Definition:
Fission track dating was developed in the mid 1960s by three American physicists, who noticed that micrometer-sized damage tracks are created in minerals and glasses that have minimal amounts of uranium. These tracks accumulate at a fixed rate, and are good for dates between 20,000 and a couple of billion years ago.
Fission-track dating was first used at the Zhoukoudian site.
Sources
The Geochronology Group at the University of Ghent has a detailed description of Fission Track Dating.
See more on dating technologies in the Short Course in Archaeological Dating.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
