Prehistoric man swings more modern caveman’s club.
Maybe Piltdown man
wasn’t a hoax, after all. Back in the era when PT Barnum was considered
non-fiction, someone claimed to unearth the skull of the missing link -- what
supposedly came b
just before humans. The “discoverer” was an
archeology hobbyist named Charles Dawson.
And he said he made the discovery in Piltdown, which is near Sussex
which is in England.
This happened in 1912
which itself is often considered pre-historic.
It took actual
archeologists and a bevy of other scientific types to conclusively “prove” that
Piltdown Man was a hoax. That happened in 1953. It took 41
years to figure out that Dawson might have made the whole thing up.
Apparently, the bone fragments smelling of hide glue didn’t set off any alarms.
Piltdown man was said to
be half a million years in England’s past. But current thinking has
changed. Put an underdeveloped brain
into a critter with a big, loud mouth and what do you get?
That could be the answer
about this guy as a throwback and how he set off the reappearance of throwbacks
hiding in the closets of their caves. Those described by the scientists
as “fully developed but small-brained.”
The Piltdown skull seems
to have been cobbled together with spare parts. The so-called hoaxers
used a handy British skull fragment and some bones from ancient animals and
made it look like something half man and half ape.
The only remaining
question is how did Piltdown stay out of sight for so long. We’d know more if
we had a skull with an open mouth and orange hair.
You have to credit this
guy Dawson. He pulled a fast one on practically everyone. And those
everyones spent longer than the average lifetime of a Piltdowner proving there
was no such thing.
But what if they were
wrong? What if there really was a Piltdown Man? Well, it’s starting
to look like there may have been. When we see bones, we don’t also see body fat
or development.
The original skull is
still around. Maybe we should dress it up in a fatsuit. Hang a too-long red tie
around his neck and compare this with you-know-who.
SHRAPNEL:
--Boeing fired its CEO
because of planes that crashed and killed people. But that’s not enough. CEOs
are essentially “idea people” and paper pushers. There’s a whole string
of lackeys standing on the line behind the top guy and executing the screwups
for him.
--Figurehead Chief
Justice Roberts says he will consult with his “inner umpire” in conducting the
Senate trial of the impeached president. Who’s he kidding? The fix is
already in.
The staff and management
of Wessays™ wish you a happy holiday filled with joy and well-aged fruitcake.
I’m Wes Richards. My
opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Comments: Please
send to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2019
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