EXPLORATIONS IN GLEDACHEVO (Milena Tonkova – milenatonkova@hotmail.com) Explorations of the Thracian pit sanctuary were carried out. Twenty-three ritual pits (one of them containing terracotta altar), remains of a building with clay walls and a decorated eschara inside, a heap of fragmentary lath-and-plaster and a heap of sherds containing two intact vessels were discovered. Layers of ash were registered in the upper parts of the pits. A significant amount of charcoals was found within the pits, while terracotta altars and layers of fragments of terracotta hearths were also discovered in some of them. Millstones testifying to agricultural cults were found in some pits and remains of plants were registered in almost all of them. The votive offerings include: loom weights, spindle whorls, bronze pins, fragments of bronze jewellery, fragmentary terracotta altars, fragments of Thracian pottery, and fragmentary Greek black-gloss vessels and amphorae. According to the material discovered, the sanctuary functioned from the first half of the 5th to the end of the 4th centuries BC. In addition, a collective grave containing four skeletons oriented to the east was excavated. The deceased were a young man 20 years old and three children: 14 years, 8 years and 6 – 7 years old. For the moment, there are no data about a cemetery nearby the grave. The grave goods include: a gold pendant and gold jewellery, silver appliques for belts, two flints and steels, a small bag with tinder, and knives. The costumes were decorated with gold buttons. Remains of a small wooden pail mounted with iron bands were discovered close to the head of one of the children. The grave dates to the end of the 7th – beginning of the 8th centuries AD and is unique for this part of modern Bulgaria. The funerary ritual and the grave goods find parallels in some cemeteries in Northeastern Bulgaria related to the First Bulgarian Kingdom.