Glossary

   Archeologist:  An anthropologist who studies prehistoric people and their culture.

     Cache:  A hiding place to store food, supplies, or treasure.

     Distal phalanx: Also known as the third phalanx or the coffin bone of the equine foot.

     Endangered species: A group of animals threatened with extinction or destruction.

     Excavators:  Those who dig or excavate, especially a backhoe.

     Fossil:  A remnant or trace of an organism of a past geological age, such as a skeleton or a leaf print, embedded in the earth's crust.

     Genus: A class , group, or kind with common attributes.

     Hypothesize:  To take an educated guess.

     Invertebrates: Lacking a backbone or spinal column; not vertebrate

     Laboratory: A room or building equipped for scientific research or experimentation.

     Laminated:  Composed of layers bonded together

     Museum: A building, place, or institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects, having scientific, historical, or artistic value.

     Paleontologist:  One versed in the study of fossils.

     Rhino: Any of several large, thick skinned herbivorous mammals of the family of Rhinocerotidae, of Africa and Asia having one or two upright horns on the snout.

      Sediment: Solid fragments of inorganic or organic material that come from the weathering of rock and are carried and deposited by wind, water, or ice.

      Sinkhole: A natural depression in a land surface communicating with a subterranean passage, generally occurring limestone regions and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof.

      Vertebrate: Having a backbone or spinal column.

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