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{{Short description|Classification of European archaeology}}
{{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name = Clactonian
|map = Spreading homo sapiens laFile:Hand-axe-Clactonian.svgJPG
|mapcaption = Clactonian Flake Tool from Rickson’s Farm pit, Swanscombe, Kent, UK.
|mapalt =
|mapalt =Clactonian Flake Tool from Rickson’s Farm pit, Swanscombe, Kent, UK.
|altnames =
|horizon =
|region = [[Afro-Eurasia]]England
|period = [[Lower Paleolithic]]
|dates = c. 300424,000 – c. 200415,000 BP
|typesite = [[Clacton-on-Sea]]
|majorsites = [[Barnham, Suffolk|Barnham]], [[Nile]], [[Swanscombe Heritage Park]]
|extra =
|precededby = [[Acheulean]]
|followedby = [[Mousterian]]
}}
[[File:Homo erectus new.JPG|thumb|200px|left|A reconstruction of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' at the Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Herne, Germany, in a 2006 exhibition. Clactonian tools were made by Homo erectus rather than modern humans.]]
[[File:Hand-axe-Clactonian.JPG|200px|thumb|left|Clactonian Hand-axe from Rickson’s Farm pit, Clacton, Essex.]]
The '''Clactonian''' is the name given by [[archaeologist]]s to an [[archaeological industry|industry]] of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the [[interglacial]] period known as the [[Hoxnian Stage|Hoxnian]], the [[Mindel glaciation|Mindel]]-[[Riss glaciation|Riss]] or the [[Holstein interglacial|Holstein stages]] (c. 400,000 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.
 
The '''Clactonian''' is the name given by [[archaeologist]]s to an [[archaeological industry|industry]] of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the [[Hoxnian interglacial|Hoxnian Interglacial]] (corresponding to the global [[Marine Isotope Stage 11]] and the continental [[Holstein Interglacial]]) around 424-415,000 years ago.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Parfitt |first=Simon A. |last2=Lewis |first2=Mark D. |last3=Bello |first3=Silvia M. |date=2022-11-23 |title=Taphonomic and technological analyses of Lower Palaeolithic bone tools from Clacton-on-Sea, UK |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-23989-x |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-23989-x |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=9684524 |pmid=36418870}}</ref> Clactonian tools were made by ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first= Nick|last= Ashton |title=Early Humans |publisher=William Collins |location = London |year=2017|page=145-47, 314 |isbn=978-0-00-815035-8 }}</ref> The Clactonian is primarly distinguished from the (globally) contemporaneous [[Acheulean]] industry by its lack of use of [[Hand axe|handaxe]] tools.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Tom S. |last2=Bridgland |first2=David R. |last3=Allen |first3=Peter |last4=White |first4=Mark J. |date=August 2023 |title=The Clacton-on-Sea (Essex, UK) GCR site and SSSI: New data and continuing importance |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0016787823000603 |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |language=en |volume=134 |issue=4 |pages=490–501 |doi=10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.07.007}}</ref>
It is named after 400,000-year-old finds made by Hazzledine Warren in a [[palaeochannel]] at [[Clacton-on-Sea]] in the [[England|English]] county of [[Essex]] in 1911. The [[Artifact (archaeology)|artefact]]s found there included flint [[chopping tool]]s, flint [[Lithic flake|flake]]s and the tip of a worked wooden shaft along with the remains of a giant elephant and [[European Hippopotamus|hippopotamus]]. Further examples of the tools have been found at sites including [[Barnfield Pit]] and Rickson's Pit<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.100%20-%201984/100-02.pdf|title=Clactonian Flints from Rickson’s Pit, Swanscombe|last=Tester|first=P. J.|date=1984|website=Archaeologia Cantiana - Vol. 100 1984|publisher=KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY|access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref> near [[Swanscombe]] in [[Kent]] and [[Barnham, Suffolk|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)|chopper]]. 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 (lithics)|Retouch]] is uncommon and the prominent [[bulb of percussion]] on the flakes indicates use of a [[hammerstone]].▼
 
