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9780198540922

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' This hardback book exudes authority ... the book's author was one of the foremost authorities in his field... fascinating and relatively easy to read' Open University Geological Society '...highly timely and very welcome...With this book, Martin Aitken has put together the materials for readers to choose and to make new tools to tackle the problems encountered in optical dating.' * The Holocene, 1999 *

Many techniques have been developed to obtain chronometric dates . . . for various processes and events in earth history. . . . [M]uch recent effort has been devoted to varieties of trapped-charge dating, which depends broadly on the accumulation of incident energy by electrons. Thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) methods have been important in dating heated stone tools and buried tooth enamel, especially in the context of early modern humans and Neanderthals during the last few hundred thousand years. This rather technical book is designed almost as a manual for the extraction and evaluation of dates by the method usually known as OSL (optically stimulated luminescence), an approach similar to TL but applied to sediment grains, usually sand or loessic silt, younger than about half a million years in age. This method has developed slowly since 1985, and much about it is explained in clear . . . fashion by Aitken. --Choice<br> If anyone can be considered the father of luminescence dating, it is Martin Aitken. Although new retired from active research, he has provided for the lay reader a thorough review of the most important recent advance in the field; the use of photon-stimulated luminescence for dating Quaternary sediments, or optical dating. This is potentially one of the most powerful dating techniques available to the geoarchaeologist. Aitken wrote this book both for practitioners who lack training in physics and for users. Until geologists and archaeologists gain enough knowledge to evaluate the product, luminescence dating will not get the widespread application it deserves. This book provides that needed background. - James Feathers, Geoarchaeology, Vol. 15, No. 1<br> This book is an important and up-to-date reference on a dating method that is playing an increasing role in dating sediments of archeological interest. Aitken has set out to offer an understanding of the basic principles and procedures in optical dating, as well as its scope and limitations. He has succeeded in doing so for those who may have only a minimal background in physics. It would be unwise for anyone in archeology to consider optical dating methods without consulting this book. The book is encyclopedic in coverage and represents the latest word on optical dating, as wider applications become available to archeologists. -- George Rapp, AJA, 2000<br>

Many techniques have been developed to obtain chronometric dates . . . for various processes and events in earth history. . . . [M]uch recent effort has been devoted to varieties of trapped-charge dating, which depends broadly on the accumulation of incident energy by electrons. Thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) methods have been important in dating heated stone tools and buried tooth enamel, especially in the context of early modern humans and Neanderthals during the last few hundred thousand years. This rather technical book is designed almost as a manual for the extraction and evaluation of dates by the method usually known as OSL (optically stimulated luminescence), an approach similar to TL but applied to sediment grains, usually sand or loessic silt, younger than about half a million years in age. This method has developed slowly since 1985, and much about it is explained in clear . . . fashion by Aitken. --Choice If anyone can be considered the f

<br> Many techniques have been developed to obtain chronometric dates . . . for various processes and events in earth history. . . . [M]uch recent effort has been devoted to varieties of trapped-charge dating, which depends broadly on the accumulation of incident energy by electrons. Thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) methods have been important in dating heated stone tools and buried tooth enamel, especially in the context of early modern humans and Neanderthals during the last few hundred thousand years. This rather technical book is designed almost as a manual for the extraction and evaluation of dates by the method usually known as OSL (optically stimulated luminescence), an approach similar to TL but applied to sediment grains, usually sand or loessic silt, younger than about half a million years in age. This method has developed slowly since 1985, and much about it is explained in clear . . . fashion by Aitken. --Choice<br> If anyone can be considered the f

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