[2] The Clactonian is primarily distinguished from the (globally) contemporaneous Acheulean industry by its lack of use of handaxe tools.

[3] It is named after finds made by Samuel Hazzledine Warren in a palaeochannel at Clacton-on-Sea in the English county of Essex in 1911.

The Clactonian industry involved striking thick, irregular flakes from a core of flint, which was then employed as a chopper.

[5] It has been suggested by some authors that Clactonian may have originated from populations of hominins in the adjacent Rhineland area, who also did not use handaxes.

[8] The Clactonian dates to the early part of the Hoxnian Interglacial (which correlates with the mainland European Holstein interglacial and the global Marine Isotope Stage 11), when Britain had a temperate deciduous forest environment and climate similar to that of Britain during the contemporary Holocene period.