Our Origins

Glossary

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Glossary Terms for letter: L

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lactation The production and secretion of milk from a female mammal's mammary glands, providing a food source to the female's young.

Lamarckism First proposed by Lamarck, the theory of evolution through the inheritance of acquired characteristics in which an organism can pass on features acquired during its lifetime.

language A set of written or spoken symbols that refer to things (people, places, concepts, etc.) other than themselves.

Lavallois A distinctive method of stone tool production used during the Middle Paleolithic, in which the core was prepared and flakes removed from the surface before the final tool was detached from the core.

Law of Independent Assortment Mendel's Second Law, which asserts that the inheritance of one trait does not affect the inheritance of other traits.

Law of Segregation Mendel's First Law, which asserts that the two alleles for any given gene (or trait) are inherited, one from each parent; during gamete production, only one of the two alleles will be present in each ovum or sperm.

life history The details of an organism's existence from conception through senescence and death.

linguistic anthropology The study of the construction, use, and form of language in human populations.

linkage Refers to the inheritance, as a unit, of individual genes closely located on a chromosome; an exception to the Law of Independent Assortment.

locus The location of an allele, or gene, on a chromosome.

loph An enamel ridge connecting cusps on a tooth's surface.

Lower Paleolithic The oldest part of the period during which the first stone tools were created and used, beginning with the Oldowan Complex.

Lucy One of the most significant fossils: the 40% complete skeleton of an adult female A. afarensis, found in East Africa.

luminescence dating A relative dating method in which the energy trapped in a material is measured when the object is heated.

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