The ancient creature and his tools emerged from gravel deposits in Piltdown, Sussex, in the years 1911-15.

The cranial fragments (top) looked human but were unusually thick. The jawbone (bottom) and the canine tooth appeared ape-like. Taken together, they produced an image of a human ancestor that fitted with what some scientists were predicting for the development of early hominids.

But it was all a fabrication. The specimens had been stained and chemically treated to make them appear old. Crucial anatomical details that would have given the game away had been broken off or filed down.

Click on the images to listen to the Natural History Museum's head of human origins, Professor Chris Stringer, describe the specimens that science called Eoanthropus dawsoni.