20 Famous Relics That Turned Out to Be Fakes

Piltdown Man was discovered in 1912 in East Sussex. He was presented as the “missing link” of the Pleistocene between humans and apes. For more than 40 years, these skull fragments fueled debates about human evolution. In 1953, fluorine analyses and anatomical studies revealed that the find consisted of a human skull combined with an orangutan jawbone whose teeth had been filed down.

The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth that many have long considered to be the burial shroud of Jesus. The faint image imprinted on it has made it one of the most famous religious relics in the world. In 1988, carbon-14 dating established that the cloth dated from approximately 1260 to 1390, placing it in the Middle Ages rather than in first-century Judea.

The “Donation of Constantine” claimed that the Roman Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century, had ceded Rome and vast imperial powers to Pope Sylvester I, thereby sparking debates about religious and political power. In the 15th century, Lorenzo Valla demonstrated that the text was a forgery through linguistic analysis, showing that its Latin contained terms and concepts specific to the medieval world.

The Cardiff Giant was a gypsum statue nearly three meters tall that was unearthed in Cardiff, New York, in 1869. This discovery fueled the public’s fascination with biblical giants and prehistoric mysteries, but it soon became clear that this “giant” was merely a statue carved by George Hull. Hull had buried the statue to stage this “discovery” in order to mock biblical literalism.

The Calaveras Skull was discovered in 1866 in a mine shaft in Calaveras County, California. Presented as evidence that humans had lived in North America during the Pleistocene, this discovery pushed back the history of humanity on this continent by several million years. Modern dating methods have, however, shown that the skull was far too recent to support this hypothesis and that it had likely been placed there as a prank.

Discovered in Minnesota in 1898, the Kensington Rune Stone purported to document a Scandinavian expedition dating back to 1362. If it were authentic, it would have provided striking evidence of Viking voyages in the Middle Ages to the heart of North America. Most experts have dismissed it as a modern forgery due to linguistic issues, unusual runes, and the overly modern language used on the stone itself. 

The “Michigan Relics” began appearing throughout Michigan between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Presented as evidence of an ancient biblical influence in North America, these objects included tablets, sculptures, and religious scenes. Experts eventually concluded that this collection was a large-scale hoax, pointing to the crude craftsmanship, the suspicious nature of the depictions, and the connections to known modern artisans.

These massive terracotta figures were sold as ancient Etruscan sculptures from Italy, purportedly dating from around the 5th century B.C. In 1960, chemical analyses revealed the presence of modern materials in the glaze, and subsequent confessions confirmed that these warriors were recent forgeries.

The Saitaphernes tiara was a gold crown acquired in France in 1896. Presented as having belonged to a Scythian ruler of the 3rd or 2nd century B.C., its refined ornamentation and inscription helped perpetuate the myth of an ancient royal treasure. This legend came crashing down when a goldsmith came forward in 1903, proving that he himself had crafted the tiara.

The “Vinland Map” was made public in 1965 as a 15th-century map proving that the Vikings knew of North America before Christopher Columbus. Subsequent analyses revealed the presence of modern materials in the ink, and more recent tests confirmed that the map was a 20th-century forgery.

The Sacromonte lead tablets were discovered near Granada, Spain, between 1595 and 1606. Initially presented as ancient Christian writings dating from Roman times, the language, script, and historical context later showed that these lead tablets were 16th-century creations.

The Sinaia lead plates appeared in Romania in the 19th century and are said to have preserved a lost Dacian chronicle dating back to antiquity. These plates featured strange inscriptions, laws, cities, temples, and battle scenes. Issues related to metallurgy and linguistics, as well as their obscure origin, have led many researchers to consider them modern forgeries.

The “Newark Sacred Stones” were reportedly discovered in Ohio beginning in 1860; they bore inscriptions in Hebrew, including a version of the Ten Commandments. They were used to support the theory that the ancient Israelites had reached North America before Christopher Columbus. However, scientific analysis, issues with the script, and suspicious circumstances surrounding their discovery revealed that they were 19th-century forgeries and not ancient relics.

The “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” was presented in 2012 as a small fragment of Coptic papyrus purported to contain an ancient Christian text. Researchers subsequently identified serious problems regarding its provenance and content, and the fragment came to be widely regarded as a modern forgery.

Crystal skulls were often presented as ancient Aztec or Mayan relics from pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Their smooth, eerie appearance helped give rise to legends of lost wisdom, ritual power, and mysterious civilizations. Microscopic analysis revealed traces of modern tools and abrasives, proving that these famous specimens were in fact crafted in the 19th or 20th century.

Beringer’s “lying stones” were carved pieces of limestone “discovered” near Würzburg, Germany, in 1725. Presented as fossils from a distant natural history, they depicted animals, stars, and even sacred names. Johann Bartholomeus Adam Beringer, who had found these stones, later realized that he had been the victim of a hoax. 

The “Drake Brass Plate” appeared in California in the 1930s; it was claimed to be a marker left by Francis Drake during his landing in 1579. For years, it was regarded as a valuable artifact from the early explorations of the Pacific coast. In 1977, neutron activation analysis revealed that the brass was too recent to date from the 16th century.

The Bat Creek Stone was discovered in Tennessee in 1889. Initially linked to excavations of Native American burial mounds, it was later presented as potential evidence of contact between the ancient Hebrews and North America. Scientific analysis determined that the inscription was a 19th-century forgery, likely copied from a printed source.

The Davenport tablets were discovered in Iowa in the 1870s and were believed to prove that the ancient mound builders had a written culture. The scenes and symbols engraved on them fueled early theories that sought to separate the mounds from Native American history. Doubts regarding their condition, their inscriptions, and the context of their discovery eventually led researchers to conclude that they were hoaxes.

The “Princess of Amarna” was sold in England in 2003 as a rare Egyptian-style statue dating from the Amarna period, associated with the reign of Akhenaten in the 14th century BCE. It was long considered an authentic antique. A police investigation, followed by a confession, revealed that it was in fact a modern creation made by a skilled forger.