The application of fission-track dating in archaeology is restricted essentially to glass and rock materials. These materials include obsidian, pumice, and other natural glasses, man-made glasses, burnt stones, and burnt soils which contain sufficient amounts of U to make fission-track dating practicable. In order to date incidents of archaeological interest, the objects, with the exception of man-made glasses, must have been sufficiently heated by ancient man; otherwise the geological formation of the materials is dated. Fission-track dating is valuable for determination of the age of obsidian artifacts and man-made glasses, the sources and trade routes of obsidian raw materials, the dating of fireplaces and pottery, and the chronology of stratigraphic sequences. See also 14-708. -- AATA