The Clacton (Essex) Channel Deposits

Abstract

Summary New field evidence of the Clacton channel deposits i3 recorded. A general revision of the non-marine mollusca by the late A. S. Kennard and Mr. C. P. Castell points to the same invasion of Rhenish species that Kennard found in the middle of the Swanscombe sequence. The marine mollusca of the estuarine stage include nothing to distinguish them from the Holocene, although the rest of the biotope points to the mid-Pleistocene. The erratic rocks are traced back by Mr. D. F. W. Baden-Powell to a stream of proto-Thames material from the west passing through mid-Essex to the gravel cliffs at Holland-on-Sea and Clacton. A few remains of Microtinae have been examined by Mr. M. A. C. Hinton and these tentatively suggest close comparison with Grays. The mammalian remains are not described in detail, but the finding of the remains of the food of Rhinoceros in the crevices of the molars is recorded. The Clacton Stage is associated closely with the Early Taplow brickearth of Grays-Thurrock, and equally with the middle part of the Swanscombe sequence.

The record from British Quaternary river systems within the context of global fluvial archives

“…1(g)). Within the last-mentioned is found the famous Hoxnian (MIS 11) Clacton Channel deposits, which contain the type-Clactonian Lower Palaeolithic industry (Warren, 1955;Bridgland et al, 1999;Wymer, 1999;Fig. 2(b)).…”

Humans in the Hoxnian: habitat, context and fire use at Beeches Pit, West Stow, Suffolk, UK

“…Most archaeological sites of Hoxnian age, however, occur in valleys, usually in river terrace deposits. Examples include the famous sites at Swanscombe, Kent (Ovey, 1964;Bridgland, 1994;Conway et al, 1996), and Clacton-on-Sea, Essex (Warren, 1955;Bridgland, 1994;Bridgland et al, 1999), both of which are beyond the limits of the Anglian glaciation.…”

Integrated chronological control on an archaeologically significant Pleistocene river terrace sequence: the Thames-Medway, eastern Essex, England

“…In addition to the samples dated as part of the MVPP, regional data is also presented from opercula from Clacton and Cudmore Grove (Roe et al, 2009). Channels of different ages are present at Clacton (Warren, 1955) but the material from Clacton presented here comes from samples correlated with the Lower Freshwater Bed within the Hoxnian channel at West Cliff, and is attributed on AAR and biostratigraphical grounds to the early part of MIS 11 (Bridgland et al, 1999;Penkman et al, 2010).…”

“…Bridgland, 1994;2006). The region (Figure 1) is located between the rich archaeological sites of Swanscombe (Bridgland, 1994, p. 193-218) and Clacton (Warren, 1955;Bridgland et al, 1999), at both of which there is evidence for two different industries superimposed within a single interglacial period: Clactonian and Acheulian. In contrast, in eastern Essex, although there is a wealth of interglacial deposits, all the artefacts reported in the 30 sites listed in the English Rivers Palaeolithic Project (Wessex Archaeology, 1996;1997), where securely provenanced, are associated with gravels thought to be deposited within cold stages.…”