1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,952 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:02,952 --> 00:00:18,667 3 00:00:18,667 --> 00:00:19,400 NARRATOR: What's this? 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,630 The plate of brass, which the 16th Century explorer, 5 00:00:22,630 --> 00:00:25,090 Sir Francis Drake left on the coast of America. 6 00:00:25,090 --> 00:00:29,230 7 00:00:29,230 --> 00:00:32,630 This fossil changed sciences idea of evolution. 8 00:00:32,630 --> 00:00:34,435 But was it faked like this? 9 00:00:34,435 --> 00:00:38,810 10 00:00:38,810 --> 00:00:43,200 Did two schoolboys fool the world with this decorated bone 11 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,720 or is it a masterpiece of Stone Age art? 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,350 Mysteries from the files of Arthur C. Clarke, 13 00:00:49,350 --> 00:00:53,900 author of "2001" and inventor of the communication satellite. 14 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:56,730 Now in retreat in Sri Lanka, he ponders the riddles 15 00:00:56,730 --> 00:00:58,790 of this and other world's. 16 00:00:58,790 --> 00:01:01,766 [MUSIC PLAYING] 17 00:01:01,766 --> 00:01:35,530 18 00:01:35,530 --> 00:01:37,650 I'm visiting a piece of old England. 19 00:01:37,650 --> 00:01:40,040 All the classic ingredients are here, 20 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,820 the golf course with its sweeping green links, 21 00:01:42,820 --> 00:01:46,320 a country club with all the trappings, a red brick post 22 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:48,750 office, and an Anglican church. 23 00:01:48,750 --> 00:01:51,820 And as in any English suburb, the houses 24 00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:53,410 are built in an eccentric mixture 25 00:01:53,410 --> 00:01:56,750 of styles, Gothic, late Victorian, 26 00:01:56,750 --> 00:01:59,200 and even Stockbroker Tutor. 27 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:00,990 Yet, this isn't England. 28 00:02:00,990 --> 00:02:03,130 I haven't left Sri Lanka. 29 00:02:03,130 --> 00:02:06,230 This is Nuwara Eliya, a town build as a hilltop health 30 00:02:06,230 --> 00:02:09,919 resort by the British explorer, Sir Samuel Baker, 31 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,030 in the 19th Century. 32 00:02:12,030 --> 00:02:16,370 Baker imported almost everything except the climate, vegetables. 33 00:02:16,370 --> 00:02:20,400 shrubs, sheep, cows, a pack of foxhounds, and even 34 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,340 a blacksmith. 35 00:02:22,340 --> 00:02:26,440 It's a brilliant fake, but it's not intended to fool anybody. 36 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,750 It is not always so easy to distinguish between a fake 37 00:02:29,750 --> 00:02:32,840 and the real thing, as museums all over the world 38 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,210 have discovered, sometimes to their cost. 39 00:02:35,210 --> 00:02:38,550 40 00:02:38,550 --> 00:02:42,730 NARRATOR: In 1579, Sir Francis Drake was circling the world. 41 00:02:42,730 --> 00:02:45,015 He needed to stop to repair his ship. 42 00:02:45,015 --> 00:02:47,400 His Chaplin's account of the voyage 43 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,170 says that Drake landed somewhere on the west coast of America. 44 00:02:51,170 --> 00:02:54,700 In a small bay, he came ashore and put up a brass plate, 45 00:02:54,700 --> 00:02:57,120 claiming the land for Queen Elizabeth. 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,430 He named the place, Nova Albion, or New Britain. 47 00:03:01,430 --> 00:03:03,550 GEORGE EPISON (VOICEOVER): Does this look like the place, Jeff? 48 00:03:03,550 --> 00:03:03,920 It was around here. 49 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:04,660 It could have been a little further over. 50 00:03:04,660 --> 00:03:07,080 NARRATOR: These two men believe that they could be standing 51 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,000 on the very spot where Drake staked 52 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,350 his claim with the brass plate. 53 00:03:11,350 --> 00:03:15,820 One of them, George Epison, is convinced this is the place. 54 00:03:15,820 --> 00:03:18,520 He has spent years trying to prove it. 55 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,570 The other, Jefferson Graves, could unwittingly once have 56 00:03:21,570 --> 00:03:23,360 held the proof in his hand. 57 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:24,920 [BACKGROUND CONVERSATION] 58 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:27,590 In the early 1930s as a child, he 59 00:03:27,590 --> 00:03:31,470 came to this spot for a picnic with his parents and a friend. 60 00:03:31,470 --> 00:03:34,940 He was digging in the soil when something caught his eye. 61 00:03:34,940 --> 00:03:36,840 All of a sudden, I saw something shiny. 62 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,560 And I ran over and started digging at that place. 