20
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
in this I found a fine last lower molar of Elephas trogontherii, not
the usual E. antiquus of the Clacton channels.
There is a deposit of loam on the foreshore below East
Mersea church that is the richest bone-bed I have ever seen, but
the bones have suffered so much from exposure that they are
difficult to extract. There is also an associated gravel here. I
have identified Elephas antiquus, Hippopotamus and Rhinoceros,
but no trace of the Clactonian industry.
The Clactonian Industry.8
The Palaeolithic industry of the Clacton channel was first
discovered by the Rev. J. W. Kenworthy in 1898, and our Strat-
ford Museum is fortunate in possessing some of his original
specimens. The value of these specimens, is however, mainly
historical and sentimental, as they are insufficient to give
any true idea of the character of the industry.
The study of the Clactonian industry has materially contri-
buted to the establishment of what I have called the new per-
spective in the interpretation of Palaeolithic times, that is to say,
to the realization of the view that there were entirely distinct
industries, doubtless belonging to equally different human
races, each proceeding contemporaneously along its own separate
and independent line of evolution. It might well be, for example,
that one race would occupy the forests, like the Forest Dwarfs
of Africa, and a different but contemporary race the open
plains.
The most important and characteristic implement of the
Clactonian industry is the side-chopper. Its nature is indicated
in the outline and cross-section fig. 1, 7. The back, seen at the
top of the cross-section, gives a very firm hand-grip, while
the segmental cutting edge, which is produced by a small number
of bold flakes, is usually furnished with several sharp pointed
cusps. It is extremely primitive, but a most practical and
efficient instrument.
Some authorities regard these "choppers" as being merely
cores. To my mind the evidences against this view are :—(1)
They are always flaked to produce a segmental edge, that is
balanced to the hand-grip ; (2) The flakes struck from them
would be rather useless ; (3) The Clacton people were perfectly
8 Formerly called "Mesvinian." Proc. Pre. Soc. E. Anglia, vol. iii., 1922, p. 597.