[en] This paper presents the preliminary results of an investigation on medieval ceramics from Apricena using thermoluminescence (TL), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDS). The combination of physical and chemical-mineralogical analyses has lead to an authentication and an initial characterisation of the ceramic sherds. (Copyright (c) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

[en] The dosimetric technique described in this paper is based on electron spin resonance (ESR) detectors using an alanine-boric compound acid enriched with ¹⁰B, and beryllium oxide thermoluminescent (TL) detectors; with this combined dosimetry, it is possible to discriminate the doses due to thermal neutrons and gamma radiation in a mixed field. Irradiations were carried out inside the thermal column of a TRIGA MARK II water-pool-type research nuclear reactor, also used for Boron Neutron Capture therapy (BNCT) applications, with thermal neutron fluence from 10⁹ to 10¹⁴ nth cm^-2. The ESR dosemeters using the alanine-boron compound indicated ESR signals about 30-fold stronger than those using only alanine. Moreover, a negligible correction for the gamma contribution, measured with TL detectors, almost insensitive to thermal neutrons, was necessary. Therefore, a simultaneous analysis of our TL and ESR detectors allows discrimination between thermal neutron and gamma doses, as required in BNCT. (authors)