EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE TOWN OF SIMEONOVGRAD (Yavor Boyadziev – yavordb@abv.bg) The site is situated on the first not-flooded terrace of the Maritsa River. The cultural layer is 1 – 1.10 m in thickness. It is destroyed and quite disturbed down to 50 cm in depth due to the numerous ritual pits and the long-lasting ploughing of the land. The disturbed stratum contained sherds of the Late Neolithic period (Karanovo III Culture) – late 6th millennium BC. Burnt floors of three buildings were explored and part of the southern wall of one of them is preserved up to 15 cm in height. The wall was constructed of lath-and-plaster and posts and is 20 cm in width. The buildings were constructed on a layer of pounded clay, 15 – 20 cm thick. Two contemporary pits were excavated. The pits have several stages of filling and their walls were plastered with clay. The remains of the buildings were quite demolished due to the numerous ritual pits of the later periods, mostly of the Early Iron Age (11th – 6th centuries BC) but also coming from the antiquity and the Middle Ages. The pits are 1.50 – 2 m in diameter and up to 1.50 m in depth. The pottery predominantly belongs to the Karanovo III Culture and includes shapes typical of the period: dishes, jugs, cups and pots. Some Early Chalcolithic sherds belonging to the Maritsa Culture and dated to the first half of the 5th millenium BC were found, too. The pottery of the Early Iron Age includes dishes, cups, kantharoi, amphorae and dolia. Among the other finds, the flint artefacts and the ‘grain models’ are most numerous. In addition, fragments of terracotta cult tables, an anthropomorphic female figurine, stone tools, loom weights, etc. were discovered.