EXPLORATIONS IN AHTOPOL (Tsonya Drazheva – archeo@burgasmuseums.bg) The Late Antique and Mediaeval fortress is located on a peninsula, 0.5 – 0.6 ha in size. Rescue excavations on a building plot, 26 m by 9.40 m in size, were carried out. Part of the fortification wall, 26 m in length and preserved up to 2.50 in height, was discovered. The wall was built in opus mixtum, with faces of ashlars bonded with mortar and emplectum. Part of the lower band of bricks is preserved at 2.05 m above the foundation. Bands of four rows of bricks are preserved in the collapsed parts of the wall. The fortification wall is 3.40 m in width and is additionally reinforced with a wall adjacent to its outer face. The reinforcement of the wall was in the same building technique: ashlars bonded with mortar and emplectum adjacent to the older wall. The coins of Theodosius I and Justinian I found during the exploration and the building technique date the construction of the fortification wall to the end of the 4th – middle of the 5th century AD. Disturbed cultural layers were explored from the inner side of the wall, down to 2.35 m in depth. They contain red-gloss pottery of the Roman period, Early Byzantine pottery, sgraffito pottery of the 12th – 14th centuries, Late Mediaeval glazed pottery of the 16th – 17th centuries, etc. A well, 4.20 m in depth, built of ashlars bonded with mortar, was explored at the foundations of the fortification wall, from its inner side. The well is synchronous to the wall but around the mid 14th century it stopped functioning and began to be used as a garbage pit. Sherds of the 16th – 17th centuries, animal bones with traces of food waste, seeds, etc. were found within the well.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN AGATHOPOLIS – AULEOUTEICHOS – AHTOPOL (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com, Nikolai Dermendzhiev, Yavor Ivanov) The exploration of the stratigraphy from the 5th century BC to the 20th century, which was documented during the excavations in 1999 – 2000, continued in the central part of the ancient town. Sherds from the Hellenistic period, including from Megarian bowls, coins, pottery and jewelry from the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages were found in the embankment originating from strata destroyed during illicit construction works. A sondage was carried out on the highest place in the town, on the site where the remains of the metropolitan church were preserved until the 1970s. The omphalos of the holy spring of the church was discovered, built of uneven stones. The finds included sherds of the Ottoman period, the Middle Ages and the Late Antiquity, and a bronze censer of the 14th century. The exploration of the eastern wall of the ancient fortress, situated in the yard of the Greek School, continued. The previously excavated part of the wall with an adjacent fortification tower was cleaned and the tracing of the wall continued. The western fortification tower was discovered. It was with a square layout, 4.20 m by 4.20 m in size, with walls 1.80 m wide, built of roughly cut stones bonded with mortar. The fortification wall was probably built during the reign of Anastasius I Dicorus at the end of the 5th – beginning of the 6th century AD.

AULEOUTEICHOS – AGATHOPOLIS (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com, Yavor Ivanov) The explorations of the second western tower on the northern fortification wall continued. The tower was 5 m by 8 m in size, with an entrance 80 cm wide. Its walls were 1.80 m wide. Late Antique sherds and a Mediaeval glass bracelet were found in the tower. The line of the fortification wall was traced out in western direction and Late Antique sherds were found. The fortification wall and the tower were built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar. Parts of an earlier wall documented to the south of the fortification wall indicated that a later reconstruction of the fortification system occurred and the second tower was built in that time. Sherds from Megarian bowls, Hellenistic Thracian pottery, Hellenistic terracotta figurines and Mediaeval pottery were found in the embankment from the destroyed strata, located in the central area of the ancient town.