63 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,210 And then pretty soon this shiny thing, 64 00:03:40,210 --> 00:03:42,350 it was getting bigger and bigger. 65 00:03:42,350 --> 00:03:43,550 And I started pulling at it. 66 00:03:43,550 --> 00:03:45,230 And I was trying to get it up. 67 00:03:45,230 --> 00:03:48,140 And it looked like something strange. 68 00:03:48,140 --> 00:03:51,460 NARRATOR: He says he picked up a rectangular brass plate. 69 00:03:51,460 --> 00:03:53,790 On the way home in the car Jefferson was examining 70 00:03:53,790 --> 00:03:56,110 the strange markings on it. 71 00:03:56,110 --> 00:03:58,230 Suddenly, his friend grabbed the plate 72 00:03:58,230 --> 00:04:00,130 and threw it out of the window. 73 00:04:00,130 --> 00:04:01,720 The parents drove on. 74 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,720 And that would've been the end. 75 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,648 76 00:04:07,648 --> 00:04:10,600 [CHURCH BELLS RINGING] 77 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,040 But in 1936, the plate turned up again. 78 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,880 it was found in Marin County and passed through a chain of hands 79 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:22,890 until it came here to the Bancroft Library at Berkeley. 80 00:04:22,890 --> 00:04:26,730 Historian, Dr. Herbert Bolton, was Director of the Bancroft. 81 00:04:26,730 --> 00:04:28,150 He was delighted. 82 00:04:28,150 --> 00:04:30,440 For years, he told his students how thrilling it 83 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,500 will be if Drakes plate of brass turned up. 84 00:04:33,500 --> 00:04:37,520 And suddenly it had been found and was in his care. 85 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,780 He declared it authentic, placed it in his library, 86 00:04:40,780 --> 00:04:42,270 and paid a reward to the finder. 87 00:04:42,270 --> 00:04:45,610 88 00:04:45,610 --> 00:04:48,580 Bolton's reputation was so great that no one thought 89 00:04:48,580 --> 00:04:50,760 to question his declaration. 90 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,480 But when he died, doubt started to creep in. 91 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,370 Specialists in Elizabethan English 92 00:04:56,370 --> 00:04:58,760 was suspicious of the wording. 93 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,950 The plate of brass was reexamined. 94 00:05:01,950 --> 00:05:03,680 ANTHONY BLISS (VOICEOVER): Unfortunately, we 95 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,780 don't find this artifact terribly convincing. 96 00:05:06,780 --> 00:05:08,890 There are too many things wrong with it. 97 00:05:08,890 --> 00:05:13,310 At first glance, the lettering is quite peculiar. 98 00:05:13,310 --> 00:05:18,180 The way of referring to the queen, for example, is odd. 99 00:05:18,180 --> 00:05:22,750 It's says, "Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England," which 100 00:05:22,750 --> 00:05:24,630 is not the way anyone in the 16th Century 101 00:05:24,630 --> 00:05:27,170 would have referred to the Monarch. 102 00:05:27,170 --> 00:05:29,990 It would've been, Elizabeth by the grace of God, 103 00:05:29,990 --> 00:05:33,410 Queen of England or some such formula. 104 00:05:33,410 --> 00:05:35,810 But certainly not this. 105 00:05:35,810 --> 00:05:40,720 The letter forms as well are really quite curious. 106 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,010 The way an N is made simply as a, 107 00:05:44,010 --> 00:05:46,490 not with a diagonal as we would expect, 108 00:05:46,490 --> 00:05:48,820 but with a bar across the top. 109 00:05:48,820 --> 00:05:51,240 In context, you can see it's an N. 110 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,260 But it looks for all the world like a Greek Pi. 111 00:05:53,260 --> 00:05:57,800 112 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,370 NARRATOR: Once the scholars had voiced their doubts, 113 00:06:00,370 --> 00:06:02,650 the scientists were called in. 114 00:06:02,650 --> 00:06:05,100 Dr. Frank Asaro holds the Nobel Prize 115 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:07,490 for his work in chemistry. 116 00:06:07,490 --> 00:06:10,730 In 1977, he was us to look at the metal 117 00:06:10,730 --> 00:06:14,090 from which the plate was made. 118 00:06:14,090 --> 00:06:17,490 He and his team drilled brass from the side of it 119 00:06:17,490 --> 00:06:19,810 and analyzed what they found. 120 00:06:19,810 --> 00:06:24,645 Our findings do not tell us what the age of the plate is. 121 00:06:24,645 --> 00:06:30,960 But what we did find out was that it was so extremely pure 122 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:38,830 in the extraneous elements that we look for that it could not 123 00:06:38,830 --> 00:06:41,900 have been made in Drake's time. 124 00:06:41,900 --> 00:06:46,930 The plate of brass is made from copper and zinc. 125 00:06:46,930 --> 00:06:49,790 They did not have copper of that purity 126 00:06:49,790 --> 00:06:52,600 available in Drake's time. 127 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,700 Zinc of that purity was not available in Drake's time. 128 00:06:56,700 --> 00:06:58,780 And they did not have the technology 129 00:06:58,780 --> 00:07:04,110 to make the composition of the plate of brass at that time. 130 00:07:04,110 --> 00:07:06,010 NARRATOR: Not only was the brass too pure, 131 00:07:06,010 --> 00:07:07,750 but the plate seemed to have been 132 00:07:07,750 --> 00:07:10,350 made using modern techniques. 