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Clactonian

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 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.

It is named after 400,000-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 and Rickson's 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. 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.

Within the banks of the Nile River, at the 100 foot terrace, excavations located Egyptian version of Clactonian.

Usage examples of "clactonian".

You admit to stupid, you cop to thoughtless, you plead brain-dead, you vouchsafe radical DNA damage all the way back to the Mesolithic, including that embarrassing contretemps involving your ancestor Hoockmuh of the Clactonians which resulted in your being minus a lobe or two of brain, and thus you are truly and genuinely contrite about having cut him off.