ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF VALCHEDRAM (Metodi Daskalov – m.m.daskalov@mail.bg, Kalina Petkova, Katya Trendafilova) An area of c. 2.5 ha was excavated on both banks of the Tsibritsa River. Structures from the Late Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age and the Middle Ages were discovered in the Western Sector, and structures from the Late Hellenistic period and the Middle Ages were excavated in the Eastern Sector. Two dugouts with ovens were discovered in the Eastern Sector and sherds from pots were found. The radiocarbon samples dated to AD 780 – 900. Over 10 dugouts and dug-out rooms for storage and household purposes were discovered in the Western Sector. The dugouts had ovens. The finds included sherds, mostly from pots, small iron knives, bone awls and slag. A sunken-floored room was discovered, accommodating three pottery kilns. Judging from the finds and the radiocarbon samples, the structures dated to AD 670 – 900. Fourteen pits and a Thracian cremation burial in an urn (Grave No. 1) were discovered in the Eastern Sector. The urn accommodated part of the cremated bones of a woman, 25 – 35 years old. The radiocarbon sample dated to the end of the 3rd – 2nd century BC. The pits contained Thracian sherds, burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub, animal bones and dated to the end of the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC. Pit No. 5 contained a skeleton of a newborn baby, a ceramic bowl, a skeleton of a dog and an iron axe. The radiocarbon analysis showed that the pit dated to the third quarter of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd century BC. Pits containing Thracian pottery of the Basarabi Type dated to the 9th – 8th centuries BC were discovered in the Western Sector. Two sunken-floored houses of the Late Bronze Age were also explored and the finds included burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub, sherds, mostly from amphorae and dolia, a jug of the end of the 15th – beginning of the 14th century BC, animal bones. The radiocarbon analysis of the bones showed that they dated to the end of the 15th – beginning of the 14th century BC.