| Acheulian technique | A toolmaking tradition associated with Homo erectus/ergaster in Africa and Europe. Includes hand axes, cleavers, and flake tools.
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| bifacial | A stone tool that has been worked on both sides.
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| endocasts | Natural or human-made casts of the inside of a skull. The cast reflects the surface of the brain and allows us to study the brains of even extinct species.
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| glaciers | Massive sheets of ice that expand and move. Found on the polar ice caps and in mountains.
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| haft | To attach a wooden handle or shaft to a stone or bone point.
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| hand axe | A bifacial, all-purpose stone tool, shaped somewhat like an axe head. First invented by Homo erectus and usually associated with that species.
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| law of parsimony | A principle that relies on using the simplest explanation in formulating a scientific hypothesis. Another name for Ockham's razor.
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| Levallois technique | A tool technology involving striking uniform flakes from a prepared core. See core tools and flake tools.
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| Mousterian technique | A toolmaking tradition associated with the European Neandertals.
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| Pleistocene | The geological time period, from 1.6 mya to 10,000 ya, characterized by a series of glacial advances and retreats. See glaciers.
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| postorbital constriction | A narrowing of the skull behind the eyes, as viewed from above.
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| sagittal keel | A sloping of the sides of the skull toward the top, as viewed from the front.
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| torus | A bony ridge at the back of the skull, where the neck muscles attach.
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| tundra | A treeless area with low-growing vegetation and permanently frozen ground. Located in the Arctic today, tundra conditions were found during the Pleistocene in the vicinity of glaciers far to the south.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education