For years many scientists believed that our early hominin ancestors developed in England, based on the findings of the Piltdown Man. Many scientists were reluctant to accept important findings coming out of Africa, due to their adherence that the Piltdown Man demonstrated that large brained hominins derived from Europe. However, it was eventually revealed that the Piltdown Man was a fake! What two primate species were used to create the Piltdown Man? Why might Western scientists be so reluctant to give up the idea that large brained hominins had their origins in Europe?

The Piltdown Man was actually made up of modern human bones and an orangutan.

Explanation:

At the time of the finding, in 1912, imperialism and colonialism still ruled the world and Africa (and other parts of the world) was seen as backward and ignorant, not as the cradle of humanity. This was a time in which people like the anthropologist Franz Boas, who argued against racial distinction between humans, were barely heard.

the second significant cause of the great migration was the desire of black southerners to escape segregation, known euphemistically as jim crow. rural african american southerners believed that segregation - and racism and prejudice against blacks - was significantly less intense in the north.

in his book, the riddle of the rosetta stone, james giblin talks about how there was a young british polymath and physician named thomas young who made a lot of advances on the deciphering of the rosetta stone. he says that even though young made a lot of mistakes because he was working under false assumptions, he also made huge contributions like deciphering three out of the seven symbols (more than anyone else before him). young published his findings and continued his good work but he wasn't able to progress much further due to some unfavorable situations, he still laid the basis for many other scholars and of course for the man who has been generally known to have deciphered it, jean-françois champollion