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The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England. The Latin name Eoanthropus dawsoni (“Dawson’s dawn-man”, after the collector Charles Dawson) was given to the specimen. The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed in 1953 as a forgery, consisting of the lower jawbone of an orangutan deliberately combined with the skull of a fully developed modern human.
The Piltdown hoax is perhaps the most famous paleoanthropological hoax ever to have been perpetrated. It is prominent for two reasons: the attention paid to the issue of human evolution, and the length of time (more than 40 years) that elapsed from its discovery to its full exposure as a forgery. -Wikipedia
Fiction Writing Prompt: Create a spectacular hoax for your story.
Journaling Prompt: Write about your favorite hoax of all time. What is it about this hoax that captures your interest?
Art Prompt: Piltdown Man Hoax
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about a famous hoax that intrigues you. Tell your audience the elements of a successful hoax and how to spot a hoax.
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2 Responses to Prompt #569 The Piltdown Hoax
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Welcome to the Writing Reader
I believe that the most important thing about writing is to HAVE FUN! You can worry about things like commas, point of view, tenses, etc., later. Right now, just start writing!
If you respond to one of the prompts on your blog, be sure to come back here and put the link in the comment section for that prompt. Share your brilliance!
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I did even better than write about a hoax: I wrote about THIS hoax: The Link
That looks awesome, Doug! Interesting concept for a book.