AGATHOPOLIS (Boni Petrunova – boni_boon@abv.bg, Elena Vasileva, Andrei Aladzhov) The Late Antique and Mediaeval fortress is situated on a peninsula, covering an area of 0.5 – 0.6 ha. Agathopolis was mentioned in connection with the military victories of the proto-Bulgarian Khan Krum (AD 803 – 814) achieved in AD 812 and it remained within the borders of the First Bulgarian Kingdom until AD 971. In 1307, during the reign of the Bulgarian King Theodore Svetoslav (1300 – 1321), Agathopolis was a Bulgarian frontier fortress. In 1332 it was conquered by the Byzantine Empire, but the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander (1331 – 1371) reconquered it. Subsequently, Agathopolis again became part of the Byzantine Empire. The fortress was mentioned as Gastopoli in portolans and maps of Genoa. In the period 1413 – 1453 the town maintained trade relations with Constantinople and Venice. In 1453 Agathopolis was conquered by the Ottomans. In the eparchial lists, the town is recorded as an episcopalian center from the 9th to the middle of the 17th centuries. The excavations of 2006 were resumed in Sector UPI. The fortification wall was built in the 5th century AD and was later reconstructed at least twice. It was constructed in _¬¬opus impleсtum_ and with ashlar facing. Its foundations were constructed of cut stones bonded with mud. During the 9th – 11th century, the fortification wall was widened from the outside up to 3.20 m in width. A stratum 30 cm thick, containing material from the 1st – 3rd centuries AD, was documented under the foundations of the wall. The finds comprised a coin from the Roman period and sherds from Thracian pottery of the 1st millennium BC, Hellenistic black-gloss pottery, Megarian bowls, Roman red-gloss pottery, Late Antique pottery, Byzantine pottery of the 10th – 14th centuries and Ottoman pottery of the 15th – 19th centuries. Remains from the Late Antique and Mediaeval fortification wall were documented in Sector Harbor. A sector 10 m long was explored, dated to the 10th – 11th century, judging by the coins. The finds from the excavations included two nummi of the second half of the 4th century AD, three coins of the 11th – 12th centuries and two coins of the 14th century, one of them minted by the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander.

AGATHOPOLIS (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com, Yavor Ivanov, Galena Radoslavova) Illicit excavations for building construction were carried on the site and the strata were partly destroyed. A pit was explored, containing charcoal and sherds of the 2nd – 1st centuries BC. A wall of the 4th – 6th centuries AD was discovered, built in rubble masonry, and two dolia (Nos. 2 and 3) containing fragments from imbrices were found close to it. Dolium No. 3 contained a bronze ladle as well and two bronze nails were found in dolium No. 2. Foundations of a building were discovered and Late Antique sherds were found around. Fragmentary tiles from the collapsed roof were discovered and traces from fire were documented. Dolium No. 4 was discovered, containing sherds from amphorae and an amphora lid of the 4th – 6th centuries AD. Two Christian burials of children (Infans ІI) were explored. Late Antique tegula was found on the skull of the child buried in Grave No. 1. Pathological malformations due to anemia were attested as well. The following finds were discovered in the earth from the illicit excavations: a melting-pot, moulds, bronze tools, terracotta loom weights, stone spindle whorls, sherds from the Early Iron Age, the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Ottoman period, including Late Hellenistic Megarian bowls, Late Antique imported pottery from Western Anatolia and North Africa, bronze coins (a coin of Byzie minted in the 2nd century BC, a Roman colonial coin of Maximinus Thrax minted in Deultum, coins of Justin I and Justinian I, an anonymous Byzantine follis of the 11th century).

AGATHOPOLIS (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com) The finds from the earth originating from destroyed strata included sherds from the Hellenistic period, including from Megarian bowls, the Roman period (2nd – 3rd centuries AD), Late Antiquity, including pottery imported from Anatolia and North Africa, the Early Byzantine period, the Late Middle Ages (13th – 14th centuries) and the Ottoman period, a bronze coin of Mesambria of the end of the 2nd – beginning of the 1st century BC, a bronze minimus of the end of the 4th – the middle of the 5th century AD, a bronze follis of Justinian I, an Ottoman mangir of the 17th – 18th century. The fortification wall was built during the reign of Anastasius I Dicorus or Justinian I over partly destroyed Thracian fortification wall. The wall had at least four construction periods, the latest one probably dated to the Middle Ages. A gate was located at the southeastern corner of the fortress. It was flanked by two U-like bastions built in _opus mixtum_ that collapsed due to earthquake.

