Clacton Spear facts for kids
The Clacton Spear is the tip of a wooden spear found in Clacton-on-Sea, England, in 1911. This amazing discovery is about 400,000 years old! That makes it the oldest known wooden tool ever made by early humans.
What Does the Clacton Spear Look Like?
The Clacton Spear is made from strong yew wood. When it was first found, it was about 38.7 centimeters (15 inches) long and shaped like a point. Over many years, it dried out a bit, shrinking slightly and bending into a gentle curve.
It was treated with wax in 1952 to help keep it safe. The very tip of the spear has broken off a couple of times but has been carefully put back together by experts. Today, you can see the Clacton Spear on display at the Natural History Museum, London. The museum states its age as 420,000 years old.
Scientists have tried to make copies of the spear. They think it was shaped by scraping it with a curved flint tool. These types of tools, called a Clactonian notch, were found at the same site.
How Was It Found and Why Is It Important?
An amateur historian named Samuel Hazzledine Warren discovered the spear. He was looking for simple stone tools in an area known for very old artifacts from the Stone Age.
At first, he thought it might be an antler. But he soon realized it was likely the tip of a spear. He showed it to the Geological Society of London, and many agreed it was a spear tip.
However, some experts doubted it. They wondered if early humans, who lived so long ago, were smart enough to plan and make a spear for hunting. They thought it might be a simpler tool, like a digging stick.
But then, in 1995, something exciting happened! Several more complete wooden spears were found in Germany. These spears, called the Schöningen Spears, were about 300,000 years old. They clearly showed that early humans could indeed make and use spears for hunting. Because of this, the Clacton Spear is now widely accepted as a true spear point. It is a very important piece of history that shows us how clever our early ancestors were!