▲It is named after 400,000-year-old finds made by Samuel Hazzledine Warren in a [[palaeochannel]] at [[Clacton-on-Sea]] in the [[England|English]] county of [[Essex]] in 1911. The [[Artifact (archaeology)|artefact]]s found there included flint [[chopping tool]]s, flint [[Lithic flake|flake]]s and the tip of a worked wooden shaft along with, the remains of a giant elephant and [[EuropeanClacton Hippopotamus|hippopotamusSpear]]. Further examples of the tools have been found at sites including [[Barnfield Pit]] and Rickson's Pit,<ref>{{Cite webjournal |url=httphttps://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Researchnode/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.100%20-%201984/100-02.pdf12033 |title=Clactonian Flints from Rickson’sRickson's Pit, Swanscombe|last=Tester|first=P. J.|date=1984 |websitejournal=Archaeologia Cantiana - Vol. |volume=100 |pages=15–28 1984|publisher=KENTKent ARCHAEOLOGICALArchaeological Society SOCIETY|access-date=12 July 2016}} {{open access}}</ref> near [[Swanscombe Palaeolithic site|Swanscombe]] in [[Kent]] and [[Barnham, Suffolk|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)|chopper]]. 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 (lithics)|Retouch]] is uncommon and the prominent [[bulb of percussion]] on the flakes indicates use of a [[hammerstone]].
Within the banks of the [[Nile River]], at the 100 foot terrace, excavations located Egyptian version of Clactonian.<ref name=Langer>{{cite book|title=An Encyclopedia of World History| editor-last = Langer | editor-first = William L. |edition = 5th | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company| location = Boston, MA| year = 1972 | isbn = 0-395-13592-3|pages = 9}}</ref>
 
Although in modern literature the term almost exclusively refers to finds in Britain,<ref>{{Citation |last=McNabb |first=John |title=Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian |date=2020 |work=Culture History and Convergent Evolution |pages=29–53 |editor-last=Groucutt |editor-first=Huw S. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3 |access-date=2024-07-28 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3 |isbn=978-3-030-46125-6}}</ref> the term was historically used broadly for finds across much of the Old World.<ref name=Langer>{{cite book|title=An Encyclopedia of World History| editor-last = Langer | editor-first = William L. |edition = 5th | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company| location = Boston, MA| year = 1972 | isbn = 0-395-13592-3|pages = 9}}</ref> The distinctiveness of the Clactonian industry has been questioned, because its techniques are very similar to those of the Acheulean industry, and the use of handaxes is known in Britain both before (such as at [[Boxgrove Palaeolithic site|Boxgrove]]) and after the Clactonian, with handaxes also suggested to be found at a number of Clactonian sites.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=McNabb |first=John |title=Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian |date=2020 |work=Culture History and Convergent Evolution |pages=29–53 |editor-last=Groucutt |editor-first=Huw S. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3 |access-date=2024-07-28 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3 |isbn=978-3-030-46125-6}}</ref>
{{
Location map+|Afro-Eurasia|width=1024|float=center|caption=Map of [[Afro-Eurasia]] showing important sites of the Clactonian industry (clickable map).|places=▼
 
== Description ==
{{
The Clactonian is described as a "[[Lithic flake|flake]] and [[Lithic core|core]]" industry distinguished from the [[Acheulean]] from its lack of use of [[Hand axe|handaxes]]. The cores were used as [[Chopper (archaeology)|choppers]]. The shapes of the lithic flakes do not follow a standard pattern.<ref name=":3" /> While historically the Clactonian industry was thought to have used stone only to create lithic artefacts, recent evidence has been found supporting the use of animal bones as soft hammers for [[Knapping|stone knapping]].<ref name=":2" />
Location map~|Afro-Eurasia|lat=52.38|long=0.747|position=up|label_size=75|label=[[Barnham, Suffolk|Barnham]]
 
}}
==The ClactonianHistory and controversy ==▼
▲{{Location map+|Afro-EurasiaEngland|width=1024300|float=centerright|caption=Map of [[Afro-EurasiaEngland]] showing important sites of the Clactonian industry (clickable map).|places=
 
{{
Location map~|Afro-EurasiaEngland|lat=5152.791838|long=10.1457747|position=leftup|label_size=75|label=[[Clacton-on-SeaBarnham, Suffolk|Barnham]]
}}
 
{{
Location map~|Afro-EurasiaEngland|lat=3051.1666677918|long=31.1.1457|position=left|label_size=75|label=[[NileClacton-on-Sea]]
}}
 
{{
Location map~|Afro-EurasiaEngland|lat=51.445589|long=0.299111|position=down|label_size=75|label=[[Barnfield Pit]]
}}
 
