Synopsis

For generations, a fossil skull unearthed in Piltdown, England, was celebrated as humanity's crucial link between apes and ourselves. Countless careers rested upon its perceived authenticity. Then, in 1953, the devastating truth emerged: "Piltdown Man" was a fabrication. But who orchestrated such a profound deception? "The Boldest Hoax," a NOVA production, investigates the greatest scientific deception ever perpetrated.