133 00:07:10,350 --> 00:07:13,720 In the 16th Century, brass was hammered into shape. 134 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,710 But this plate bore all the signs of the 20th Century 135 00:07:16,710 --> 00:07:17,940 rolling mill. 136 00:07:17,940 --> 00:07:20,440 It was a standard thickness throughout. 137 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:24,490 The plate of brass is very close to an eighth 138 00:07:24,490 --> 00:07:25,480 of an inch thick. 139 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,710 It's homogeneous to one one-thousandth of an inch. 140 00:07:30,710 --> 00:07:35,170 Within our ability to measure, it corresponds exactly 141 00:07:35,170 --> 00:07:37,830 with the specifications for the number 142 00:07:37,830 --> 00:07:41,910 eight gauge of the American Wire Gauge Standard 143 00:07:41,910 --> 00:07:45,340 used in the 1930s. 144 00:07:45,340 --> 00:07:48,110 NARRATOR: Back at Agart Beach, George Epison's faith 145 00:07:48,110 --> 00:07:50,610 is undaunted by science or scholars. 146 00:07:50,610 --> 00:07:54,020 He's sure that the log of Drake's explorations 147 00:07:54,020 --> 00:07:56,880 and the description of the bay where he came ashore 148 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:58,130 point to this place. 149 00:07:58,130 --> 00:08:01,230 150 00:08:01,230 --> 00:08:03,260 With his metal detector, he's combed 151 00:08:03,260 --> 00:08:06,230 every inch of the sand looking for other things 152 00:08:06,230 --> 00:08:09,090 Drake may have left. 153 00:08:09,090 --> 00:08:11,040 Oh I love detecting down here. 154 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,810 And I kind of hear mummers here out in the ocean like voices. 155 00:08:14,810 --> 00:08:18,070 And there are sea dogs that come around, keep me company. 156 00:08:18,070 --> 00:08:21,380 It's sometimes a little spooky, but very interesting. 157 00:08:21,380 --> 00:08:22,850 I love it. 158 00:08:22,850 --> 00:08:25,620 NARRATOR: If, as he believes, the plate of brass is genuine, 159 00:08:25,620 --> 00:08:28,400 then this would indeed be a historic place. 160 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,420 He swore never to give up his campaign, 161 00:08:30,420 --> 00:08:32,110 to have it recognized. 162 00:08:32,110 --> 00:08:33,950 This is our country's oldest and rarest 163 00:08:33,950 --> 00:08:37,935 document, even rarer than the Constitution of American. 164 00:08:37,935 --> 00:08:42,370 It's very historic and should be acknowledged. 165 00:08:42,370 --> 00:08:44,340 NARRATOR: But if he's wrong and the scientists 166 00:08:44,340 --> 00:08:48,390 have proved it a fake, how could the hoax have happened? 167 00:08:48,390 --> 00:08:50,550 At Berkeley, they think they know. 168 00:08:50,550 --> 00:08:53,620 They blame a history professor with a little too much 169 00:08:53,620 --> 00:08:55,060 enthusiasm. 170 00:08:55,060 --> 00:08:59,690 He used to say in class that Drake's plate must be out there 171 00:08:59,690 --> 00:09:01,860 waiting to be discovered. 172 00:09:01,860 --> 00:09:04,630 Well, we've always supposed that that would 173 00:09:04,630 --> 00:09:09,160 be an invitation to students to get together 174 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,450 and produce what was wanted. 175 00:09:12,450 --> 00:09:19,210 And we very much think that's the most likely explanation 176 00:09:19,210 --> 00:09:20,900 of how this came into being. 177 00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:25,640 Professor Bolton was very charismatic man. 178 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,360 After I read his lectures, I wanted to go out 179 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,200 and find the plate of brass. 180 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,640 I can't give you his exact words, 181 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:37,410 but the ending of his speech was the order 182 00:09:37,410 --> 00:09:39,940 on the plate is there. 183 00:09:39,940 --> 00:09:40,790 Now go out and find it. 184 00:09:40,790 --> 00:09:46,800 185 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:48,980 NARRATOR: The Natural History Museum in London 186 00:09:48,980 --> 00:09:51,200 is home to the world's most famous collection 187 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:52,710 of scientific specimens. 188 00:09:52,710 --> 00:09:55,950 The material kept here has provided science 189 00:09:55,950 --> 00:09:58,420 with the information on which the natural history 190 00:09:58,420 --> 00:10:00,850 of the planet has been written. 