Piltdown Men, Vinland Maps
Let's workshop this poem about historical discoveries that conveniently align with the discoverer's agenda or beliefs.
Piltdown Men, Vinland Maps
That stale swindle
of “stumbling upon”
something that supports
the finder: one thinks
of priest Hilkiah
“discovering by chance”
Deuteronomy while
renovating the Temple
on the order of Josiah
(a king whose plan
for religious reform
was twinned in the find).
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* Piltdown Man.—In 1912, fragments of a skull and jawbone were found in Piltdown, England, and were presented as the fossilized remains of a previously unknown early human, supporting the notion that human evolution was primarily centered in Europe. The discovery was revealed as a hoax in 1953. The remains were a mix of human and orangutan bones (artificially aged).
* The Vinland Map.—First surfaced in the mid-20th century, this map purported to show parts of North America before Christopher Columbus' discovery. If genuine, it would have been a remarkable testament to Norse exploration of the continent. However, extensive testing and analysis have suggested that the map is likely a 20th-century forgery, though some debate still exists.
