Experimental Clactonian Technique

Abstract

The exact way in which ancient man made stone implements has occupied the interest of many prehistorians. One way of helping to solve this problem is by trying to make implements oneself. Although several investigators have done isolated and rather sporadic work along these lines, there seem to be few accounts of any systematic series of experiments. The most complete descriptions known to me are those by J. Reid Moir (hand-axes and Levallois flakes) and Sir Francis Knowles (Neolithic arrow-heads). Although M. Coutier's experiments have been filmed, no written account of them seems to be available.As I have been experimenting for some years with the making of various types of stone implements, some of my results can now be described; only one short reference to this work has been published so far. My objects in making these investigations have been to find out as much as possible about the way in which Palaeoliths were made, and about the conditions under which the work was done. Information about conditions was obtained by doing the flaking ‘in the field’ rather than in a laboratory or workshop, that is to say, the stone was usually worked at the place where it was found in quarries or natural exposures. The main conclusion derived from this aspect of the investigation was that until early man learned to mine for flint, for instance, he would find very little suitable raw material in country covered by grass, trees or bushes, and my work proved that if artificial gravel pits and chalk quarries were not used, the best sources of stone were in river beds or on the shores of lakes or the sea.