The Clactonian question: On the interpretation of core-and-flake assemblages in the British Lower Pleolithic

In recent years, the nature, significance, and validity of the British core -and-flake assemblage known as the Clactonian have come under close scrutin y. More traditional ideas, which see the Clactonian as the product of a dis tinct, non-handax-making technical tradition, are being challenged by notio ns of a single European knapping repertoire in which the proportion of hand axes varies according to factors such as activity facies, local raw materia l potential, and landscape use. Furthermore, recent technological studies w hich show a basic technological parity between the Acheulean and the Clacto nian, including claims for rare atypical bifaces within the Clactonian, hav e been argued as eroding the very rationale for seeing the Clactonian as a separate entity. These challenges have gained widespread acceptance, despit e a lack of empirical support in some cases, questionable conclusions, and hints of a widely ignored, yet intriguing chronological recurrence. A revie w of the empirical basis and interpretation of the Clactonian, in both rece nt years and the recent past, suggests that the Clactonian is in danger of being explained away, rather than explained.