Author's Note for Birdie & Jay
A Sneak Peek
at
The Story Behind the Story
On my first visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, as I studied the various displays, I was, like most visitors, amazed. The Tyrannosaurus Rex was huge, the elephants were lifelike—but I was even more intrigued when I considered the human drive and curiosity required to discover, collect, assemble and display such a massive collection of artifacts. The museum itself was a testament to human ingenuity and man’s attempt to document and understand his own world. The Hall of Human Origins was especially interesting to me as it portrays the scientific side of age-old, philosophical questions: where do we come from, what does it mean to be human, and how do our perceived differences from other humans define our behavior, even today.
Ever since Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was introduced, people have tried to reconcile their own origins, often by appealing to religion and denying the science, or by spinning evolutionary theories to their own advantage. As a writer, I wanted to spend more time investigating this age of scientific seduction, shifting moral and social consciousness, world exploration, and expanding knowledge. So when I happened upon a magazine article, just after my visit to the museum, which mentioned the search for the missing link and an instance of fraud that changed human evolutionary theory for decades, I had to know more. Further research led me to the Wizard of Sussex, and to the Piltdown Man.
In December 1912, Charles Dawson, otherwise known as the Wizard of Sussex, officially presented the “Piltdown Man”, scientifically labeled Eoanthropus dawsoni (or Dawson’s Dawn Man), to the Geologic Society of London. Although scientists around the world raised doubts about his initial claim for a variety of reasons, the findings weren’t proved to be false until 1953—forty years later—using advanced analytical and dating techniques. Then, in 1959, the forgery was confirmed using carbon dating.
It turned out that the “missing link,” as presented by Charles Dawson, actually consisted of a human skull from the medieval age, the 500-year-old lower jaw of an orangutan from Borneo, and fossilized chimpanzee teeth. The bones had been stained with an iron solution to create the appearance of advanced aging, and microscopic examination revealed file-marks on the teeth, modified into a shape more suited to a human diet.
To this day, the identity of the forger remains uncertain. There are many suspects, even including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the author of Sherlock Holmes). However, many of Charles Dawson’s publications and other findings which earned him the moniker ‘The Wizard of Sussex,’ also demonstrate evidence of fraud, so I chose to focus on him as the instigator of the hoax in this novel. Charles Dawson died in 1916, only four years after unveiling Eoanthropus dawsoni, and well before the forgery was revealed.
When the Piltdown Man was presented as the missing link, European nationalism and cultural prejudice likely influenced some prominent scientists to take a less-than-critical look at the findings, as Eoanthropus dawsoni satisfied European expectations that the earliest—and thus, most highly-evolved—humans would be found in Europe. Not to mention, the British wanted an early human to be discovered on the Isles, to set against other fossil hominids such as the Neanderthal and the Heidelberg man, found on the mainland. But the Piltdown forgery led evolutionary theories down a blind-alley and, as I mentioned, confused the reconstruction of human evolution for decades.
As for the American Museum of Natural History, a connection to Piltdown is likely, but unproven. Knowing the American museum was on the forefront of scientific exploration around the world from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, and that museum president Henry Fairfield Osborn was very interested in the search for the missing link, I think it’s safe to guess that there was some form of involvement on the part of the Americans.
And it is true that after the discovery and presentation of the Piltdown Man, Osborn wholly and publicly supported the evolutionary path proposed by the Piltdown findings. He also continued to search for additional fossil evidence of hominid evolution during his lifetime, sending an explorer named Roy Chapman Andrews into Central Asia in 1920, on a similar expedition. It is believed that the American film producer, George Lucas, patterned the swashbuckling character of Indiana Jones after the explorer, Mr. Andrews.
Henry Fairfield Osborn, Charles Dawson, Leonard Sanford, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Frank Chapman are the only actual historical characters mentioned in the book. As in any work of fiction, I took liberties in placing them in scenes that never really happened, and had them say things they never really said. However, Henry Fairfield Osborn’s controversial evolutionary and racial prejudices (or eugenics) as discussed in Birdie & Jay, are well-documented.
It’s also true that many of the great families of Gilded Age New York City funded scientific expeditions and collections throughout the museum. You only need visit and read the “gift placards” on many of the museum’s exhibits to learn more about some of the real donors. That said, Beatrice Kane, the Kane family, and Jay Walsh are my own beloved creations. Their stories allowed me to explore other fascinating aspects of the age: the social strata of the ultra-wealthy, class structure, and limitations placed on women and immigrants during this fascinating period of history.
