In the history of mankind, it happened more than once that the grandiose discoveries that were praised by the scientific community turned out to be nothing more than dummies, and bright soap bubbles. These are, perhaps, the loudest, most vivid and interesting hoaxes that human history has ever encountered.
Francis Drake's Copper Tablet
In 1936, archaeologists discovered a flat copper tablet in northern California that was recognized as one of the most important archaeological finds. Scientists believed that the great navigator and discoverer Sir Francis Drake himself installed it in 1579, when his ship docked on the shores of California and the Golden Doe crew planted the British flag on the new land.
However, detailed research carried out by scientists in 1977 proved that the plaque was fake and was made in the modern era.
Archeoraptor
In 1999, National Geographic magazine published an enthusiastic article about a unique archaeological find by Chinese scientists. The fossilized skeleton of the creature, dubbed the Archeoraptor, has been hailed as a missing link in evolution, clearly demonstrating a direct link between birds and theropod dinosaurs that walked the earth. However, just a few months later, it turned out that the find was a fake. The new species turned out to be nothing more than a skillful manipulation and combination of fossil parts of various species.
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Subsequent investigation concluded that the forgery was made by a Chinese farmer turned hunter of fossilized animal skeletons. He found several fossils and created a "missing link" from them to attract attention. The scandal drew attention to both the frequent publication of unverified data and the manipulation of ancient remains.
Tiara Saitaferna
In 1896, the Louvre bought from a Russian antiquarian a golden tiara of the ancient period, which, according to historians, belonged to the Scythian king Saitafern. The tiara was allegedly a gift to the leader of the Scythians from a neighboring Greek colony. The Louvre paid an unprecedented amount of money for the new artifact - 50 thousand dollars.
Experts began to doubt the authenticity of the tiara almost immediately after the purchase, but the museum representatives were confident in their actions. Until a jeweler from Odessa informed them that he had created a tiara at the request of his friend. He was extremely surprised that his creation ended up in the Louvre and said that he did not even know about plans to pass off the tiara as an ancient artifact.
Cardiff giant
In 1869, workers digging a well on a farm in Cardiff, New York, stumbled upon an unexpected and surprising find - the fossil of an ancient three-meter giant, by all appearances, who died in agony. This find quickly attracted the attention of the civilian public, newspapers and even some scientists who declared the historical importance of this discovery.
In fact, the giant turned out to be a scam aimed at extorting money from gullible religious fanatics. George Hull, a cigar seller, an atheist and an ardent critic of religious fanaticism, decided to play a trick on a random acquaintance who literally interpreted the biblical words about the giants who inhabited the Earth, and in parallel with this, and get rich.
In 1868, Hull hired sculptors in Chicago to create a giant plaster statue. He sent the finished product to his cousin William Newwell, who buried the statue and left it in the ground for a year. After the statue was “discovered,” newspaper reports from all over the area attracted both onlookers and Christian believers. Newell allowed everyone to see the statue, but for an agreed fee.
For some time, the statue was the subject of speculation by historians and archaeologists, until several experts called it an outright forgery. In 1870, news of the "find" reached Chicago and the sculptors announced their involuntary participation in the scam.
Calaveras Skull
In 1866, miners from Calaveras, California, discovered a human skull in a mine, buried at a depth of more than 30 meters and covered with a layer of solidified volcanic lava. Workers donated the skull to Josiah Whitney, chief geologist of the state of California, graduate and professor of Harvard University. Whitney declared that the skull is conclusive evidence of the existence of man on the North American continent during the Pliocene period - five to two million years ago.
This statement drew distrust from the scientific community. The distrust was further corroborated by rumors in Calaveras that the skull had been thrown into the mine as a joke on Professor Josiah Whitney, who was not popular in the region. Until the end of his days, the professor himself defended the authenticity of the find and firmly believed that a prehistoric settlement of people in California existed in reality. His theory was completely disproved in 1992, when radiocarbon analysis of the find established it to be a thousand years old.
Etruscan warriors
In the early twentieth century, the New York Metropolitan Museum acquired three huge terracotta statues of Etruscan warriors, allegedly created in the 5th century BC and found shortly before purchase in Italy. The museum showed the statues to the public as part of an exhibition on Etruscan history and art that opened in 1933.
The experts' assessment was mixed. Some of them considered the expensive purchase a fake, while others agreed with the authenticity of the statues. An unambiguous answer to the question of their authenticity was given only in 1960, when more developed methods for determining the age of artifacts appeared. It turned out that the terracotta warriors are far from so ancient. An investigation into the forgery led to the Italian brothers Pio and their sons, who created a number of statues from photographs from other museums.
Bath history
In 1917, the Evening Mail, New York, published an article by the popular journalist Henry Lewis Mencken entitled "A Forgotten Jubilee." In this article, Mencken talks about how Americans forgot to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the modern bathtub invented in the city of Cincinnati. Mencken used a number of fabricated facts and anecdotes in his work, among which was the mention that the first president to install a bath in the White House in 1851 was Millard Fillmore, as well as the "fact" that for some time the law did not allow the use of baths as doctors considered them hazardous to health.
Mencken wrote this article in order to demonstrate the accountability and gullibility of the public and soon announced his prank. However, the author himself did not suspect how gullible the public really is. Despite Mencken's public statement, his article was republished several times, and stories from it began to appear even in books.
Hope Chikanchi