ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Boris Borisov – bdborisov@abv.bg, Gergana Sheyleva) In 2002, two houses, one farm building and three pits (two Mediaeval midden pits and a Thracian ritual pit of the 5th – 1st centuries BC) were explored. The settlement dated to the 11th – 12th centuries. During mining activities carried out over the next years, houses and farm buildings and midden pits were destroyed. In 2011, one house, four farm buildings and 12 midden pits were explored. The house was sunken-floored, with walls of wattle-and-daub and roof covered with thatch pressed with roughly-cut stones. The hearth was situated in the middle of the house. A pit-storage for grain dug out under the floor was discovered. The house was burned and later restored. Two farm buildings were constructed on the ground and two were sunken-floored. They were built of wattle-and-daub with roofs covered with thatch. Each building accommodated two or three pit-storages for grain. The distance between the buildings was 0.80 – 2 m. Foundations of fences with entrances were discovered between all buildings. The finds from the excavations included sickles, knives, spatulae, terracotta spindle whorls, arrowheads, two scyphate coins (one of them minted by Isaac II Angelos), pottery, including with aureate and red slip, glazed, sgraffito and painted. The settlement was probably abandoned in the beginning of the 1190s because of the military campaigns of the crusaders.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Boris Borisov – bdborisov@abv.bg, Gergana Sheyleva) Two farm buildings were explored in the Mediaeval settlement. Building No. 6 was 3.80 m by 3.70 m in size, with walls constructed with wattle-and-daub and supporting timber posts, 12 – 28 cm in diameter. Building No. 7 was 2.30/2.40 m by 3.20/3.90 m in size. Twenty-seven midden pits were explored, 1.05 – 2.90 m in diameter and 0.30 – 1.60 m in depth. The finds from the excavations included knives, spatulas, terracotta spindle whorls, jewelry (mostly fragments from glass bracelets), sherds of the 12th century, including from pottery with aureate and red slip and glazed and sgraffito pottery, two scyphates of Isaac II Angelos. The settlement was probably abandoned in the beginning of the 1190s due to the invasion of the crusaders of the Third Crusade, like other settlements in that time.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Boris Borisov – bdborisov@abv.bg, Julieta Giuleva) A house, four warehouses and 12 midden pits were explored on an area of 1300 sq. m. The house measured 6.25 m by 3.55 m and was built of wooden posts and wattle-and-daub. Its floor was plastered with trampled clay. A hearth was discovered, dug out at 35 cm beneath the floor level. Roof-tiles and roughly-cut stones were discovered, which probably had held down the straw roof. The finds from the house comprised a terracotta candlestick, a terracotta weight from fishing net, a small iron knife, a bronze finger-ring, a bronze earring, an iron clamp, a fragment from a glass bracelet, fragmentary ceramic vessel decorated with red paint of the second half of the 12th century. Warehouse No. 10 measured 2.50 m by 2.40 m, No. 11 – 2.15 m by 2.35 m, No. 8 – 2.95 m by 2.55 m and No. 9 – 4.50 m by 3.85 m. The walls of the warehouses were constructed of wooden posts and wattle-and-daub and their floor were plastered with trampled clay. Three warehouses contained storage-pits for grain. The finds from the excavations comprised knives, spatulas, terracotta spindle whorls, arrowheads, fragment from glass bracelets, sherds of the second half of the 12th century, including with aureate and red slip, glazed, sgraffito and painted, two scyphates, one of them minted by Isaac II Angelos. The settlement was probably abandoned by its residents during the beginning of the 1190s due to the Third Crusade when other Byzantine settlements were abandoned as well.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Boris Borisov – bdborisov@abv.bg, Julieta Giuleva) A dug out structure was explored, containing two bronze fibulae, a ceramic dish, a coin of Constantine II, two weights from fishing net and sherds of the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD. A sunken-floored house with an oven was discovered and the finds included an iron chisel, two fragments from glass bracelets and sherds of the 11th – 12th centuries. Four Thracian ritual pits of the 4th century BC were explored. Pit No. 15 contained Thracian sherds and sherds from a Greek red-figure krater. A clay altar was discovered on the bottom of Pit No. 18. The pit contained a ceramic dish, a small jug, two small cups, two amphorae from Chios, a terracotta spindle whorls, a terracotta loom weights, a fragment from portable terracotta hearth decorated with Meanders and fragments from clay eschara. Three Late Antique pits and four Mediaeval midden pits containing sherds of the 11th – 12th centuries were also explored.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Boris Borisov – bdborisov@abv.bg, Julieta Giuleva) In the Southern Sector, five pits of the Late Iron Age were excavated, containing Thracian sherds, pieces of charcoal and fragmentary burned wattle-and-daub. Some of the pits are overlapping, while Late Iron Age Pits Nos. 25 and 26 were cut by Late Roman Pit No. 23. A patch was discovered, containing animal bones and red-gloss sherds of the end of the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD. A pottery kiln was explored. The pit in front of the kiln was 70 cm deep and was accommodated under a shelter or within a ramshackle building 2.70 m by 3.10 m in size. Sherds of the end of the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD were found, including from pottery of _foederati_. Mediaeval midden Pits Nos. 43 and 44 were excavated. Mediaeval House No. 1 was sunken-floored, built of wattle-and-daub, with an oven. In the Northern Sector, five Mediaeval houses were explored, one of them sunken-floored. They measured 2.70 – 5 m by 2.40 – 2.94 m, had ovens or hearths and were built of wattle-and-daub. Five Mediaeval warehouses, 21 pits and two kilns were excavated as well. The finds from the excavations included fragments from glass bracelets, spindle-whorls, small iron knives and weights of fishing nets.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Rumen Spasov – rumenspassov@abv.bg, Boris Borisov) Strata of the 11th – 12th centuries, the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD and the 4th century BC were explored. Nineteen pits of the 11th – 12th centuries, 14 of them midden, were discovered, containing pieces of charcoal, sherds and animal bones. The finds also included a bowl with sgraffito decoration, fragments from glass bracelets and small iron knives. A dugout was explored and the finds included sherds, bronze coins of Diocletian, Constantius II and Julian, a terracotta spindle whorl. Six midden pits and two dugouts of the 4th century BC were discovered. The finds included a Thracian ceramic cup, a zoomorphic figurine and a spherical stone projectile.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TROYANOVO (Boris Borisov – bdborisov@abv.bg, Julieta Giuleva) Five midden pits, two storage buildings and five sunken-floored buildings were discovered in the Northern Sector. The storage buildings were constructed in wattle-and-daub. There were no hearths or domestic ovens in the sunken-floored buildings and they were used for household activities. Large ovens for baking bread were discovered in two of the sunken-floored buildings.