ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN PAUTALIA – VELBAZHD – KYUSTENDIL (Doichin Grozdanov – doichyn_eg@abv.bg, Galina Grozdanova) The site is situated in the northeastern quarter of Pautalia, near the northern fortification wall. An area of 150 sq. m was explored. The occupation layers contain materials from the Revival, Ottoman, Mediaeval and Late Antique periods. Three piles of stones and bricks of the Revival period were discovered and fragmentary building ceramics and pottery, tobacco-pipes, a bronze and a silver coin minted by Sultan Abdülmecid I (1839 – 1861) were found. The layer of the Ottoman period contained a coin of Sultan Murad II (1421 – 1451) and tobacco-pipes. Pit No. 2, containing fragmentary building ceramics and pottery, animal bones and charcoal, dates to the Mediaeval period. Two kilns, part of a building and three pavements of stones and bricks, dated to the Late Antiquity, were discovered. Kiln No. 1 is with single chamber and has a horseshoe shape. It contained intact and fragmentary bricks. Kiln No. 2 has an oval chamber and an antechamber. Charcoal, fragmentary building ceramics and pottery and a shovel were found in the chamber. Room No. 1 of a Late Antique building was discovered. The walls are preserved up to 40 cm in height and are 50 cm in width. They are built of boulders, uneven stones and fragmentary bricks with a bonding medium of mud. Late Antique sherds and two coins of the end of the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD were found. The pavements of stones and bricks most likely were underdrains. The earliest coin in the Late Antique layer was minted by Emperor Constantius II and the latest one belonged to Emperor Theodosius II. The constructions functioned from the mid 4th to the mid 5th centuries AD. Most probably, the invasions of the Huns, which affected Pautalia, were the reason for the abandonment of the constructions.