}}
The industry was first defined by Samuel Hazzledine Warren in 1926 based on finds at Clacton-on-Sea, England. In the early 20th century, the Clactonian and Acheulean industry were thought to be produced by two different lineages of humans, due to the perceived primitive nature of Clactonian stoneknapping. While some authors in the 1950s connected the Clactonian to the African [[Oldowan]] industry, this was later discarded once radiometric dating made it clear that Oldowan was far older than the Clactonian. 1950s authors suggested that the Clactonian may have been ancestral to the Acheulean industry in Britain. While some modern authors have supported this assertion, this has been disputed by other authors, who suggest that end of the Clactionian in Britain and the return of the use of handaxes was the result of a migration of a new population of hominins from the continent replacing the Clactonian producing hominins.<ref name=":0" /> It has been suggested by some authors that Clactonian may have originated from populations of hominins in the adjacent [[Rhineland]] area, who also did not use handaxes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moncel |first=Marie-Helene |last2=Ashton |first2=Nick |last3=Lamotte |first3=Agnes |last4=Tuffreau |first4=Alain |last5=Cliquet |first5=Dominique |last6=Despriée |first6=Jackie |date=December 2015 |title=The Early Acheulian of north-western Europe |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278416515000884 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |language=en |volume=40 |pages=302–331 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2015.09.005}}</ref> Some authors have regarded the Clactonian as simply a regional variant of the Acheulean.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ashton |first=Nick |date=July 2016 |title=The human occupation of Britain during the Hoxnian Interglacial |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618215011805 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=409 |pages=41–53 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.055}}</ref>
 
== Lifestyle ==
▲==The Clactonian controversy==
The Clactonian dates to the early part of the [[Hoxnian interglacial|Hoxnian Interglacial]] (which correlates with the mainland European [[Holstein interglacial]] and the global [[Marine Isotope Stage 11]]), when Britain had a [[temperate deciduous forest]] environment and climate similar to that of Britain during the contemporary [[Holocene]] period.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Candy |first=Ian |last2=Schreve |first2=Danielle C. |last3=Sherriff |first3=Jennifer |last4=Tye |first4=Gareth J. |date=January 2014 |title=Marine Isotope Stage 11: Palaeoclimates, palaeoenvironments and its role as an analogue for the current interglacial |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012825213001554 |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |language=en |volume=128 |pages=18–51 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.09.006}}</ref> One of the most important Clactonian sites was found near Ebbsfleet, Kent, where a large [[straight-tusked elephant]] (''Palaeoloxodon antiquus'') skeleton was found associated with Clactonian type stone tools, which are suggested to have been used to butcher the elephant. Evidence has also been found for the Clactonian butchery of [[fallow deer]] (''[[Dama clactoniana]]'').<ref name=":0" />
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 [[biface|bifacially]] working a flint core. In the 1990s it was argued<ref name=Ashton>{{cite book|title=Contemporaneity of Clactonian and Acheulian flint industries at Barnham, Suffolk ''in'' Antiquity ''68 (1994), 260''|author1=Ashton, N. |author2=McNabb, J. |pages = 585–589|display-authors=etal}}</ref> that the difference between Clactonian and Acheulean may be a false distinction. 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 is considered strong evidence of the Clactonian being a separate industry. Flint of sufficient quality was available in the area and it is likely that the people who carved up the elephant did not 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 Stage]], the glaciation that preceded the Hoxnian Stage and therefore would have preceded the Clactonian. Whether or not they are separate industries it would seem that the 'Clactonian' and 'Acheulean' stone tool makers would have had cultural contact with each other.
 
==See also==
{{Paleolithic|lower}}▼
* [[Acheulean]]
*[[Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures]]
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
Butler, C, ''Prehistoric Flintwork'', Tempus : Strood, 2005▼
==Further reading==
▲* Butler, C, ''Prehistoric Flintwork'', Tempus : Strood, 2005
 
==External links==
*[http://www.dartfordarchive.org.uk/early_history/magnified/clactonian_flake_tools.html Drawings of Clactonian tools]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3821527.stm "Stone Age elephant remains found"]▼
 
▲*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3821527.stm "Stone Age elephant remains found"]
▲{{Paleolithic}}
 
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of Europe]]
[[Category:EuropeanArchaeology archaeologyin Europe]]
[[Category:Archaeological artefact groups]]
[[Category:Homo heidelbergensis]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in England]]
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