They two best archeological hoaxes that have ever came across this earth. Both equally stupid but both for different reasons one for nationalism and one as a prank and money to the church. The two men that made these things up are just as dumb but yet here we are.

Starting with the Piltdown man, it was the early 20th century when archeology is hitting its stride and every country is finding their like huge discovery except England which rubbed some guy named Charles the wrong way. So this guy made this elaborate plan to put England on the map so with some chemicals and some great ape bones and a file and a shovel he made some bones. To be specific he made this mash up of a human and a great ape into a skull then chemical washed it to make it seem more aged then drove to a farm in south England and buried it for 1 year. Then boom he found it and it immediately put England on the map and was considered the find of the life time and was considered the missing link and was basically reinforced the idea that humans brains evolve first then our skeletons. It turns out that this hoax was so good that it lasted 50 years before it was like officially debunked and considered WRONG. This Charles guy did this because he loved his country he was mad that England wasn’t in the limelight for archeology so he made sure it was with his really well done hoax.

The Cardiff giant isn’t as good of a hoax it was doubted from day one the only reason it kept going was for money. In the late 19th century where a atheist was like let me pull a wall over the churches eyes and make them think that the proof of giants was real. But it ended up being like from day one being not a real archeology find it was found in upstate new York and was taken around the world to make money the guy who made it made around 1.2 million in today money in the 3 months it toured. Even PT barnem the circus man when they said he couldn’t even rent it he made is own and made money across the country because he is a baller and a rich man that wants to make more money.

Conclusion: these two hoaxes one being more obvious than the other for being fake both took the worlds archeology community for a loop when people didn’t listen and either believed that there was a missing link or the existence of giants like the church suggests. The Piltdown man was more for a noble reason was better done and played off as a archeology find as the missing link and putting England into the list of country’s that have archeological find because if it wasn’t from queen and country then what was it for. The Cardiff man was a little more special when it was yeah we know its fake but oooo tall stone man that is there is still three of them today one original and two reproduction’s that don’t look like the original at all but fuck it.