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85 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Grid
and site datum |
grid - map based off of site datum
site datum - fixed starting point, ex. magnetic north, true north, or grid north |
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Debitage
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pieces of shatters and flakes produced when stone tools are made
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Munsell Chart
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chart of soil colors used to compare to soil from a site
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Resistivity
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Non-invasive:
used to measure electrical conductivity in soils that may be due to the presence of buried disturbances |
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Ground penetration radar (GPR)
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Non-invasive:
instrument that sends radar waves through the ground to reveal buried features |
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Test pits
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Non-invasive:
digging of small trenches to look for wall profiles and darks stains of mixed soil from the original digging of graves |
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remote sensing
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a variety of techniques used for obtaining information about surface or buried objects. Above-ground techniques normally involve aircraft or satellites using photography, radar, etc., to locate and map features on or near the surface. Below-ground techniques use radar, resistivity, magnetic properties, or chemistry to search for buried features
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Magnetometer
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Non-invasive:
looks for magnetic or iron anomalies; measures earth's magnetic field to locate buried walls and pits |
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Metal detectors
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Non-invasive:
emit an electromagnetic field that is disrupted by the presence of metal objects in the ground |
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Bog people
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bodies of people sacrificed to the bogs, dating to the time of Crist in the peat bogs of Northern Europe, remarkably preserved due to the accumulation of peat and organic detritus
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Lindow Man
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Bog man found in England, brutally sacrificed to the bogs.
Needed conservation when removed from bogs, or would have disintegrated into dust |
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Classification
grouping attribute |
Classification - process of putting objects into groups based on attributes
grouping - process of sorting attribute - detailed characteristics of archeological materials and information |
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typology
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a formal system of classification for assigning time and space meaning to archeological materials
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Holotype
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The best case scenario for an artifact, creates a bell curve that similar artifacts fall into in order to be classified
An artifact can overlap into 2 types by fitting into the bottom of 2 holotype bell curves |
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Lumping
and splitting |
Lumping - larger range of variation in a type
splitting - smaller range of variation in a type |
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Elements of types
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Raw material of artifact
technology - how it was constructed function of artifact |
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Temporally diagnostic
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Can tell what type of culture an artifact was from - shows ethnicity, tribe, time period, etc.
ex. pottery and projectile points |
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Seriation
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graphical method for ordering in time and percentages
battle ship curves 1) inception 2) peak 3) extinction 4) revival |
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Relative dating
vs. Absolute dating |
Relative - determines whether an object or layer is older or younger than another
Absolute - provides an age in calendar years |
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Terminus ante quem
vs. Terminus post quem |
ante - date before which
post - date after which |
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Law of Superposition
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governs interpretation of stratigraphy;
youngest layers on the bottom, oldest layers on the top |
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Bone age dating
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Relative:
Measures fluorine and nitrogen from ground water in bones |
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dendrochronology
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the study of the annual growth rings of trees as a dating technique to build chronologies
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Flourine dating
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Relative:
Based on the assumption that fluorine accumulates at a constant rate in burned bone |
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Dating Bell curve
and sigma |
Curve to calculate probability that an artifact's age is between 2 dates
Sigma = 1 range of dates the larger the range, the higher the probability | S1 | | ←S2 → | |
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Carbon dating
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Absolute:
-dates organic objects from the proportions of C12 and C14 that it contains -The ratio changes as radioactive C14 decays -Good for 250-40,000 years old, as C14 will eventually run out |
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Obsidian hydration dating
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Absolute:
-Measures thickness of the hydration (weathering) layer on the fresh surface of obsidian objects -Obsidian = volcanic deposits -Is region specific -Done when C14 dating is not possible |
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Potassium-Argon dating
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Absolute:
-K40 1/2 life decay turns into Ar40 -Larger 1/2 life means useful for old samples, all the way back to beginning of earth -Many times sample from volcanic deposits |
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Thermoluminesence dating
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Absolute:
-There are trapped electrons in rocks or pottery shards from a hearth -Reheat to view luminescence -Dates up to 500,000 years ago, older than means not a lot energy left |
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Electron spin resonance
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Absolute:
Measures trapped electrons in tooth enamel, assuming the accumulation rate is constant |
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Pueblo Bonito
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-Large town in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
-Dated using dendrochronology by analyzing wooden beams from the pueblos |
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Geomorphology
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branch of geology that studies the shape of the land
classification description origin change of land forms |
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Uniformitarianism
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Geological principle that the processes of erosion and deposition still active today also operated in the past
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oxbow lakes
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Stranded river meanders, left behind as a lake in the floodplain
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midden
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any substantial accumulation of garbage or waste at a locus of human activity
ex. shell midden |
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plow zone
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The upper part of soil layers that has been disturbed by plowing
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soil texture
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the size and sorting of sediments
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flotation screening
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used to recover charred plant remains using water and density differences
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Harris Matrix
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Developed by Ed Harris
A method for depicting intricate archeological stratigraphy in a schematic way |
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matrix
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soil around artifacts → inclusions – lumps of things (clay lumps, organic deposits, ash lenses)
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plan views
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a bird's-eye view of a site that maps out the features and characteristics of the place
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Joya de Ceren
and Pompeii |
Joya - small Mayan village in El Salvador buried beneath Volcanic ash
Pompeii - Roman town buried beneath Volcanic ash |
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Black Sea Flood
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-Proposed flood of this sea between Asia and Europe that was postulated to be the basis for the Biblical Flood
-Found to be wrong |
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Metamorphic
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rock that has undergone transformation by heat, pressure, or other natural agencies
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curated tools
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special-purpose tools that require specific raw materials and substantial time and labor in manufacture. Can normally be repaired or recycled
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expedient tools
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quickly made, used, and discarded
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Faunal remains
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animal ecofacts in archeological contexts. Include bone, teeth, antler, etc.