191 00:10:00,850 --> 00:10:03,750 Specimens, like this fly encased in amber, 192 00:10:03,750 --> 00:10:07,630 resin which solidified 40 million years ago. 193 00:10:07,630 --> 00:10:09,190 Since it emerged from the collection 194 00:10:09,190 --> 00:10:12,420 of the German entomologist, Herman Lowe in 1850, 195 00:10:12,420 --> 00:10:15,660 it's been regarded as a prize exhibit, 196 00:10:15,660 --> 00:10:17,730 for the insect inside this amber is 197 00:10:17,730 --> 00:10:19,840 a member of the house fly family, 198 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,370 which still exists today. 199 00:10:22,370 --> 00:10:25,930 Scientists were amazed to find it had been around so long. 200 00:10:25,930 --> 00:10:28,680 And the natural history of flies was revised 201 00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:31,670 to include this rare discovery. 202 00:10:31,670 --> 00:10:34,350 Until one day, a student was hired to classify 203 00:10:34,350 --> 00:10:36,590 the museums and the collection. 204 00:10:36,590 --> 00:10:39,400 Andrew Ross was using a lamp at the time. 205 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:41,320 And I thought, wow, amazing specimen. 206 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:43,490 And then suddenly, a crack appeared around 207 00:10:43,490 --> 00:10:45,840 the fly just around here. 208 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,430 This actually caused from the gentle warmth 209 00:10:48,430 --> 00:10:51,040 from the microscope that I was using. 210 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,810 And this had me very worried, because such 211 00:10:52,810 --> 00:10:54,622 an important specimen, and then a crack 212 00:10:54,622 --> 00:10:57,344 suddenly appearing around it. And thought, oh, no. 213 00:10:57,344 --> 00:10:59,340 Now what do I do? 214 00:10:59,340 --> 00:11:00,340 And I quickly put it away. 215 00:11:00,340 --> 00:11:02,600 I hoped no one would notice it. 216 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,400 But then I thought, no. That's a bit strange. 217 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,290 It shouldn't be doing that. 218 00:11:06,290 --> 00:11:08,890 And then I looked at the slide from the side. 219 00:11:08,890 --> 00:11:10,830 And then everything became clear because someone 220 00:11:10,830 --> 00:11:12,120 had taken a piece of amber. 221 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,350 They cut it in half, hollowed the piece out, put a fly 222 00:11:15,350 --> 00:11:17,610 in some kind of molten resin, and glued 223 00:11:17,610 --> 00:11:19,950 the two bits back together. 224 00:11:19,950 --> 00:11:22,090 NARRATOR: The fact that it was a common house fly 225 00:11:22,090 --> 00:11:25,210 should've alerted the experts. 226 00:11:25,210 --> 00:11:27,310 ANDREW ROSS (VOICEOVER): The fly they chose is a species called 227 00:11:27,310 --> 00:11:30,905 Fannia Scalaris, known as the Latrine fly because it 228 00:11:30,905 --> 00:11:32,760 lives around toilets. 229 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:34,880 And it's a very advanced fly. 230 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,830 And 150 years ago, there was probably 231 00:11:37,830 --> 00:11:39,820 hundreds of them flying around. 232 00:11:39,820 --> 00:11:41,050 And it was probably just the nearest 233 00:11:41,050 --> 00:11:44,780 fly to hand, perhaps lying on a windowsill somewhere. 234 00:11:44,780 --> 00:11:46,690 NARRATOR: His discovery solved two problems 235 00:11:46,690 --> 00:11:48,530 troubling entomologists. 236 00:11:48,530 --> 00:11:50,530 Why was this the only living species 237 00:11:50,530 --> 00:11:52,030 to be found as a fossil? 238 00:11:52,030 --> 00:11:54,480 And why have no other prehistoric latrine flies 239 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:55,530 been found? 240 00:11:55,530 --> 00:11:59,531 It's quite satisfying to find that important specimen is 241 00:11:59,531 --> 00:12:00,230 a fake. 242 00:12:00,230 --> 00:12:02,940 Naturally, this solved a lot of problems 243 00:12:02,940 --> 00:12:06,080 because many entomologists have used 244 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,810 this particular species of an example of how long 245 00:12:09,810 --> 00:12:12,370 species of flied can live for. 246 00:12:12,370 --> 00:12:15,350 And they argued that the fossil record of insects 247 00:12:15,350 --> 00:12:18,550 is very poor because there's only one specimen 248 00:12:18,550 --> 00:12:21,090 and there should be a millions of others preserved in resin 249 00:12:21,090 --> 00:12:23,260 that are still living today. 250 00:12:23,260 --> 00:12:26,580 And we now know that the fossil record is much better 251 00:12:26,580 --> 00:12:31,790 and all the insects preserved in amber are extinct. 252 00:12:31,790 --> 00:12:34,870 In science, accusations of fraud and fakery 253 00:12:34,870 --> 00:12:36,860 usually have two results. 254 00:12:36,860 --> 00:12:38,670 One, is heated argument. 255 00:12:38,670 --> 00:12:41,450 The other is a thorough and often agonized 256 00:12:41,450 --> 00:12:45,570 reassessment of what were thought established facts. 257 00:12:45,570 --> 00:12:49,310 This is certainly true in 1985 when Sir Fred Hoyle 258 00:12:49,310 --> 00:12:51,470 and other eminent scientists claimed 259 00:12:51,470 --> 00:12:54,010 that one of the most important fossils ever discovered 260 00:12:54,010 --> 00:12:55,740 was a fake. 261 00:12:55,740 --> 00:12:57,340 It's called Archaeopteryx. 