The transcript discusses various historical frauds, focusing on archaeological forgeries. It highlights cases like the Piltdown Man, a fake missing link between humans and apes; the Tiara of Saitapharnes, sold to the Louvre; Beringer's Lying Stones, fossils carved with fantastical figures; the Greenhalgh family's diverse art forgeries; and a modern mummy sold on the black market as an ancient Persian princess. The stories emphasize the lengths individuals will go for fame or financial gain, often leading to elaborate hoaxes that can deceive experts and the public. The narrative also touches on the consequences of such frauds, including legal repercussions and damage to professional reputations.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. In 1912, Charles Dawson discovered a human skull in the village of Piltdown.
2. The skull was presented to the Geological Society of London as Piltdown Man or Eoanthropus dawsoni.
3. Piltdown Man was initially believed to be an extinct human species dating back over 500,000 years.
4. However, in 1953, Kenneth Oakley and two other scientists reanalyzed the remains and concluded that Piltdown Man was a fake.
5. The fossils and tools found with the skull were authentic but had been dyed to match the rubble at Piltdown.
6. The human skull was found to be from the Middle Ages, the jaw was from a Bornean Orangutan, and the teeth were from a chimpanzee.
7. The bones were aged by dyeing with a solution of iron and chromic acid, and putty was used to fill in the fractures or gaps between the bones.
8. The forgery was likely committed by Charles Dawson, who had never revealed the exact location of his discoveries.
9. In 1830, a rich burial mound was discovered in Crimea, filled with treasures from the Scythians.
10. The discovery sparked a fashion for Greco-Scythian antiquities from the Black Sea, leading to counterfeiting.
11. In 1896, the Louvre purchased a Greco-Scythian tiara for 200,000 francs, which was later revealed to be a fake.
12. The tiara was created by Israel Rouchomovsky, a Jewish goldsmith from Odessa, who was commissioned by antique dealer Hochmann.
13. In 1997, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem borrowed the tiara from the Louvre for an exhibition, where it was presented as a work of art.
14. At the beginning of the 18th century, a debate took place concerning the origin of fossils, with some believing they were biblical creations and others thinking they were traces of ancient plants and animals.
15. Johann Beringer, a professor and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Würzburg, was interested in fossils and had his own collection.
16. In 1725, Beringer published a book, "Lithographiae Wirceburgensis," which presented his analyzes and reflections on the stones.
17. The stones were later revealed to be a prank committed by two of Beringer's colleagues, Roderick and Von Eckhart.
18. The prank was estimated to have involved over 1,000 fragments of limestone.
19. In 2003, Bolton Museum purchased an alabaster statue of an Egyptian princess dating from the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten for £440,000.
20. The statue was later revealed to be a fake created by Shaun Greenhalgh, a member of a family of forgers.
21. The Greenhalgh family had been active in forgery since the 1980s and were known for their diversity of forgeries.
22. In 2000, a Persian mummy was offered for sale on the black market for $11 million.
23. The mummy was confiscated by the Pakistani police, and an investigation revealed that it was a fake created by a team of forgers.
24. The mummy was found to be a young woman who had died in 1996, and the Pakistani police opened a murder investigation.
25. The investigation revealed that the mummy had been created using a mixture of baking soda and salt to dry out the corpse, and the body and hair had been whitened.
26. The case remains unsolved, and the victim has still not been identified.