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Olduvai Gorge

(Encyclopedia)Olduvai Gorge ōlˈdəwāˌ, –vāˌ [key], a feature of the E African Rift Valley in Tanzania. Erosional processes have exposed geological strata in the gorge dating to the lower Pleistocene epoch, ...

Essex, Robert Devereux, 3d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Essex, Robert Devereux, 3d earl of, 1591–1646, English parliamentary general; son of Robert Devereux, 2d earl of Essex. James I restored him (1604) to the estates of his father and arranged his marr...

Dryopithecus

(Encyclopedia)Dryopithecus drīˌōpəthēˈkəs, –pĭthˈəkəs [key], an extinct group of apes. Fossils about 20 million years old have been found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Dryopithecus had a semierect postu...

Selborne, Roundell Palmer, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Selborne, Roundell Palmer, 1st earl of sĕlˈbôrn [key], 1812–95, British jurist and statesman. Called to the bar in 1837, he entered Parliament in 1847 as a nominal Conservative. He soon was assoc...

Moscow, grand duchy of

(Encyclopedia)Moscow or Muscovy, grand duchy of, state existing in W central Russia from the late 14th to mid-16th cent., with the city of Moscow as its nucleus. Its formation and eventual ascendancy over other Rus...

Turkana, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Turkana, Lake, c.2,500 sq mi (6,475 sq km), NW Kenya and SW Ethiopia, E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley; alt. 1,230 ft (375 m). Surrounded by desolate, volcanic mountains, the 170-mi-long (274-km) al...

Devonian period

(Encyclopedia)Devonian period dĭvōˈnēən [key], fourth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time between 408 and 360 million years ago (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table). It was named (...

Lahontan, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Lahontan, Lake ləhŏnˈtən [key], extinct lake of W Nev. and NE Calif. It was formed by heavy precipitation caused by the Pleistocene glaciers and with Lake Bonneville (see under Bonneville Salt Fla...

Osborn, Henry Fairfield

(Encyclopedia)Osborn, Henry Fairfield, 1857–1935, American paleontologist and geologist, b. Fairfield, Conn. He was professor of comparative anatomy (1883–90) at Princeton, and professor of biology (1891–96) ...

Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy

(Encyclopedia)Philip the Bold, 1342–1404, duke of Burgundy (1363–1404); a younger son of King John II of France. He fought (1356) at Poitiers and shared his father's captivity in England. He was first made duke...