A number of archaeological hoaxes or fakes have surfaced over the years. One of the most famous is Piltdown Man, an alleged early hominid found in 
England, first publicly discussed on December 18, 1912. A controversy raged over this for many years, in part because it was inconsistent with what was then known about evolution. A definitive debunking of it as a hoax was finally published on November 21, 1953.
This was not the last hoax, however. Ten years ago, an interesting scandal occurred in Japan. Fujimura Shinichi was an amateur archeologist who had discovered hundreds of paleolithic artifacts since 1981. Only a few scientific papers had questioned his discoveries, noting some unusual features.
On Nov. 5, 2000 the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun published photos showing him burying artifacts on a site that he later claimed to have found there. The same day he admitted to the hoax in a press conference, and the validity of all his work over the years was cast into doubt. In some ways it was Japan’s version of the Piltdown Man.
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(This essay originally appeared in a slightly different form on Skepticality episode #142)
Tim Farley is a JREF Research Fellow in electronic media.