262 00:12:57,340 --> 00:12:59,500 And for more than a century, it had 263 00:12:59,500 --> 00:13:03,750 been hailed as the vital missing link between dinosaurs 264 00:13:03,750 --> 00:13:05,400 and modern birds. 265 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:09,270 Suddenly, it looked as all the textbooks on evolution 266 00:13:09,270 --> 00:13:10,205 would have to be rewritten. 267 00:13:10,205 --> 00:13:14,610 268 00:13:14,610 --> 00:13:17,360 NARRATOR: Curiously, all the Archaeopteryx fossils 269 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,770 have been found in one small corner of southern Germany 270 00:13:20,770 --> 00:13:24,410 around this stone quarry in Solnhofen. 271 00:13:24,410 --> 00:13:27,910 The story goes that in 1861, the first specimen 272 00:13:27,910 --> 00:13:31,370 appeared when a quarry workmen split a limestone slab. 273 00:13:31,370 --> 00:13:34,600 274 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,730 Over the years, a handful of other Archaeopteryx fossils 275 00:13:37,730 --> 00:13:38,814 emerged from the rock. 276 00:13:38,814 --> 00:13:47,050 277 00:13:47,050 --> 00:13:49,430 From them, the experts reconstructed 278 00:13:49,430 --> 00:13:51,580 this extraordinary creature. 279 00:13:51,580 --> 00:13:53,880 Hailed as the missing link between dinosaurs 280 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,060 and modern birds, it was thought to have 281 00:13:56,060 --> 00:13:59,730 flown 150 million years ago. 282 00:13:59,730 --> 00:14:03,340 Fossil hunters believed the bones survived for two reasons. 283 00:14:03,340 --> 00:14:05,410 The first was that they fell to their deaths 284 00:14:05,410 --> 00:14:07,910 in prehistoric slime. 285 00:14:07,910 --> 00:14:15,410 150 million years ago, this idea here was a shallow sea 286 00:14:15,410 --> 00:14:19,100 with lagoons at they're edges. 287 00:14:19,100 --> 00:14:22,700 Scientists suppose that Archaeopteryx has been living 288 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:27,490 nearby on-- naturally on trees or bushes, on land, 289 00:14:27,490 --> 00:14:31,730 but perhaps, by thunderstorms, had been driven into the sea 290 00:14:31,730 --> 00:14:33,910 and was drowned. 291 00:14:33,910 --> 00:14:35,660 NARRATOR: The fossils were also preserved 292 00:14:35,660 --> 00:14:39,427 because the mud solidified to the hardest of limestones. 293 00:14:39,427 --> 00:14:40,660 THEO KRESS (VOICEOVER): Archaeopteryx 294 00:14:40,660 --> 00:14:44,030 has been well preserved only here up to now 295 00:14:44,030 --> 00:14:47,580 because this stone is so hard and has 296 00:14:47,580 --> 00:14:50,260 not been attacked by nature. 297 00:14:50,260 --> 00:14:52,320 NARRATOR: Those who believe that all the Archaeopteryx 298 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,030 fossils are fake, point to another characteristic 299 00:14:55,030 --> 00:14:56,230 of the stone. 300 00:14:56,230 --> 00:14:58,330 It's so finely grained that it produces 301 00:14:58,330 --> 00:15:00,285 the best lithographic plates. 302 00:15:00,285 --> 00:15:03,510 Artists can etch the most detailed pictures on them. 303 00:15:03,510 --> 00:15:06,720 Hoax theorists argue that a 19th Century fossil hunter 304 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:07,700 engraved an Archaeopteryx. 305 00:15:07,700 --> 00:15:11,260 306 00:15:11,260 --> 00:15:13,370 In Canada, one investigator believes 307 00:15:13,370 --> 00:15:15,340 the essential ingredient for the hoax 308 00:15:15,340 --> 00:15:18,610 can be found in anyone's back garde Craig 309 00:15:18,610 --> 00:15:20,610 Willis thinks he knows exactly what 310 00:15:20,610 --> 00:15:23,420 the 19th Century forager did. 311 00:15:23,420 --> 00:15:26,270 Willis spotted three things that alerted him. 312 00:15:26,270 --> 00:15:29,740 The first was about the feathers. 313 00:15:29,740 --> 00:15:33,860 All of the specimens of the Archaeopteryx exhibit 314 00:15:33,860 --> 00:15:38,800 impressions of feathers, which are typical of modern birds 315 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:40,300 that are capable of flight. 316 00:15:40,300 --> 00:15:42,530 And the feature that stands out the most 317 00:15:42,530 --> 00:15:45,750 is the fact that they all exhibit this off center quill, 318 00:15:45,750 --> 00:15:48,430 or this asymmetric design, which is characteristic of the flight 319 00:15:48,430 --> 00:15:50,870 feathers of all modern birds. 320 00:15:50,870 --> 00:15:52,320 NARRATOR: Also, the Archaeopteryx 321 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,260 did not seem to have the bone structure 322 00:15:54,260 --> 00:15:56,040 of a creature that could fly. 323 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,770 CRAIG WILLIS (VOICEOVER): Not a single one of these exhibited 324 00:15:58,770 --> 00:16:01,220 the characteristic breast bone, which 325 00:16:01,220 --> 00:16:04,560 is the point of attachment for the huge flight muscles 326 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,070 required for flapping flight. 