Students at North Hall Middle School got the chance to learn about fossils and prehistoric humans from a visiting archaeologist Friday.

Michael Causey, who grew up in Hall County before going on to study archaeology at Harvard University and Oxford University in England, gave students a presentation about the major milestones and figures of archaeology.

Students from gifted social studies and science classes got to sit in on the presentation, which expanded on topics they are learning in class.

Causey talked about people like Willard Libby, the scientist who discovered radiocarbon dating, and Donald Johanson, who found the famous hominid fossil known as "Lucy" in Ethiopia.

But he also told students about a lesser-known skull called "Piltdown Man," which until the early 1950s was believed to be the skull of an early human.

Scientists later proved that it was a hoax created by fusing pieces of an orangutan skull with a modern human skull.

"For 50 years it served as the most important fossil in human evolution," Causey said.

He also told the North Hall kids about one of his own teachers, Stephen Jay Gould, who challenged Darwin's theory of gradual evolution with the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which proposes that species are generally stable for millions of years until a rapid burst of change results in a new species.

Causey included pictures of ancient bones and skeletons and even a picture of himself as a student when he discovered an ancient bone in eastern Africa.

He talked about many different archaeologists and theories throughout history, but the message he left with students is that they should always approach science with their own curiosity and skepticism.

"I want to encourage you guys to think about these things for yourself," Causey said. "Read about them, discover what you can about them and make up your own mind. Don't take anything about archaeology or paleontology for granted."

Buddy Fisch, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at North Hall Middle, said he was pleased the students had the chance to be exposed to the material and ask questions of an expert in the field.

"It's a rare opportunity for an archaeologist to give us a presentation," Fisch said.

"Doing the gifted and advanced classes, we're trying to provide opportunities for extension and enrichment. It's a real opportunity for them to get exposure to this level of knowledge."

Causey said it is a good opportunity to talk to younger kids because they have the ability to be open-minded about the subject.

"I just try to present different viewpoints about the history of the earth," Causey said. "It's so the kids can decide for themselves."