For the detection of landmines, a new gamma-ray detector system, a neutron source, and control and measurement devices were developed A prototype system has newly been developed by combining these devices The usefulness of capture gamma-ray and backscattering neutron methods is examined with real explosives in several conditions and the performance of the prototype landmine detection system is demonstrated experimentally in this study The combination of the methods is confirmed to be sufficiently effective for application to actual landmine detection. (c) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd