Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:19:33.622Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Excavation of the Clactonian Industry at the Golf Course, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

Ronald Singer ,
John Wymer ,
Bruce G. Gladfelter  and
Ronald G. Wolff
Ronald Singer
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, University of Chicago
John Wymer
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, University of Chicago
Bruce G. Gladfelter
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle
Ronald G. Wolff
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, University of Chicago
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Clacton-on-Sea is a coastal town in the County of Essex, England. It is 75 km northeast of London, 18 km southeast of Colchester (fig. 1). The archaeological site which is the subject of this report comes within Clacton Urban District (civil parish of Great Clacton) although associated earlier discoveries extend to Jaywick Sands, and in the opposite direction, northward, to Holland-on-Sea, both in the same Urban District. The National Grid Reference for the site is TM 157134.

The Pleistocene deposits at Clacton have attracted attention since the first half of the nineteenth century when John Brown of Stanway collected mammalian remains from the foreshore (Brown 1838, 1840). Flint artifacts first appear to have been recognized at the end of the century (Kenworthy 1898). Hazzledine Warren watched exposures between Clacton Pier and Lion Point from about 1910 to 1950, and collected the large quantity of artifacts and faunal remains now in the British Museum. His many papers give much of the history and details of the site and surrounding area (especially Warren 1922, 1923, 1924, 1951, 1955). The only previous controlled archaeological examination in the Clacton area was conducted by Dr K. Oakley and Mrs M. Leakey in 1934 on behalf of the British Association, and their report was published in volume 3 of these Proceedings (Oakley and Leakey 1937). More recently, pollen data relating to these excavated deposits have been obtained from boreholes behind the cliff on West Marine Parade and the foreshore (Pike and Godwin 1953; Turner and Kerney 1971).

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 39 , December 1973 , pp. 6 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arkell, W. J., 1945. ‘Palaeoliths from the Wallingford Fan-gravels’, Oxoniensia, 8–9, 1–18.Google Scholar
Arkell, W. J., 1947. The Geology of Oxford, Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Baden-Powell, D. F. W., 1949. ‘Experimental Clactonian Technique’, PPS, 15, 38–41.Google Scholar
Breuil, H., 1932. ‘Les Industries à éclats du Paléolithique ancien, 1: Le Clactonien’, Préhistoire, 1, 148–57.Google Scholar
Brown, J., 1838. ‘Discovery of a Large Pair of Fossil Horns in Essex’, Mag. Nat. Hist., n.s. 2, 163–4.Google Scholar
Brown, J., 1840. ‘Notice of a Fluvio-marine Deposit containing Mammalian Remains occurring in the Parish of Little Clacton, on the Essex coast’, Mag. Nat. Hist., n.s. 4, 197–201.Google Scholar
Chandler, R. H., 1930. ‘On the Clactonian Industry at Swanscombe’, PPS E. Anglia, 6, 79–116.Google Scholar
Clayton, K. M., 1960. ‘The Landforms of Parts of Southern Essex’, Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr., 28, 55–74.Google Scholar
Collins, D., 1969. ‘Culture Traditions and Environment of Early Man’, Curr. Anthrop., 10, 267–316.Google Scholar
Corbet, G. B., 1966. The Terrestrial Mammals of Western Europe, London, G. T. Foulis and Co., Ltd.Google Scholar
Corbet, G. B., 1969. The Identification of British Mammals, 2nd ed., London, British Museum (Natural History).Google Scholar
Crawford, O. G. S., 1921. Man and his Past, Oxford.Google Scholar
Darling, F. F., 1937. A Herd of Red Deer, Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fisher, O., 1868. ‘A Few Notes on Clacton, Essex’, Geol. Mag., 5, 213–5.Google Scholar
Gladfelter, B. G. (in press). ‘Cold-climate Features in the Vicinity of Clacton-on-Sea (Essex)’, Quaternaria.Google Scholar
Hayward, J. F., 1958. ‘Exhibit at Ordinary Meeting (1013th meeting)’, Essex Nat., 30, 140.Google Scholar
Kenworthy, J. W., 1898. ‘Palaeolithic Flakes from Clacton’, Essex Nat., 17, 15.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R., and Oakley, K. P., 1936. ‘The Pleistocene Succession in the Lower part of the Thames Valley’, PPS, 2, 52–76.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B., 1968. Pleistocene Mammals of Europe, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson.Google Scholar
Leeds, E. T., 1930. ‘Antiquities from Essex in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’, Trans. Essex archaeol. Soc., 19, 248, pl. 1c.Google Scholar
McCullough, D. R., 1969. The Tule Elk, Its History, Behavior, and Ecology, University of California Publications in Zoology, 88.Google Scholar
Murie, O. J., 1951. The Elk of North America, Washington D.C.Wildlife Management Institute.Google Scholar
Oakley, K. P., and Leakey, M., 1937. ‘Report on Excavations at Jaywick Sands, Essex (1934), with some Observations on the Clactonian Industry, and on the Fauna and Geological Significance of the Clacton Channel’, PPS, 3, 217–60.Google Scholar
Paterson, T. T., 1937. ‘Studies in the Palaeolithic Succession in England: No. 1. The Barnham Sequence’, PPS E. Anglia, 3, 87–135.Google Scholar
Pike, K., and Godwin, H., 1953. ‘The Interglacial at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex’, Q. Jl. geol. Soc. Lond., 108, 261–72.Google Scholar
Sainty, J. E., and Watson, A. Q., 1944. ‘Palaeolithic Implements from Southacre’, Norfolk Archaeol., 28, 183–6.Google Scholar
Shotwell, J. A., 1955. ‘An Approach to the Paleoecology of Mammals’, Ecology, 36, 327–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snelling, A. J. R., 1964. ‘Excavations at the Globe Pit, Little Thurrock, Grays, Essex, 1961’, Essex Nat., 31, 199–208.Google Scholar
Soper, J. D., 1941. ‘History, range, and home life of the northern Bison’, Ecological Monographs, 11 (4), 347–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swanscombe Committee, 1938. ‘Report on the Swanscombe Skull: Prepared by the Swanscombe Committee of the Royal Anthropological Institute’, J. roy. anthrop. Inst., 68, 17–98.Google Scholar
Treacher, M. S., Arkell, W. J., and Oakley, K. P., 1948. ‘On the Ancient Channel between Caversham and Henley, Oxfordshire, and its contained Flint Implements’, PPS, 14, 126–54.Google Scholar
Tricart, J., and Cailleux, A., 1967. Le Modèle des Régions Périglaciaires, Soc. d'Edition d'Enseignement Supérieur, Paris.Google Scholar
Turner, C., 1970. ‘The Middle Pleistocene Deposits at Marks Tey, Essex’, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (B), 257, 373–440.Google Scholar
Turner, C., and Kerney, M. P., 1971. ‘The Age of the Freshwater Beds of the Clacton Channel’, J. geol. Soc., Lond., 127, 93–5.Google Scholar
Van den Brink, F. H., 1967. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Britain and Europe, London, Collins.Google Scholar
Voorhies, M. R., 1969. Taphonomy and Population Dynamics of an early Pliocene Vertebrate Fauna, Knox County, Nebraska, University of Wyoming (Laramie), Contributions to Geology, Special Paper No. 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waechter, J. d'A., 1969. ‘Swanscombe 1968 (interim report on new excavations in the Barnfield Pit)’, Proc. roy. anthrop. Inst. Gr. Brit. Ireland for 1968, 53–61.Google Scholar
Waechter, J. d'A., 1970. ‘Swanscombe 1969 (Barnfield Pit, Kent)’, Proc. roy. anthrop. Inst. Gr. Brit. Ireland for 1969, 83–93.Google Scholar
Waechter, J. d'A., 1971. ‘Swanscombe 1970’, Proc. roy. anthrop. Inst. Gr. Brit. Ireland for 1970, 43–9.Google Scholar
Waechter, J. d'A., 1972. ‘Swanscombe, 1971’, Proc. roy. anthrop. Inst. Gr. Brit. Ireland for 1971, 73–8.Google Scholar
Walker, E. P., 1968. Mammals of the World, 2nd ed., Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1911. Proceedings, Q. Jl. geol. Soc. Lond., 67, xcix.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1922. ‘The Mesvinian Industry of Clacton-on-Sea’, PPS E. Anglia, 3, 597–602.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1923. ‘The Elephas Antiquus Bed of Clacton-on-Sea (Essex) and its Flora and Fauna’, with Reports by Reid, C. and Reid, E. M., Groves, J., Andrews, C. W., Hinton, M. A. C., Withess, T. H., Kennard, A. S. and Woodward, B. B., Q. Jl. geol. Soc. Lond., 79, 606–34.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1924. ‘The Elephant-Bed of Clacton-on-Sea’, Essex Nat., 21, 32–40.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1933. ‘The Palaeolithic Industries of the Clacton and Dovercourt districts’, Essex Nat., 24, 1–29.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1951. ‘The Clactonian Flint Industry: A New Interpretation’, Proc. Geol. Ass., 62, 107–35.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1955. ‘The Clacton (Essex) Channel Deposits’, Q. Jl. geol. Soc. Lond., III, 287–307.Google Scholar
Warren, S. H., 1958. ‘The Clacton Flint Industry: a Supplementary Note’, Proc. Geol. Ass., 69, 123–9.Google Scholar
West, R. G., 1956. ‘The Quaternary Deposits at Hoxne, Suffolk’, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (B), 239, 265–356.Google Scholar
West, R. G., 1968. Pleistocene Geology and Biology, London, Longmans.Google Scholar
Williams, R. B. G., 1964. ‘Fossil pattern ground on eastern England’, Bīuletyn Perglacjalny, 14, 337–49.Google Scholar
Wolff, R. G., 1973. ‘Hydrodynamic sorting and ecology of a Pleistocene mammalian assemblage from California (U.S.A.)’, Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol, 13, 91–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, E. S., 1953. ‘A Clactonian Bone Implement’, PPS, 19, 120–1.Google Scholar
Wooldridge, S. W., 1957. ‘Some Aspects of the Physiography of the Thames Valley in Relation to the Ice Age and Early Man’, PPS, 23, 1–19.Google Scholar
Wooldridge, S. W., and Henderson, H. C. K., 1955. ‘Some aspects of the Physiography of the Eastern Part of the London Basin’, Inst. Brit. Geog., Trans. and Pap., 21, 19–31.Google Scholar
Wymer, J. J., 1957. ‘A Clactonian Flint Industry at Little Thurrock, Grays, Essex’, Proc. Geol. Ass., 68, 159–77.Google Scholar
Wymer, J. J., 1961. ‘The Lower Palaeolithic Succession in the Thames Valley and the date of the Ancient Channel between Caversham and Henley’, PPS, 27, 1–27.Google Scholar
Wymer, J. J., 1968. Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain: as represented by the Thames Valley, London, John Baker.Google Scholar
Wymer, J. J., and Singer, R., 1970. ‘The First Season of Excavations at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England: a Brief Report’, World Archaeol., 2, 12–16.Google Scholar
Zeuner, F. E., 1959. The Pleistocene Period. Its Climate, Chronology and Faunal Successions, London, Hutchinson Scientific and Technical.Google Scholar