The Clacton Spear is the Oldest Known Wooden Tool

In 1911, an extraordinary archaeological discovery was made in the small coastal town of Clacton-on-Sea (Essex, England). Samuel Hazzledine Warren, an amateur prehistorian who had been searching for simple stone tools in a Paleolithic sediment, discovered what he initially thought was a piece of animal antler.

But he soon realized it was a fragmented wooden spear tip, and he presented it to the Geological Society of London. For a long time, scholars doubted its authenticity, believing early hominids lacked the skills necessary to make a spear and relied on scavenging to obtain food. Warren’s discovery was even considered by some to be a snow probe used to find frozen carcasses.

However, the discovery of a circular hole in a horse scapula excavated in Boxgrove changed these views, as it was thought to have been made by a spear tip and is 100,000 years older than the Clacton spear.

Another image of the Clacton spear.Credit: Annemieke Milks / University College London

The spear consists of a sharpened tip made from a yew branch. It was found broken into two main pieces, but when reconstructed, it was identified as a finely crafted wooden spear dating back over 400,000 years. This makes it the oldest known worked wooden tool.

It measured 38.7 centimeters in length by 39 millimeters in diameter, although desiccation over the first few decades of storage reduced it to 36.7 centimeters in length by 37 millimeters in diameter. It was stabilized in 1952 with a wax impregnation treatment.

The site where the Clacton spear tip was found contained ancient sediment deposits, allowing for radiometric dating and analysis of the environment preserved in these sediments. Thanks to this, archaeologists determined that the spear was made during an interglacial period in Britain known as the Hoxnian. During this warmer phase, between 430,000 and 360,000 years ago, Britain would have been covered by forests of pine, birch, oak, and other trees.

Additionally, researchers suggest it could have been made with a curved flint tool, similar to those found at the site.

Its discovery provided clear evidence that hominids who inhabited Britain during the Hoxnian interglacial period used complex tools to hunt and survive in these forests.

Before this finding, the oldest wooden artifacts in Britain dated back only 12,000 years. The Clacton spear set back the record of wooden craftsmanship by over 400,000 years.

The style and craftsmanship of the spear tip also provided clues about its maker. Archaeologists concluded that it was made by Homo heidelbergensis, a primitive human species and possible ancestor of the Neanderthals. H. heidelbergensis demonstrated intelligence and abilities comparable to those of modern humans, including language, complex tool-making, and coordinated hunting.

The Clacton spear sparked a wave of research on ancient wooden artifacts across Europe. But it wasn’t until 1994 that another example as ancient of wooden tool-making was discovered at a major site in Germany called Schöningen. There, a treasure trove of wooden spears was found dating back 300,000-400,000 years, along with various animal bones from the slaughter of horses and other large game animals.

Because only the tip of the Clacton spear survives, the Schöningen spears, also made by Homo heidelbergensis, are considered the oldest that remain intact. They were carved from spruce and pine wood, measuring between 2 and 3 meters in length, and had thin bases that could fit into a wooden handle to maximize strength and accuracy when thrown over prey.

In many ways, the wooden spears of Schöningen expand the story first told by the Clacton spear. Both reflect the ingenious tool-making skills passed down to early human populations, who relied on coordinated hunting to survive. They also show that, at least 400,000-300,000 years ago, hominids had developed advanced throwing spears and other technologies to hunt animals systematically across Europe.

However, although Schöningen offers a vast collection of spears, the Clacton spear still holds special significance. It represents one of the earliest pieces of evidence of such sophisticated wooden tools used for hunting by early humans.

The discovery of this carved wooden spear tip in 1911 triggered a series of investigations that ultimately led to sites like Schöningen, providing further insights into the capabilities of our earliest human ancestors.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on September 19, 2023: La lanza de Clacton, el utensilio de madera más antiguo conocido