327 00:16:07,070 --> 00:16:09,180 NARRATOR: Finally, Willis argued that the bones 328 00:16:09,180 --> 00:16:11,190 lay flat in the stone. 329 00:16:11,190 --> 00:16:13,910 A three-dimensional creature should have produced 330 00:16:13,910 --> 00:16:16,610 a three-dimensional fossil. 331 00:16:16,610 --> 00:16:20,680 To make his fake fossil, he needs some Solnhofen limestone 332 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:22,330 and some chemicals. 333 00:16:22,330 --> 00:16:25,210 All of these were available in the mid 19th Century, 334 00:16:25,210 --> 00:16:28,240 when the Archaeopteryx appeared. 335 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,530 First, he rubs a fine powder from the limestone block. 336 00:16:31,530 --> 00:16:34,300 He now adds sodium silicate. 337 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:37,380 He believes this is the crucial ingredient. 338 00:16:37,380 --> 00:16:40,240 It makes the powdered rock reset into stone 339 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,440 indistinguishable from the original. 340 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,640 What I'm going to do, basically, 341 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:49,240 is make an impression of the surface of the feather. 342 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,320 A hoaxer would have greased the feather 343 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:55,120 so that no traces of down remained to give the game away. 344 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,760 And just apply a few drops of the sodium 345 00:16:57,760 --> 00:16:58,670 silicate to the surface. 346 00:16:58,670 --> 00:17:03,900 347 00:17:03,900 --> 00:17:05,660 And I just take the tip of my finger, 348 00:17:05,660 --> 00:17:08,970 and I make a nice feather-sized puddle. 349 00:17:08,970 --> 00:17:13,490 And with the powdered limestone, which I've already prepared, 350 00:17:13,490 --> 00:17:16,060 I just add it. 351 00:17:16,060 --> 00:17:19,329 I then take the feather and place 352 00:17:19,329 --> 00:17:29,220 the feather onto the surface of the mixture like so. 353 00:17:29,220 --> 00:17:30,690 NARRATOR: Once the feather is clamped 354 00:17:30,690 --> 00:17:32,950 into the artificial mud, it takes 355 00:17:32,950 --> 00:17:37,064 only minutes to set before Willis can check on his work. 356 00:17:37,064 --> 00:17:38,930 CRAIG WILLIS (VOICEOVER): Now, once the feather has been 357 00:17:38,930 --> 00:17:41,000 actually carefully peeled away from the service, 358 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,110 there are a couple of features that are striking. 359 00:17:43,110 --> 00:17:46,900 In terms of the texture and the color of the synthetic stone, 360 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:50,690 it's virtually indistinguishable from me background. 361 00:17:50,690 --> 00:17:53,010 And if you get up very close to it using a good quality 362 00:17:53,010 --> 00:17:55,460 magnifier, such as a jeweler's lens, 363 00:17:55,460 --> 00:17:59,660 it's quite easy to detect all of the very finest detail 364 00:17:59,660 --> 00:18:02,790 of the structure of the feathers, 365 00:18:02,790 --> 00:18:08,480 such as have been noted by investigators who have actually 366 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,880 examined the Archaeopteryx fossils under 367 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,850 a scanning electron microscope. 368 00:18:14,850 --> 00:18:17,460 NARRATOR: Comparison with the Archaeopteryx fossil 369 00:18:17,460 --> 00:18:18,620 confirms Willis's belief. 370 00:18:18,620 --> 00:18:21,390 371 00:18:21,390 --> 00:18:25,330 I'm absolutely convinced that all of the Archaeopteryx, 372 00:18:25,330 --> 00:18:27,740 or the alleged Archaeopteryx fossils, 373 00:18:27,740 --> 00:18:31,600 we're absolutely brilliantly executed forgeries, 374 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,850 using a process, if not identical to the one 375 00:18:34,850 --> 00:18:37,370 that I've just described, and in all its basic features, 376 00:18:37,370 --> 00:18:38,325 very, very similar. 377 00:18:38,325 --> 00:18:41,380 378 00:18:41,380 --> 00:18:43,490 NARRATOR: But back at the Solnhofen quarry, 379 00:18:43,490 --> 00:18:45,680 they don't believe that Willis and the critics 380 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,740 have cracked the case. 381 00:18:47,740 --> 00:18:50,470 Only two years ago, this quarry man discovered the world's 382 00:18:50,470 --> 00:18:52,260 seventh Archaeopteryx. 383 00:18:52,260 --> 00:18:56,070 He says it was in a place no forager could've gotten into, 384 00:18:56,070 --> 00:18:59,030 deep inside a limestone block. 385 00:18:59,030 --> 00:19:00,910 [SPEAKING GERMAN] 386 00:19:00,910 --> 00:19:02,750 INTERPRETER: I was working away with hammer and chisel. 387 00:19:02,750 --> 00:19:05,950 And I was throwing away material we couldn't use. 388 00:19:05,950 --> 00:19:07,540 As I was doing so, I realized there 389 00:19:07,540 --> 00:19:09,400 was a fossil in this stone. 390 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:11,010 I recognized it as an Archaeopteryx 391 00:19:11,010 --> 00:19:12,750 by the number of its claws. 