Final answer:
The Piltdown Hoax was a scientific fraud where bone fragments were presented as the remains of an early human found in Piltdown, England, in 1912, but were exposed as a forgery in 1953, involving a modern human skull and an orangutan jawbone.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Piltdown Hoax was a scientific scandal involving the fraudulent presentation of bone fragments as the fossilized remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments were claimed to have been discovered in Piltdown, East Sussex, England. In 1912, amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson claimed he had discovered the 'missing link' between apes and humans. The purported evidence consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, which Dawson suggested were over 500,000 years old. The find was accepted by some scientists at the time and was used as evidence in the debate over human evolution.
However, the Piltdown Man, as it was known, was exposed as a hoax in 1953 when new dating technology and further scientific scrutiny revealed that the bones were much more recent and had been artificially aged. It turned out that the jawbone was that of an orangutan and the skull fragments from a modern human. The bones had been treated with chemicals to make them appear old.
The Piltdown hoax had considerable impact on the study of human evolution and is a cautionary tale about the need for rigorous scientific method and peer review in the scientific community. To this day, the identity of the hoaxer or hoaxers remains unknown, and the incident remains a notable event in the history of science.