Neanderthal Man

Found in Neander Valley in Germany in 1856 by Johann Fuhlrott.  The find consisted of a skull and several bones.  He was portrayed to the world as a semi-erect, brutish subhuman creature that was supposed to be the 'missing link' in the evolutionary chain to show man evolved from earlier ancestors.  It is now believed that these 'creatures' were were real people who suffered from rickets, a vitamin D deficiency, and arthritis!

Java Man

Found in Java in 1891 by Eugene Dubois, a Dutch Physician.  The 'find' consisted of a single skull cap.  One year later, a thigh bone, alone with two molar teeth, was discovered 50 feet from where the skull cap had been.  Dubois estimate they all belonged together and dated back 1/2 million years!  He did not reveal, however, until 31 years later, that he had also found two obviously human skulls at the same time at the same level. Most Evolutionists of that day were convinced of the validity of this 500,000 year old creature.  But prior to his death, Dubois sadly concluded that his Java Man was actually the remains of a large Gibbon.

Piltdown Man

Found in Piltdown, England, in 1912, by Charles Dawson.  The find was a skull part and a few teeth.  Soon the consensus of the world's greatest authorities was that here indeed was the genuine link in the evolution of man!  It was dated from 500,000 to 750,000 years old!  The praises of Piltdown man were sung by famous paleontologists all over the world.  However, in 1950, the bones of Piltdown man were subjected to Chemical tests and discovered to be a colossal hoax!  The 'skull' had been stained by iron salts and the teeth had been filed down to give the appearance of age.  Thus, Piltdown Man was the doctored remains of a human of a recent age.

Peking Man

Found near Peking, China, in 1912 (and 1937) by Davidson Bolack.  Find consisted of 30 skulls and 147 teeth. This find disappeared in 1941 when it was moved from Peking by a U.S. Marine Detachment to escape the oncoming Japanese Invasion.  It is now believed that Peking Man was simply the remains of some large monkeys or baboons killed and eaten by workers in an ancient lime-burning query!

Nebraska Man

Found in Nebraska in 1922 by Harold Cook.  The find was exactly one tooth!  It was immediately declared by H.F. Osborn of the American Museum to be the vaunted missing link! He placed it at the very bottom of Man's ancestry! The Curator of the American Museum of Natural History and professor of Paleontology of Columbia University called it "The Million Dollar Tooth"! The London Illustrated Times assigned an imaginative artist to draw the ape man that carried this tooth around in his mouth some 6000 centuries ago. During the famous Scopes Evolution trial in Dayton, Tennessee, William Jennings Bryan was ridiculed by lawyer Clarence Darrow because Darrow had not heard of the 'tooth' and other 'facts' of evolution by a delegation of authorities, led by Professor H.H.Newman of the University of Chicago.  In 1927, to the supreme embarrassment of many, the tooth was discovered to be that of an extinct pig. (Someone said, 'Here is a case of a dishonest lawyer telling the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth!)

Zinjanthropus

Found in 1959 in Tanzania by Louis Leakey, the find consisted of a skull cap and a few bone fragments. The 'discovery' was sensationalized through the National Geographic Magazine, which society had sponsored Leakey. The 'find' was dated from 2 to 4 million years old, by far the oldest 'missing link' yet!  However, prior, to his death, Leakey concluded that his vaunted discovery was but a variety of Australopithecus (Southern Ape) found in 1924.