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What is the meaning of "high-fidelity" in the following context?

Over millions of years in the fossil record, hominin teeth preserve a high-fidelity record of their own growth, development, wear, chemistry and pathology. They yield insights into human evolution that are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve through other sources of fossil or archaeological data. (Source)

I know the meaning of high-fidelity as it is used in stereophonic businesses. It means highly similar to the real sound. But in the above text, I cannot figure out its meaning.

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  • What did you find when you looked up "fidelity" in a dictionary? – Davo Dec 4 '17 at 18:49
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    Its figurative meaning is pretty much the same as with sound (though possibly derived differently). – Hot Licks Dec 4 '17 at 19:33
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"Fidelity" is just another way of saying "Faithful" or "True to its original form." Going from context clues, this passage states that hominin teeth give a high-fidelity record - meaning, they still contain much of the detail that they would have, when the body to which they belong was still alive.

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