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stratum soil
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layers in the soil
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knapping
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intentionally removing a series of flakes from stone to make tools
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fracture mechanics
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the physics of how materials break down
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cryptocrystalline
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stone with microscopic crystals, formed from silicia under pressure in marine deposits, such as quartz, chert, flint
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nodule
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unworked pieces of stone; the raw material for making tools
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core
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the stone from which other pieces or flakes are removed to shape a tool
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Oldest stone tools
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-The Oldawan Tradition
-about 2.5 mya -technology = cryptocrystalline lithics -formed by knapping |
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flint
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a hard, siliceous stone that breaks in predictable ways to produce sharp flakes, common for making prehistorical stone tools
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chert
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a cryptocrystalline quartz with large crystal size and impurities that give it color and cloudiness
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conchoidal fracture
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shell-like breakage pattern of the interior surface of a flake
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dorsal surface
and ventral surface |
d: the outer surface of a flake
v: the inner of a flake |
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bulb of percussion
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impact point on flakes
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striking platform
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stone core's flat impact surface
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Proximal end
and distal end |
Proximal end – end closest to worker
distal end – end farthest to worker |
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Types of percussion
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Direct hard hammer
Direct soft hammer Indirect percussion Pressure flaking - to finish artifact Hammer and anvil |
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Unifacial
and bifacial |
Uni - work on just one side of a tool
bi - work on both sides of a tool |
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chaine operatoire
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means “sequence of production” the different stages of production of tools, all the way to disposal
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cortex
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a heavily weathered rind on the outside of flint or chert nodules
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microwear analysis
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microscopic studies of damage and polish on the edges of stone artifacts to reveal the materials that were worked
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refitting studies
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- a technique for reassembling the scattered pieces of stone, pottery, or bone to study patterns of manufacture and disposal
can tell: -handedness – left or right handedness - artifacts that left the sight - single or multiple component site - planning and decision making by looking at distance that lithics travel and quality of the lithics |
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Oldawan tradition
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-Oldest stone tool making technique
-2.5-1.6 mya -Used knapping -Chimpanzees also make these |
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Acheulean tradition
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-Second oldest stone tool making tradition
-1.6 m - 20,000 ya -hand axes probably used as large cutting tools |
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manuport
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a natural object which has been moved from its original context
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inclusion
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a body or particle recognizably distinct from the substance in which it is embedded
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stone tool manufacture
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1) Mining raw material
2) Reduction to blanks or cores 3) Stage 3 & 4 reduction for trade, cached, or further reduction 4) Finished tools |
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Sergei Semenov
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Began the detailed study of the edges of artifacts, now known as microwear analysis
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Ozette longhouses
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Site in Washington state in which a great mudslide covered the houses, about 1500 CE
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Laetoli
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-Site in Tanzania where early footprints were fossilized into volcanic ash and give the earliest evidence of bipedalism
-Discovered by Mary Leakey |
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Olduvai Gorge
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Location where
-the first K40-Ar40 dates were taken from the lava at its base -Louis Leakey discovered the first Oldawan tools |
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Rift Valley
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Location in Africa where Lucy was found
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Keatley Creek
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Site in Canada of an unusually large hunter-gatherer village. Economic and social organization was analyzed
Wealth of elite families was based on ownership to the best fishing sites, where access was restricted to the poor. Elite also in control of long-distance trade |
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Shroud of Turin
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The supposed shroud that Christ's body was wrapped in. AMS dating revealed that the shroud is not old enough to be authentic
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Lawrence Keely
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Introduced the use of high-powered microscopes to microwear anaylsis
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percussion flaking
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technique of striking or knapping crystalline stone with a hard or soft hammer
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pressure flaking
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technique by which flakes are removed from the core by pressing with a pointed implement
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hard hammer
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a percussion technique for making stone tools by striking one stone, or core, with another stone, or hammer
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hammer and anvil
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a hard hammer percussion technique which involves striking the core (hammer) itself against a large rock in the ground (anvil) to produce flake
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soft hammer
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a flintknapping technique that involves the use of bone, antler, or wood, rather than stone
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