Although my research included many print and online sources, special thanks goes to Dinosaurs in the Attic by Douglas J. Preston, which provided a historical glimpse behind the scenes of the American Museum of Natural History, Piltdown: A Scientific Forgery by Frank Spencer, and The First Four Hundred by Jerry Patterson.
Thank you for listening to Birdie & Jay.
For images that inspired this work see my Pinterest Board.
Ever since Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was introduced, people have tried to reconcile their own origins, often by appealing to religion and denying the science, or by spinning evolutionary theories to their own advantage. As a writer, I wanted to spend more time investigating this age of scientific seduction, shifting moral and social consciousness, world exploration, and expanding knowledge. So when I happened upon a magazine article, just after my visit to the museum, which mentioned the search for the missing link and an instance of fraud that changed human evolutionary theory for decades, I had to know more. Further research led me to the Wizard of Sussex, and to the Piltdown Man.
In December 1912, Charles Dawson, otherwise known as the Wizard of Sussex, officially presented the “Piltdown Man”, scientifically labeled Eoanthropus dawsoni (or Dawson’s Dawn Man), to the Geologic Society of London. Although scientists around the world raised doubts about his initial claim for a variety of reasons, the findings weren’t proved to be false until 1953—forty years later—using advanced analytical and dating techniques. Then, in 1959, the forgery was confirmed using carbon dating.
It turned out that the “missing link,” as presented by Charles Dawson, actually consisted of a human skull from the medieval age, the 500-year-old lower jaw of an orangutan from Borneo, and fossilized chimpanzee teeth. The bones had been stained with an iron solution to create the appearance of advanced aging, and microscopic examination revealed file-marks on the teeth, modified into a shape more suited to a human diet.
To this day, the identity of the forger remains uncertain. There are many suspects, even including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the author of Sherlock Holmes). However, many of Charles Dawson’s publications and other findings which earned him the moniker ‘The Wizard of Sussex,’ also demonstrate evidence of fraud, so I chose to focus on him as the instigator of the hoax in this novel. Charles Dawson died in 1916, only four years after unveiling Eoanthropus dawsoni, and well before the forgery was revealed.
When the Piltdown Man was presented as the missing link, European nationalism and cultural prejudice likely influenced some prominent scientists to take a less-than-critical look at the findings, as Eoanthropus dawsoni satisfied European expectations that the earliest—and thus, most highly-evolved—humans would be found in Europe. Not to mention, the British wanted an early human to be discovered on the Isles, to set against other fossil hominids such as the Neanderthal and the Heidelberg man, found on the mainland. But the Piltdown forgery led evolutionary theories down a blind-alley and, as I mentioned, confused the reconstruction of human evolution for decades.
As for the American Museum of Natural History, a connection to Piltdown is likely, but unproven. Knowing the American museum was on the forefront of scientific exploration around the world from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, and that museum president Henry Fairfield Osborn was very interested in the search for the missing link, I think it’s safe to guess that there was some form of involvement on the part of the Americans.
And it is true that after the discovery and presentation of the Piltdown Man, Osborn wholly and publicly supported the evolutionary path proposed by the Piltdown findings. He also continued to search for additional fossil evidence of hominid evolution during his lifetime, sending an explorer named Roy Chapman Andrews into Central Asia in 1920, on a similar expedition. It is believed that the American film producer, George Lucas, patterned the swashbuckling character of Indiana Jones after the explorer, Mr. Andrews.
Henry Fairfield Osborn, Charles Dawson, Leonard Sanford, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Frank Chapman are the only actual historical characters mentioned in the book. As in any work of fiction, I took liberties in placing them in scenes that never really happened, and had them say things they never really said. However, Henry Fairfield Osborn’s controversial evolutionary and racial prejudices (or eugenics) as discussed in Birdie & Jay, are well-documented.
It’s also true that many of the great families of Gilded Age New York City funded scientific expeditions and collections throughout the museum. You only need visit and read the “gift placards” on many of the museum’s exhibits to learn more about some of the real donors. That said, Beatrice Kane, the Kane family, and Jay Walsh are my own beloved creations. Their stories allowed me to explore other fascinating aspects of the age: the social strata of the ultra-wealthy, class structure, and limitations placed on women and immigrants during this fascinating period of history.
Although my research included many print and online sources, special thanks goes to Dinosaurs in the Attic by Douglas J. Preston, which provided a historical glimpse behind the scenes of the American Museum of Natural History, Piltdown: A Scientific Forgery by Frank Spencer, and The First Four Hundred by Jerry Patterson.
Thank you for listening to Birdie & Jay.
For images that inspired this work see my Pinterest Board.