EXPLORATIONS IN GLEDACHEVO (Milena Tonkova – milenatonkova@hotmail.com) Explorations of the Thracian pit sanctuary were carried out. Twenty-three ritual pits (one of them containing terracotta altar), remains of a building with clay walls and a decorated eschara inside, a heap of fragmentary lath-and-plaster and a heap of sherds containing two intact vessels were discovered. Layers of ash were registered in the upper parts of the pits. A significant amount of charcoals was found within the pits, while terracotta altars and layers of fragments of terracotta hearths were also discovered in some of them. Millstones testifying to agricultural cults were found in some pits and remains of plants were registered in almost all of them. The votive offerings include: loom weights, spindle whorls, bronze pins, fragments of bronze jewellery, fragmentary terracotta altars, fragments of Thracian pottery, and fragmentary Greek black-gloss vessels and amphorae. According to the material discovered, the sanctuary functioned from the first half of the 5th to the end of the 4th centuries BC. In addition, a collective grave containing four skeletons oriented to the east was excavated. The deceased were a young man 20 years old and three children: 14 years, 8 years and 6 – 7 years old. For the moment, there are no data about a cemetery nearby the grave. The grave goods include: a gold pendant and gold jewellery, silver appliques for belts, two flints and steels, a small bag with tinder, and knives. The costumes were decorated with gold buttons. Remains of a small wooden pail mounted with iron bands were discovered close to the head of one of the children. The grave dates to the end of the 7th – beginning of the 8th centuries AD and is unique for this part of modern Bulgaria. The funerary ritual and the grave goods find parallels in some cemeteries in Northeastern Bulgaria related to the First Bulgarian Kingdom.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GLEDACHEVO (Milena Tonkova – milenatonkova@hotmail.com, Plamen Karailiev) Forty ritual pits in the sanctuary of the second half of the 5th – 4th centuries BC were explored. Skeletons of a child, one and a half – two years old, and a mare, 9 years old, were discovered in pit No. 40. Sherds, carbonized wheat, charcoal, bones of ox, pig, sheep, goat, dog, pheasant and crane were also found in the pit. A heap of sherds of the 5th – 4th centuries BC was discovered in pit No. 44. The pit is situated close to the area where the remains of a building with clay walls and an altar were discovered in 2005. Layers of ash in the upper parts, traces of fire, carbonized wheat, and charcoal of oak, hazel bush, alder, poplar and pine were registered in the ritual pits. Part of a horse bit of the second half of the 5th – first half of the 4th century BC, a bronze finger-ring, a bracelet, fragments of Greek amphorae of the second half of the 5th – 4th centuries BC, fragments of Greek black-gloss vessels of the 4th century BC, fragments of Thracian wheel- and hand-made pottery, terracotta fragments of movable hearths, etc. were found in the pits. Remains of two semi-dug sunken-floored dwellings and three graves of the 10th – 12th centuries were discovered. A pit with two skeletons of men, 18 and 25 years old, sherds and more than 10 iron tools of the end of the 11th – beginning of the 12th centuries was explored. An arrowhead was found among the vertebrae of one of the men, while the second one was most likely killed by a sabre.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GLEDACHEVO (Milena Tonkova – milenatonkova@hotmail.com, Plamen Karailiev) The explorations were concentrated in Sectors I – II West. Twenty four Thracian ritual pits in the western periphery of the sanctuary were explored and structures of the Middle Ages (graves, sunken-floored houses and pits) were discovered. Six pits were explored in Sector I West. One of them contained animal bones and a pile of sherds. Eighteen pits of the 5th – 4th centuries BC were explored in Sector II West. Fragments of Attic red-figure bell-krater were found in one pit. Another pit contained an intact animal skeleton and a pile of sherds. Pit No. 2/L2, which is cylindrical, 1.95 m in diameter and 1.70 m in depth, is of special interest. The pit contained a human adolescent skull, a pile of sherds, animal bones, ash, charcoal, a spindle whorl, terracotta jettons and a bronze ring. The sherds found in the pit belong to Thracian wheel- and hand-made pottery, a Greek black-gloss vessel and amphorae. The discovery of the skull in the pit testifies to a human sacrifice that had occurred. During the previous excavations, intact human skeletons and parts of human bodies were discovered in the sanctuary. Two Christian graves from the mediaeval cemetery were explored. Eight houses and a farming building were discovered. The total number of the houses explored until now is 12. According to the pottery, the cemetery and the houses date from the second half of the 10th to the end of the 12th centuries.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GLEDACHEVO (Plamen Karailiev – umbo@abv.bg, Reni Petrova) The exploration of the mediaeval settlement continued over an area of c. 0.2 ha and 12 houses, 10 farm buildings and 36 pits were discovered. The houses and the farm buildings were sunken-floored or built above the ground and postholes from the walls were documented. Hearths and domestic ovens constructed of roughly cut stones bonded with mud were discovered in the houses. The ovens contained ash, charcoal and sherds. From one to three pits were discovered in the floors of the houses and the farm buildings. The pits were used for storage. Septic pits containing pottery were discovered, too. The finds from the excavations included a copper tetarteron of Manuel I Komnenos minted in Thessaloniki, small iron knives, nails, bone awls, glass bracelets, spindle whorls, looms for fishing nets, local and imported pottery with goldish slip or sgraffito (pots, jugs, pitchers, cups, bowls and lids). The settlement dated from the end of the 11th to the end of the 12th centuries.