History of modern man unravels as German scholar is exposed as fraud [2005]

The Guardian ^ | 01/14/2015 | Luke Harding in Berlin

[SeekAndFind]

It appeared to be one of archaeology's most sensational finds. The skull fragment discovered in a peat bog near Hamburg was more than 36,000 years old - and was the vital missing link between modern humans and Neanderthals.

This, at least, is what Professor Reiner Protsch von Zieten - a distinguished, cigar-smoking German anthropologist - told his scientific colleagues, to global acclaim, after being invited to date the extremely rare skull.

However, the professor's 30-year-old academic career has now ended in disgrace after the revelation that he systematically falsified the dates on this and numerous other "stone age" relics.

Yesterday his university in Frankfurt announced the professor had been forced to retire because of numerous "falsehoods and manipulations". According to experts, his deceptions may mean an entire tranche of the history of man's development will have to be rewritten.

"Anthropology is going to have to completely revise its picture of modern man between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago," said Thomas Terberger, the archaeologist who discovered the hoax. "Prof Protsch's work appeared to prove that anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals had co-existed, and perhaps even had children together. This now appears to be rubbish."

The scandal only came to light when Prof Protsch was caught trying to sell his department's entire chimpanzee skull collection to the United States.

[JimSEA]

Yeah, Clovis First was a good example of the “establishment” suppressing good research. So is much of the Leaky dominated period of human ancestry. It still is risky to suggest new understandings but at least it is now possible. It took DNA research to break that one free.

[chesley]

And yet, just a few years ago the orthodoxy was that neandertals and modern humans were completely different species who could not possibly interbreed.

Maybe, maybe not, but I’m willing to bet that they tried hard.

[chesley]

I had to read Mead in college in the 60s when I took a couple of anthropology classes as electives.

OK, I'm a conservative Christian, maybe I'm biased. But it set off my BS detector even then.

As did some other BS stuff I read, such as the book “the First Sex” by Davis. I couldn't explain why it was BS exactly, because in those days I though professors sought the truth. I have better tools to do that now.

Nevertheless, a minimally logical mind could determine that conclusions were being drawn that weren't supported by the evidence presented.

And that was enough for me.

[katana]

I once pi$$ed off my academic advisor (a professor of Ottoman History, and a good one) by replying to his opinion that I could go for a PhD in History, i.e. follow his career path into the Ivory Tower, by telling him I was not inclined to join the priesthood. I don’t think he ever forgave me for that quip, but the pretensions of intellectual loftiness characteristic of that class always rubbed me the wrong way.

[chesley]

Well, I quit work and went for a PhD at 40. It was in engineering, though, and few of my professors were Americans, so I didn’t have to put up with any BS.

[katana]

I don’t doubt you found little of what I referred to in the College Of Engineering. That, or one in any of the hard sciences really, would be a doctorate worthy of respect.

[chesley]

It was hard, especially financially. On theother hand, Igot to spend a lot more time with my kids, so it was worth it just for that reason.

On thing I found out, though. Getting a Phd ( or an MD, for that matter; I’ve known some dumb physicians) doesn’t really require much more than average intelligence. Boy, though, you have to be stubborn, unwilling to admit defeat in the endeavor, and just plain stick-to-it-tiveness.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

WOW! I haven’t seen that photo in 60 years yet I immediately recognized it as the Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)
I saw that photo in MONSTERS magazine way back then!