The Piltdown Man and the Cardiff Giant are two of the most well-known pseudoarchaeological hoaxes perpetrated in recent history. The former being used as a means of increasing national renown and generating attention around the subject of human evolution, the other was simply a means to win an argument that turned into a rather profitable venture.

The Piltdown Man was “discovered” by Charles Dawson. Even at its initial reconstruction the find was strongly challenged by other experts in the field. Unfortunately, given that the public was not as educated on scientific matters the Piltdown Man became a staple in proving the idea of human evolution, as according to Dawson and associates it showed the apparent missing link between man and ape. While the dispute over its authenticity did spark controversy in the scientific community, it was the eventual debunking of the skull that caused damage to the reputation of the community as a whole. When the Piltdown Man was eventually exposed as a forgery in the 1950s it became a tool for individuals who held a more fundamentally religious world view. Since scientists had perpetrated a lie as proof for the theory of evolution, the theory itself should be considered just as much of a hoax as the alleged discovery. This distrust damaged the mainstream acceptance of evolutionary theory which still has lingering affects today.

On the other hand, the Cardiff Giant also caused considerable public uproar but for drastically different reasons. First off, the alleged giant was discovered by a farmer, not a member of the scientific community. The giant itself was used more as an attraction than as actually proof of any existing scientific theory. In fact, the biblical basis for the giant’s existence assisted largely in its extreme rise in popularity. The spectacle generated by its discovery also generated a considerable windfall of cash for the man who unearthed it, Stub Newell. As with most lies, the giant was eventually disproven, but the reasons behind its creation brought to light important commentary on the general public’s willingness to believe anything. George Hull commissioned the creation of the giant in order to demonstrate that the public was primed to believe in fantasies, so long as said fantasies were backed up by mainstream religious text.

Both “discoveries” were obviously complete and utter hogwash, but their overall impacts were drastically different. One was meant to prove the truth of human history, the other how easily the public can be led to believe in a lie.