392 00:19:12,750 --> 00:19:15,750 A dinosaurs has five claws, and an archaeopteryx, only three. 393 00:19:15,750 --> 00:19:24,817 394 00:19:24,817 --> 00:19:26,850 ARTHUR C. CLARKE (VOICEOVER): When they're trying to work out 395 00:19:26,850 --> 00:19:29,860 whether a find is genuine, archaeologists always 396 00:19:29,860 --> 00:19:31,850 check to make sure that there's nothing 397 00:19:31,850 --> 00:19:35,490 suspicious about the circumstances of its discovery. 398 00:19:35,490 --> 00:19:39,450 So when, in 1911, two English school boys claimed that they'd 399 00:19:39,450 --> 00:19:42,750 found a masterpiece of prehistoric art during a break 400 00:19:42,750 --> 00:19:47,050 from class is not surprising that at first investigators 401 00:19:47,050 --> 00:19:52,340 thought the lads had cooked up an elaborate practical joke. 402 00:19:52,340 --> 00:19:54,680 NARRATOR: The Sherborne bone is on its way from London 403 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,060 to the McDonald Archaeological Institute in Cambridge. 404 00:19:58,060 --> 00:20:00,750 To scientists amazement, it's taken 80 years 405 00:20:00,750 --> 00:20:02,550 to establish the truth. 406 00:20:02,550 --> 00:20:05,885 It's latest investigator is Dr. Francesco D'Errico. 407 00:20:05,885 --> 00:20:08,405 I brought from the Natural History Museum 408 00:20:08,405 --> 00:20:11,560 the Sherborne bone with the engraving 409 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:13,440 of a horse, as you can see. 410 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,800 And please have a look at it. 411 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,710 NARRATOR: On the bone is a carving of a horse's head. 412 00:20:19,710 --> 00:20:22,020 It's been claimed that the bone and the carving 413 00:20:22,020 --> 00:20:26,940 are as much as 10,000 years old. 414 00:20:26,940 --> 00:20:29,650 The story began early this century at a boy's 415 00:20:29,650 --> 00:20:31,790 public school in Dorset. 416 00:20:31,790 --> 00:20:34,550 Sherborne became the unwitting focus for this long 417 00:20:34,550 --> 00:20:37,120 running archaeological mystery. 418 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:38,760 The Sherborne bone was apparently 419 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,120 discovered in the quarry in the school's grounds. 420 00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:44,440 Retired Sherborne master, Jim Gibb, 421 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:46,805 as follows the twists and turns of the controversy. 422 00:20:46,805 --> 00:20:49,950 423 00:20:49,950 --> 00:20:55,500 In 1911, two new boys went for a walk up to the quarries 424 00:20:55,500 --> 00:21:01,420 and found this bone with a horse's head scratched on it. 425 00:21:01,420 --> 00:21:04,940 They took it to their day room in the house. 426 00:21:04,940 --> 00:21:08,960 Older boys rubbished it and Cortese, one of the new boys 427 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,840 who found it, decided to throw it into the fire. 428 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:14,640 He was stopped by an older boy, who said, 429 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,295 give it to the science master. 430 00:21:16,295 --> 00:21:19,370 431 00:21:19,370 --> 00:21:22,270 It's probably genuine. 432 00:21:22,270 --> 00:21:24,350 NARRATOR: The science master did indeed wonder 433 00:21:24,350 --> 00:21:26,390 if the bone might be genuine. 434 00:21:26,390 --> 00:21:30,080 He took it to be examined by experts at the British Museum. 435 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,330 They declared it was the work of Stone Age man. 436 00:21:33,330 --> 00:21:35,890 But not everyone was convinced. 437 00:21:35,890 --> 00:21:37,840 15 years after the bone was found, 438 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,980 the first doubts were emerging when an Oxford scientist, 439 00:21:40,980 --> 00:21:43,620 Professor Solis, said he suspected it 440 00:21:43,620 --> 00:21:45,440 was a schoolboy hoax after all. 441 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,970 442 00:21:47,970 --> 00:21:50,700 The debate has continued over decades. 443 00:21:50,700 --> 00:21:53,470 Now, Dr. Robert Krasinski or the Natural History 444 00:21:53,470 --> 00:21:57,453 Museum in London, is hoping for a verdict from Doctor D'Errico. 445 00:21:57,453 --> 00:22:00,326 Tell me what you can see-- what you conclude about it. 446 00:22:00,326 --> 00:22:06,158 447 00:22:06,158 --> 00:22:09,790 Well, we have a number of things to look at, 448 00:22:09,790 --> 00:22:12,650 to check the authenticity of the engravings-- 449 00:22:12,650 --> 00:22:17,080 the shape of engravings and difference in patterner. 450 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,210 NARRATOR: The patterner is the surface texture of the bone. 451 00:22:20,210 --> 00:22:22,900 And Dr. D'Errico knows if the bone and the carving 452 00:22:22,900 --> 00:22:25,930 are the same age, the patterner will be uniform. 