AGATHOPOLIS (Andrei Aladzhov – alajov@gmail.com) A sector of the northern fortification wall, 32 m long, was discovered. The fortification wall was 1.85 m wide, built in _opus еmplectum_ at the end of the 4th – 5th century AD. Subsequently the wall was reconstructed at least twice. The Mediaeval parts of the wall were built of well-cut and uneven stones bonded with mud. The northeastern corner tower of the fortress was 5.95 m long with preserved width of 4.50 m and walls 1.80 – 1.95 m wide. A second rectangular tower 4 m in width, with walls 1.90 m wide, was discovered at 15 m to the west of the corner tower. At 3 m to the west of it another identical tower was discovered. Both towers flanked the passage of the northern fortification gate, 2 m wide and 6 m long. The gate was 3 m wide and was built at the end of the 4th – beginning of the 5th century AD. The gate was narrowed with 50 cm from each side at the end of the 5th – beginning of the 6th century AD. Two inner towers symmetrical to the outer ones were built at the inner side of the fortification wall after the beginning of the 10th century. Thus, the passage of the gate became twice longer than the original one. Two dolia _in situ_ and sherds from several more dolia and amphorae were discovered in the eastern inner tower which indicated that it was used as a warehouse. Four strata were documented: Roman, Late Antique (4th – 6th centuries AD), Early Ottoman (16th – 17th centuries) and Revival (18th – 19th centuries). A wall of a house was discovered under the floor of the fortification gate. The finds included four terracotta lamps of the end of the 4th century AD and sherds from amphorae of the middle of the 4th century AD. The building was burned at the end of the 4th century AD and it was _terminus post quem_ for the construction of the fortification wall. The finds from the excavations included sherds of Thracian pottery of 5th – 1st centuries BC, Hellenistic black-gloss pottery, Megarian bowls, Roman red-gloss pottery, Late Antique pottery including a sherd of a Gothic pottery, Early Mediaeval pottery, Byzantine pottery of the 10th – 14th centuries, Early Ottoman pottery of the 15th – 17th centuries, coins, mostly of the 4th – beginning of the 7th centuries AD, the earliest one of Licinius II minted in AD 320 and the latest one of Sultan Abdulmejid I minted in 1841, while there were no coins of the 12th and the 16th century found on the site.

AGATHOPOLIS (Andrei Aladzhov – alajov@gmail.com) The explorations of the northern fortification wall, 1.85 m wide, continued. The northeastern rectangular corner tower was discovered, 5.95 m long and with walls 1.80 – 1.95 m wide. A second rectangular tower, 4 m in width and with walls 1.90 m wide, was explored at 15 m to the west of the corner tower, a third tower with identical size was discovered at 3 m to the west. These two fortification towers flanked the passage of the Northern Gate, 2 m wide and 6 m long. A pavement of slabs was explored in front of the entrance of the gate. The fortification wall was built in _opus emplectum_ in the beginning of the 6th century AD. A gold solidus of Justin I was discovered under the mortar plaster of the floor of the first construction period giving a _terminus post quem_ for the construction of the fortress. The numerous coins of Justinian I, Justin II and Maurice, discovered over and under the mortar plaster of the floor of the second construction period allow us to date the reconstruction of the fortress to AD 550 – 575. The latest reconstructions of the fortress dated to the end of the 14th – beginning of the 15th centuries, judging from the finds. An earlier Late Antique stratum was discovered. A wall of a burned house was discovered under the mortar plaster of the floor of the fortification gate and towers; terracotta lamps, amphorae and coins of the first half of the 5th century AD were found. The building was burned in the middle of the 5th century AD, judging by a coin of Theodosius II. Part of a building was explored inside the fortress, probably a Late Mediaeval church. Two Late Mediaeval Christian burials were discovered to the west of the building.

AGATHOPOLIS (Andrei Aladzhov – alajov@gmail.com, Stanimir Stoichev) In Sector South, the explorations of the fortification wall with the towers and the gate continued. In Trenches E/6 and E/8 a street pavement in front of the fortification gate was documented and parts of walls synchronous to the fortification wall were discovered. Walls of two buildings of the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries were discovered. In Sector North, the walls of a building dated by five coins of the 4th century AD were discovered in Trenches Z and Zh. A layer of debris was discovered, which was leveled during the construction of the fortification wall and was dated to the end of the 5th century AD by coins of Anastasius I Dicorus. A layer of fragmentary roof-tiles and burned boards was situated beneath, dated to the mid 5th century AD by coins of Theodosius II. A leveling layer that preceded the construction of the building during the 4th century AD was situated beneath, containing mixed material of the 3rd–4th centuries AD, Late Hellenistic sherds and a few Thracian sherds of the Late Iron Age. A layer of debris of the 11th century, dated by a Byzantine lead seal, was documented over the wall close to the inner side of the fortification gate. Two anonymous folles of the Class A2 were discovered at the foundation of the wall; they dated the building of the Mediaeval structure to the AD 930s. A sector of a road paved with stones and a bastion for artillery of the 18th – 19th centuries were explored.

AGATHOPOLIS (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com) The explorations of the earth from the stratum destroyed in 2009 continued. Sherds from Thracian pottery, Megarian bowls and Greek pottery with West Slope decoration were found.

