L

　　landscape archaeology: the study of individual features including settlements.

　　level bag: a bag containing excavated materials from a single level of a single excavation unit.

　　lexicostatistics: the study of linguistic divergence between two languages, based on changes in a list of common vocabulary terms and the sharing of common root words (see also glottochronology).

　　lichenometry: the study of lichen growth as an aid to dating surface rock features and rock art.
　　life expectancy: the length of time that a person can, on the average, expect to live.

　　light-table: a glass-topped table illuminated from underneath, used in the laboratory photography of archaeological specimens.

　　lineage: a unilineal descent group composed of people who trace their genealogies through specified links to a common ancestor.

　　linguistic anthropology: a subdivision of anthropology that is concerned primarily with unwritten languages (both prehistoric and modern), with variation within languages, and with the social uses of language; traditionally divided into three branches: descriptive linguistics, the systematic study of the way language is constructed and used; historical linguistics, the study of the origin of language in general and of the evolution of the languages people speak today; and sociolinguistics, the study of the relationship between language and social relations.

　　lithic technology: the process of manufacturing tools etc. from stone. Most frequently refers to stone flaking.

　　lithology: the identification and study of rocks.

　　living floor: the horizontal layer of an archaeological site that was once the surface occupied by a prehistoric group. It is identified both by the fact that it is hard-packed and also by the artifacts located on its surface.

　　locality: a very large site or site-area composed of 2 or more concentrations or clusterings of cultural remains.

　　M

　　magnetometer: an electronic device for detecting small anomalies in the earth‘s magnetic field. Can be used to explore certain subsurface characteristics of an archaeological site prior to excavation.

　　material culture: the buildings, tools, and other artifacts that include any material item that has had cultural meaning ascribed to it, past and present.

　　Mesolithic: an Old World chronological period beginning around 10,000 years ago, situated between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, and associated with the rise to dominance of microliths.

　　microfaunal remains: very small animal remains, such as rodent bones, tiny bone fragments, insects, small mollusks, foraminifera, etc., discovered in an archaeological site.

　　microfloral remains: very small plant materials such as seeds, pollen, spores, phytoliths etc. discovered in an archaeological site. Microfauna and microflora are extremely important in paleoenvironmental re-construction.

　　midden: the accumulation of debris and domestic waste products resulting from human use. The long-term disposal of refuse can result in stratified deposits, which are useful for relative dating.

　　mobiliary art: a term used for the portable art of the Ice Age, comprising engravings and carvings on small objects of stone, antler, bone, and ivory.

　　mold: a cavity left in firm sediment by the decayed body of an organism.

　　monocausal explanation: the attribution of one cause to the existence of a phenomenon.

　　mosaic evolution: the concept that major evolutionary changes tend to take place in stages, not all at once. Human evolution shows a mosaic pattern in the fact that small canine teeth, large brains, and tool use did not all evolve at the same time.

　　multi-component: a site is said to be multi-component when it shows evidence of 2 or more distinctive cultural occupations.

　　multicausal explanation: the attribution of more than one cause to the existence of a phenomenon.