Homo sapiens. They did, in some ways, however, appear to be rather primitive. their skulls were flatter than ours, some of them had rather heavy eyebrow ridges, and the skeleton in France appeared to be hunched over, as if Neanderthal Man did not walk completely upright like you and I. Based on these findings, the Neanderthal people were declared, by evolutionists, to be subhuman ancestors of man, and were given the official name of Homo neanderthalensis. Museum exhibits and pictures of the Neanderthal people portrayed them as sort of long-armed, knuckle-dragging, beetle-browed, stooped-shouldered, bow-legged subhumans.

A famous anatomist, Dr. Rudolph Virchow, declared, many years ago, that the primitive features of the Neanderthal people were not due to the fact that these people were subhuman, but were due to diseases, or pathological conditions. He pointed out that the skeleton discovered in France was of an old man who couldn’t walk upright because he had a bad case of arthritis! Dr. Virchow declared, further, that all of these people suffered severely from rickets (a condition caused by the lack of Vitamin D) which causes bones to become soft and deformed. For many years, however, evolutionists paid no attention to what Dr. Virchow was saying, because they wanted Neanderthal Man to be a true subhuman ancestor of man.

Eventually, however, other skeletons of Neanderthal people were found that were fully erect, and it was established, by medical research, that the skeleton found in France was, indeed, that of an arthritic old man. X-rays of the fossil bones and teeth showed, just as Dr. Virchow had declared, that all of the Neanderthal people had rickets. Scientists finally concluded that all of the so-called primitive features of the Neanderthal people were due to pathological conditions, or diseases. Museums have removed the old exhibits of Neanderthal people and have replaced them with new exhibits showing the Neanderthal people looking very human, and about 30 years ago, two scientists published an article about Neanderthal people in which they declared that if Neanderthal Man were given a shave, a haircut, and a bath, put into a business suit, and placed on the New York subway, no one would take a second look!

RAMAPITHECUS

About 60 years ago, part of a fossilized jaw and a few teeth were discovered in India, of a creature given the name Ramapithecus. Some famous experts declared, however, that these fossils proved this creature was on its way to becoming man, and that he walked upright, like humans. In the past few years, however, enough of this creature has been found to show that he was an orangutan. The experts now admit that Ramaphithecus was not an ancestor of man at all.

ORCE MAN

Just recently, a skull cap was found in Spain, and was declared by Spanish experts to be the skull cap of the oldest fossil man ever discovered in Europe. He was named Orce Man, for the village near where he was found. However, French experts were able to confirm that the skull cap was that of a six-month-old donkey!

Piltdown Man was not our ancestor. He was a hoax constructed from the jawbone of an ape and a human skull. Nebraska Man was not our ancestor! He was fabricated from a pig’s tooth. Neanderthal Man was our ancestor! He was 100 percent man. Ramapithecus and Orce Man were not our ancestors! One was an orangutan, and one was a donkey! The supposed evolutionary family tree of man is barren of the fossil evidence necessary to give credence to their theories.