  We discuss a new method to compute the canonical height of an algebraic point
on a hyperelliptic jacobian over a number field. The method does not require
any geometrical models, neither $p$-adic nor complex analytic ones. In the case
of genus 2 we also present a version that requires no factorisation at all. The
method is based on a recurrence relation for the `division polynomials'
associated to hyperelliptic jacobians, and a diophantine approximation result
due to Faltings.
