Everything about The Clactonian totally explained
The
Clactonian is the name given by
archaeologists to an
industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the
interglacial period known as the
Hoxnian, the
Mindel-
Riss or the
Holstein interglacial (300,000–200,000 years ago). Clactonian tools were made by
Homo erectus rather than modern humans. The term is sometimes applied to early, crude
flint tools from other regions that were made using similar methods.
It is named after 300,000 year old finds made by
Hazzledine Warren in a
palaeochannel at
Clacton-on-Sea in the
English county of
Essex in 1911. The
artefacts found there included flint
chopping tools, flint
flakes and the tip of a worked wooden shaft along with the remains of a giant elephant and
hippopotamus. Further examples of the tools have been found at sites including
Barnfield Pit near
Swanscombe in
Kent and
Barnham in
Suffolk; similar industries have been identified across Northern Europe. The Clactonian industry involved striking thick, irregular flakes from a core of flint, which was then employed as a
chopper (archaeology). The flakes would have been used as crude knives or scrapers. Unlike the
Oldowan tools from which Clactonian ones derived, some were notched implying that they were attached to a handle or shaft.
Retouch is uncommon and the prominent
bulb of percussion on the flakes indicates use of a
hammerstone.
The Clactonian controversy
The Clactonian industry may have co-existed with the
Acheulean industry, which used identical basic techniques but which also had
handaxe technology; tools made by
bifacially working a flint core. In the 1990s it was argued that the difference between Clactonian and Acheulean may be a false distinction however. The Clactonian industry may in fact be the same thing as the Acheulean and only assessed as being different due to its tools being Acheulean ones made by individuals who had no need for handaxes on the occasion that they made them. Differences in environment and the availability and quality of local raw materials may account for the differences between the two industries, which, at one point it was inferred, were only perceived by modern archaeologists.
However, the 2004 excavation of a butchered
Pleistocene elephant at the Southfleet Road site of
High Speed 1 in Kent recovered numerous Clactonian flint tools but no handaxes. As a handaxe would have been more useful than a chopper in dismembering an elephant carcass it's considered strong evidence of the Clactonian being a separate industry. Flint of sufficient quality was available in the area and it's likely that the people who carved up the elephant didn't possess the knowledge to make the more advanced bifacial handaxe. Proponents of the Clactonian as an independent industry point to the lack of concrete evidence in favour of it being an anomalous Acheulean industry. The precise
provenance of the few attributed bifacial Clactonian tools (which point to Acheulean influence) is in dispute.
The traditional chronology of Clactonian being followed by Acheulean is also being increasingly challenged since finds of Acheulean tools were made at
Boxgrove in
Sussex and
High Lodge in Suffolk. These finds came from deposits connected with the
Anglian glaciation, the glaciation that preceded the Hoxnian and therefore would have preceded the Clactonian. Whether or not the they're separate industries it would seem that the 'Clactonian' and 'Acheulean' stone tool makers would have had cultural contact with each other.
Further Information
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