The emphasis on limitations and difficulties rather than on the vista of new knowledge that TL can open up is in the belief that the acceptance of TL tends to be over enthusiastic. The need to eliminate uncertainties in existing techniques (such as those associated with anomalous fading and correction for supralinearity) and the advantages to be gained by developing new techniques that will be less vulnerable to environmental influences and that will give extension of time range mean that the long-term interests of archaeology are best served by further substantial investment of TL effort in research rather than its diversion to all out dating application.