When I put pen to paper in the summer of 1982, uppermost in my mind was the need to provide new practitioners with an introduction to the theory and practice of thermoluminescence (TL) dating, particularly those without a strong background in physics. Assimilating the corpus of specialist papers which at present define the theory and practice is a daunting task-in strong contrast with the easy initial step of grasping the basic notions. But I also had in mind those archaeologists, anthropologists, Quaternary geologists and physical geographers who, utilizing TL dates in their research, deem it prudent to have some insight into the method's difficulties and limitations. These readers will have already found help in Stuart Fleming's book, Scientific Techniques in Archaeology, but in the years that have elapsed since its publication there have been substantial advances, particularly with respect to materials other than pottery, such as burnt flint and unburnt sediment.
In the course of writing, it soon became evident that there was no easy line to be drawn which separated off the realm of the specialist researcher. Increasingly it seemed to me that it was wrong to draw a line at all; ultimately the TL practitioner should be fully cognizant of all that is relevant to the particular application being made. Much more than in other dating techniques, an important factor in reliability is the extent to which specialist expertise can be brought to bear on the actual measurement process. For this reason I have included numerous technical notes and substantial appendices, while keeping the main text fairly straightforward so as not to compromise the interests of the raw recruit. It was impossible to write without making development in some of the topics concerned, and so I hope that specialist researchers too will find some of the appendices of interest. I must leave it to readers to judge how successful I have been in weaving the various strands together into a coherent fabric; I am only too conscious of deficiencies.

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