Piltdown Man genome: Unhoaxing the hoax

April 1, 2011 in NEWS by Suzanne Elvidge

DNA sequencing by a team led by Norwegian researcher Olof Prila has revealed that Piltdown Man, long believed to be a hoax, actually is a form of early man, establishing the link between apes and early humans.

Piltdown man

Source: http://donsmaps.com/hoax.htm via Wikipedia

Taking samples from the skull fragments and jawbone, the researchers were able to sequence the entire genome of Piltdown Man. Genome-wide sequence analysis showed the genome to share certain stretches of DNA with the common ancestor of all placental mammals, through modern chimpanzees, to the Neanderthals and the Denisovans, a relative of Neanderthals, right through to humans. By tracking changes through this evolutionary timeline, the researchers expect to learn more about human evolution and the origin of certain diseases.

This follows the team’s announcement, last April, of the partial sequencing of the Feejee Mermaid, another supposed hoax now shown to be a modern evolutionary dead end. Much as the sequencing of the platypus genome found DNA in common with mammals, reptiles and birds, sequence analysis of the mermaid isolated genes homologous with those in fish and humans.

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