| osteology | "The study of the structure, function, and evolution of the skeleton."
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| sexual dimorphism | Physical differences between the sexes of a species not related to reproductive features.
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| carnivore | An organism adapted to a diet of mostly meat.
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| omnivore | An organism with a mixed diet of animal and vegetable foods
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| paleopathology | "The study of disease and nutritional deficiency in prehistoric populations, usually through the examination of skeletal material."
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| trephination | "Cutting a hole in the skull, presumably to treat some illness, a practice within some societies with prescientific knowledge."
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| sites | Locations that contain fossil and archaeological evidence of human presence.
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| petrified | "Turned to stone. As the organic material of a fossil decays, it is slowly replaced by minerals, leaving a cast in stone of the organism or some of its parts."
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| provenience | The precise location where a fossil or artifact was found.
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| superposition | "The principle of stratigraphy that, barring disturbances, more recent layers are superimposed over older ones."
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| relative dating technique | A dating method that indicates the age of one item in comparison to another. Stratigraphy provides relative dates by indicating that one layer is older or younger than another. Compare with absolute dating technique.
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| biostratigraphy | The study of fossils in their stratigraphic context. Used as a relative dating technique.
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| absolute dating techniques | "A dating method that gives a specific age, year, or range of years for an object or site."
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| chronometric techniques | Another name for absolute dating techniques.
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| radiometric | Referring to the decay rate of a radioactive substance.
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| radiocarbon dating | A radiometric dating technique using the decay rate of a radioactive form of carbon found in organic remains.
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| half-life | The time needed for one-half of a given amount of a radioactive substance to decay.
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| potassium/argon (K/Ar) dating | "A radiometric dating technique using the rate at which radioactive potassium, found in volcanic rock, decays into stable argon gas."
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| argon/argon dating | A radiometric dating technique that uses the decay of radioactive argon into stable argon gas. Can be used to date smaller samples and volcanic rock with greater accuracy than potassium/argon dating.
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| electron spin resonance (ESR) dating | "An absolute dating technique that measures the number of electrons excited to higher energy levels by natural radiation and trapped at those levels. Can be used to date tooth enamel, shells, corals, mineral cave deposits, and volcanic rock, but does not work well on bone."
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| luminescence dating | "An absolute dating technique that measures trapped electrons by releasing their energy in the form of light. Can be used to date fired clay, pottery, brick, and burnt stones. It may have some application in soil dating."
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| taphonomy | The study of how organisms become part of the paleontological record—how fossils form and what processes affect them through time.
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