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The Piltdown Man, “ Eoanthropus,” was not a paleontological discovery like any other (especially since Teilhard de Chardin played a considerable role); it was above all one of the most celebrated hoaxes of the 20th century, and famous for being a major reference point in anthropology for forty years. What can such a hoax tell us about imposture? Its relationship with science is only contingent (as we maintain) but also structural. “Structural” as the “phantasy of science” emerges (as the enthusiasm for hoaxes, among other things, demonstrates), since science is called upon to respond to the epitome of “subjective” questions: the one about the origins.