Eoanthropus

It was given the scientific name Eoanthropus dawsoni, which roughly translated as Dawson’s Dawn Ape.

The U.K. human evolution research community enthusiastically embraced Eoanthropus dawsoni, better known as Piltdown Man.

Acceptance of Eoanthropus as a valid proto-human might have been the ‘mainstream’ view that made it into textbooks and encyclopedias, but it certainly wasn’t the only one, nor was this acceptance wholesale or uncontroversial. 

The cranium, he thought, should be referred to the genus Homo and the name Eoanthropus, he proposed, should be discarded.

Regardless, these concerns over Woodward’s expertise did not affect acceptance of Eoanthropus as an ancestor to modern humans among British palaeontologists.