PHILIPPOPOLIS (Ivo Topalilov – itopalilov@yahoo.com, Zheni Tankova) The site is situated outside the fortification walls of Philippopolis, near to the ‘Eastern gate’. Some 150 sq. m were excavated, 100 sq. m of which are occupied by a building, partially explored. Four premises were discovered and three construction periods were traced out. Initially, the building was constructed in opus mixtum bonded with white mortar, and one room more than 11 m in length and oriented east – west was explored. Another room was additionally constructed, adjoining the earlier one and with the same orientation. The earliest building dates to the first half of the 5th century AD and the additional extension – around the mid 5th century AD. At the same time, another extension to the south was built; two premises constructed in opus mixtum bonded with pink mortar, one of them with mosaics, were explored. The building was demolished during the invasion of the Huns led by Attila in AD 441 – 442, but then it was reconstructed. An Early Christian tomb with an antechamber and a rectangular barrel-vaulted burial chamber was constructed in one of the rooms. A wall separates the eastern part of the room where the tomb was situated. The access to the tomb was continuous and the remains of one deceased person were discovered. At the time of Justinian I, most likely in AD 551, the building was demolished. At the time of Iraclius–Constantine, in AD 612 – 615, only this part of the room, which accommodated the tomb, was rebuilt. Fragments of a marble altar barrier, a capital, an inscription and a mensa sacra were found. The date of the end of the building is unclear. During the 11th – 12th centuries, a Christian cemetery already existed on its ruins.
PHILIPPOPOLIS (Maya Martinova – maya_martinova@abv.bg) The site was situated at c. 100 m to the north of the Eastern Gate of Philippopolis. During the 11th – 12th centuries, a Christian cemetery existed there. Two intact burials were explored and several burials destroyed by later building activities were documented. During the 4th century AD a building _extra muros_ was constructed there. The central room with octagonal layout was explored; there was a semicircular niche on its southwestern side. Two floor levels and some of the plaster on the inner sides of the walls were documented. The upper floor was covered with polychrome mosaics arranged over a mortar bed. Another room was explored to the northwest of the central one. It had a hypocaust with _pilae_ constructed of bricks; cylindrical _tubulae_ from the wall heating were found as well. The building existed during the 4th – 6th centuries AD and two construction periods were documented. A wall of a building with a floor of trampled clay was explored, built of ashlars whose joints were plastered with mortar. The building dated to the late 1st – 2nd centuries AD.
PHILIPPOPOLIS (Elena Bozhinova – elena.bozhinova@gmail.com) The site was situated at c. 100 m to the northeast of the eastern fortification wall and at 125 m to the north of the eastern gate of Philippopolis, close to buildings of the Roman period and Late Antiquity and cemeteries of the Roman period and the Middle Ages. Strata with finds of the Roman period and the Middle Ages were excavated. Burned debris of sun-dried bricks was discovered. A dolium of the Roman period was found. Two parallel walls built of sun-dried bricks and preserved up to 60 cm in height were discovered. The walls were situated 2 m apart and belonged to a building. A floor plastered with clay was discovered between the walls; sherds of the 12th century were found over the floor.