| hyoid bone | A delicate bone in the neck that anchors the tongue muscles in the throat.
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| endocast | A copy or cast of the inside of a skull, reflecting the general shape and arrangement of the brain and its various parts.
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| lateralization | The division of the human brain into two halves.
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| mitochondrial DNA | Genetic material in the mitochondria of human cells that mutates at a relatively constant rate.
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| ancient DNA | Genetic material preserved in archaeological remains of bones and plants that can be studied for information about past genetic relationships.
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| brow ridge | That part of the skull above the eye orbits.
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| occipital bun | A distinctive shelf or protrusion at the base of the skull; a feature usually associated with Neanderthals.
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| robust | "Big-boned," heavy, thick-walled skeletal tissue. Robust early hominins had very large teeth.
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| Mousterian | A term describing the stone tool assemblages of the Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic, named after the site of Le Moustier in France.
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| Levallois | A technique for manufacturing large, thin flakes or points from a carefully prepared core.
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| blade | A special kind of elongated flake with two parallel sides and a length at least twice the width of the piece.
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| blank | Abasic form or perform from which various kinds of tools can be shaped.
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| loess | Wind-blown silt deposited in deep layers in certain parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
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| solifluction | A phenomenon in which freezing and thawing of the ground results in slippage of the surface.
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| red ochre | An iron mineral that occurs in nature, used by prehistoric peoples in powdered form as a pigment for tanning animal skins.
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| mural art | Painting, engraving, and sculpting on the walls of caves, shelters, and cliffs.
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| portable art | Decorated materials that can be moved or carried.
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| radiocarbon dating | An absolute dating technique based on the principle of decay of the radioactive isotope of carbon, 14Carbon; used to date archaeological materials within the past 40,000 years.
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| accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) | A method of radiocarbon dating using an accelerator to count the individual isotopes of the carbon sample.
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| calibrated dates | Dates resulting from the process of calibration, the correction of radiocarbon years to calendar years, by means of a curve or formula derived from the comparison of radiocarbon dates and tree rings from the bristlecone pine. Calibration extends approximately 6000 years into the past.
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| Paleoindian | The period of large-game hunters in North America at the end of the Pleistocene.
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| fluted point | The characteristic artifact of the Paleoindian period in North America. The flute refers to a large channel flake removed from both sides of the base of the point to facilitate hafting.
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| Clovis | An archaeological culture during the Paleoindian period in North America, defined by a distinctive type of fluted point.
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| Folsom | An archaeological culture during the Paleoindian period in North America, defined by a distinctive type of fluted point and found primarily in the Great Plains.
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| pressure flaking | A technique for producing stone artifacts by removing flakes from a stone core by pressing with a pointed implement.
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| obsidian | Translucent, gray to black or green, glasslike rock from molten sand.
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