BEDEN FORTRESS (Damyan Damyanov – dam_sm@mail.bg, Nikolai Boyadzhiev) The Beadnos fortress is situated on the Suhiyat Vrah mountain peak (1471.60 m), to the north of the village of Beden. It is 50 – 60 m in length and 9 – 10 m in width. The foundations of the fortification walls are preserved. The eastern and part of the northern walls, 1.30 m in width, were explored. Their foundation is cut into the bedrock. The main entrance of the fortress is on the eastern wall. A rectangular tower was additionally constructed in front of it. To the west of the entrance, the foundations of an earlier building with one room were discovered. Most likely, it functioned as a temple. The southern wall of the building was destroyed during the construction of the southern wall of the fortress. The building is rectangular and was constructed of uneven stones with a bonding medium of mud. Its length is 8.40 m (east – west). According to the pottery, the building dates to the 2nd – 5th centuries AD. Its floor was made of rammed clay and sherds dating from c. 1600 to 500 BC were found below. The fortress was built in the 6th century AD and controlled the road connecting two of the trans-Rhodope roads running from the Thracian Plain to the North Aegean coast. The latest period of existence of the fortress dates to the 13th – 14th centuries.