With their increasing reliance on laboratory-based dating, archaeologists and archaeological students have long needed an authoritative account of the techniques now available to them, designed to be understood by non-scientists. This book fills that gap and it offers a two-tier approach to the subject. The main text is a coherent introduction to the whole field of science-based dating, written in plain language for non-scientists. Additional end-notes, however, go more deeply into various points, and cater for those who have the scientific and mathematical background to cope with them.