453 00:22:25,930 --> 00:22:29,900 But if the carving is more modern, differences will show. 454 00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:32,750 The carved lines will be covered in much less sediment 455 00:22:32,750 --> 00:22:33,891 than the rest of the bone. 456 00:22:33,891 --> 00:22:35,790 FRANCESCO D'ERRICO (VOICEOVER): The bone seems to contain 457 00:22:35,790 --> 00:22:37,540 any traces of the sediment. 458 00:22:37,540 --> 00:22:39,960 You you don't see any patterner where 459 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:40,864 you have the incised lines. 460 00:22:40,864 --> 00:22:42,030 FRANCESCO D'ERRICO (VOICEOVER): No. 461 00:22:42,030 --> 00:22:45,540 The line seems clear, even quite white. 462 00:22:45,540 --> 00:22:49,930 And the surface of the bone is light brown. 463 00:22:49,930 --> 00:22:51,590 So the difference of patterner here 464 00:22:51,590 --> 00:22:57,950 is not a good indication for the authenticity of the engraving. 465 00:22:57,950 --> 00:23:00,320 But I think we have to do something 466 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,660 more to be sure of it. 467 00:23:03,660 --> 00:23:07,060 NARRATOR: The bone and the carving are of different ages. 468 00:23:07,060 --> 00:23:09,760 The museum turned to Oxford University. 469 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,340 Is has one of the world's leading 470 00:23:11,340 --> 00:23:14,300 carbon-14 dating laboratories. 471 00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:16,610 scientist's regard this as probably the most 472 00:23:16,610 --> 00:23:18,650 accurate method available. 473 00:23:18,650 --> 00:23:21,490 The bone was sent to Dr. Robert Hedges. 474 00:23:21,490 --> 00:23:23,960 When we were given the Sherborne bone, 475 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:29,050 our aim is to date the time when the animal whose bone it was 476 00:23:29,050 --> 00:23:29,990 was living. 477 00:23:29,990 --> 00:23:32,320 This is the powder that we would take 478 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,190 from the bone to begin with. 479 00:23:34,190 --> 00:23:37,610 And that bone powder contains some protein. 480 00:23:37,610 --> 00:23:41,180 We can extract the protein, which is a very tiny amount. 481 00:23:41,180 --> 00:23:43,040 And this very tiny amount of protein 482 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,600 contains the original carbon atoms 483 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,370 that were part of the animal when it was alive. 484 00:23:48,370 --> 00:23:50,610 And it's in these carbon atoms that we measure how much 485 00:23:50,610 --> 00:23:52,485 radiocarbon still survives. 486 00:23:52,485 --> 00:23:54,770 And the amount that survives tells us 487 00:23:54,770 --> 00:23:57,500 how long ago the animal lived. 488 00:23:57,500 --> 00:24:01,480 The longer ago, the less the radiocarbon. 489 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:05,580 But we found that the bone was about 600 years old. 490 00:24:05,580 --> 00:24:08,240 And of course, this means it's much too young 491 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,090 to have been covered with an engraving 492 00:24:11,090 --> 00:24:14,250 made in Paleolithic times. 493 00:24:14,250 --> 00:24:16,120 So it must have been done very, very 494 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:17,347 much more recently than that. 495 00:24:17,347 --> 00:24:20,620 496 00:24:20,620 --> 00:24:24,570 NARRATOR: At Sherborne, Jim Gibb accepts the verdict of science. 497 00:24:24,570 --> 00:24:27,832 But he still has faith in the integrity of the two boys 498 00:24:27,832 --> 00:24:29,220 who found the bone. 499 00:24:29,220 --> 00:24:32,350 I think the whole thing was done by older boys, probably 500 00:24:32,350 --> 00:24:34,460 only a year or two older. 501 00:24:34,460 --> 00:24:37,180 They knew a bit about Paleolithic art 502 00:24:37,180 --> 00:24:40,020 because the science master lectured on it. 503 00:24:40,020 --> 00:24:47,060 And the history of the story I think makes it genuine. 504 00:24:47,060 --> 00:24:48,927 But, of course, I was wrong. 505 00:24:48,927 --> 00:24:56,240 506 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,110 Though museum curators may lose sleep 507 00:24:59,110 --> 00:25:02,410 worrying if they're exhibits are fakes, I think the rest of us 508 00:25:02,410 --> 00:25:06,230 secretly enjoy the idea that perhaps we're being coned. 509 00:25:06,230 --> 00:25:09,000 That's why some artists who fake paintings only 510 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,540 become successful when they're caught, 511 00:25:11,540 --> 00:25:14,120 like the British painter, Tom Keating, whose 512 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:18,200 fraudulent old masters came to be valued almost as highly 513 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,420 is a real things, which all goes to show 514 00:25:21,420 --> 00:25:24,860 that the pleasure provided by a truly ingenious hoax, 515 00:25:24,860 --> 00:25:27,560 can be absolutely genuine. 516 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,310 [MUSIC PLAYING] 517 00:25:30,310 --> 00:26:00,367