steinkern

[ shtahyn-kern, -kurn, stahyn- ]

noun

, Archaeology.

1. the fossilized outline of a hollow organic structure, as a skull or a mollusk shell, formed when mud or sediment consolidated within the structure and the structure itself disintegrated or dissolved.

Word History and Origins

Origin of steinkern¹

< German Steinkern literally, stone, pit (of a fruit), equivalent to Stein stone + Kern core, kernel