| Acheulian technique | A toolmaking tradition associated with Homo erectus in Africa and Europe. Includes hand axes, cleavers, and flake tools.
|
 |
|
|
| bifacial | A stone tool that has been worked on both sides.
|
|
|
|
| core tools | Tools made by taking flakes off a stone nucleus. See also flake tools.
|
|
|
|
| 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.
|
|
|
|
| flake tools | Tools made from the flakes removed from a stone core. See also core tools.
|
|
|
|
| glaciers | Massive sheets of ice that expand and move. Found on the polar ice caps and in mountains.
|
|
|
|
| haft | To attach a wooden handle or shaft to a stone or bone point.
|
|
|
|
| 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.
|
|
|
|
| Levallois technique | A tool technology involving striking uniform flakes from a prepared core. See core tools and flake tools.
|
|
|
|
| Mousterian technique | A toolmaking tradition associated with the European Neandertals.
|
|
|
|
| Oldowan | A toolmaking tradition from Africa associated with early Homo .
|
|
|
|
| Pleistocene | The geological time period, from 1.6 mya to 10,000 ya, characterized by a series of glacial advances and retreats. See glaciers.
|
|
|
|
| postorbital constriction | A narrowing of the skull behind the eyes, as viewed from above.
|
|
|
|
| sagittal keel | A sloping of the sides of the skull toward the top, as viewed from the front.
|
|
|
|
| torus | A bony ridge at the back of the skull, where the neck muscles attach.
|
|
|
|
| tundra | A treeless area with low-growing vegetation and permanently frozen ground. Located in the Arctic today, tundras were found during the Pleistocene in the vicinity of glaciers far to the south.
|