AGATHOPOLIS (Andrei Aladzhov – alajov@gmail.com, Stanimir Stoichev) Three strata were documented in front of the fortification gate. The upper one was 50 cm thick, situated beneath the mortar plaster of the first construction period of the gate and containing sherds and fragmentary building ceramics. Late Antique pottery predominated and the stratum dated from the mid 4th to the end of the 5th centuries AD. The lower stratum dated to the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD. Luxury red-gloss vessels predominated. The lowest stratum was 10 cm thick and the Roman luxury pottery predominated there with fewer Hellenistic sherds from luxury vessels. Traces from settlement of the 5th – 1st centuries BC were documented. A stratum of the 11th – 13th centuries was explored inside the inner fortification tower of the gate. Sherds from amphorae and two dolia were found. The tower was built during AD 900 – 950 and functioned until the end of the 13th century. The interior of the Late Roman building was explored. A layer of debris was excavated, dated to the end of the 5th century AD by coins of Anastasius I Dicorus and leveled during the construction of the fortification wall. A layer containing fragmentary roof-tiles, burned wooden boards and burned soil was documented beneath, dated to c. AD 450 by coins of Theodosius II. The lowest layer was leveled and it preceded the construction of the building, containing finds mostly of the 3rd – 4th centuries AD. The debris of the western room of the Late Roman building was discovered, consisting of roughly-cut stones, fragmentary bricks and roof-tiles, slag, iron fragments, lead melts, five bronze pins and two amphorae. Three strata were explored to the west of the Late Roman building: Late Antique one (synchronous to the fortress), Roman and Late Hellenistic of the 2nd – 1st centuries BC.

AGATHOPOLIS (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com) Sifting of the soil from the strata destroyed during the building activities in 2009 continued. The finds included sherds from Thracian pottery, Megarian bowls, Late Antique, Mediaeval and Late Mediaeval pottery, terracotta loom weights, a bronze spoon for communion, a Mediaeval bronze finger-ring, a Mediaeval lead seal and bronze appliqués. Two gilded tesserae from mosaics were found, indicating the existence of an Early Christian basilica. The column discovered nearby and the marble architectural decoration of an Early Christian basilica, kept in the museum collection of the Greek School, probably originated from this particular church. Nine coins from the Late Hellenistic period to the Middle Ages were also found.

AGATHOPOLIS (Andrei Aladzhov – alajov@gmail.com, Stanimir Stoichev) The excavations continued to the south of the northern fortification wall. Two graves were discovered in the late Christian cemetery of the end of the 19th century. In trench K3, a hoard was found on the bottom of a dolium, containing 896 coins, four belt appliqués and two pieces of jewelry of the end of the 18th century, placed in a small textile bag. The coins were mostly Ottoman silver and a few gold coins of the mid 18th century, and also some West European silver coins, most of them pierced. A stratum, 5 – 15 cm thick, was discovered, containing Hellenistic and Roman sherds and coins.

AGATHOPOLIS (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@gmail.com, Nadezhda Ivanova, Galina Grozdanova) The explorations of the spoil heaps originating from destroyed strata continued. The finds included three silver tetartemoria of Apollonia of 479 – 460 BC, a coin of Mesambria of the 4th century BC, coins of the Thracian kings Mostis (110 – 85 BC) and Kotys (c. 105/100 – 90 BC), coins of the 4th – 6th centuries AD, including of Justinian I and minted in Nicomedia in the 6th century AD, a Byzantine lead seal of the 9th – 10th century AD and a Byzantine follis of the 10th – 11th century AD. Sherds from Thracian pottery of the 5th – 1st centuries BC and pottery of the Roman, Late Antique, Mediaeval and Ottoman periods were found. A Thracian sherd of the Early Iron Age was the earliest one. The pottery also included sherds from Megarian bowls, fragments from Hellenistic roof-tiles, one of them with a stamp that reads: A, amphorae of the 1st – 3rd centuries AD and Late Antiquity. During the 1st century BC – 1st century AD, the import of wine prevailed; amphorae of the Dressel 2-4 Types of Kos, Halicarnassus and Heraclea Pontica were discovered. During the 2nd century AD, the import of wine from Kos and the Western Anatolian coast continued, while the wine from Heraclea Pontica was transported in amphorae of the Shelov C Type. Judging from the amphorae of the Dressel 24 / Dressel 24 Similis Types, the import of olive oil from Chios, Kos, Knidos, Smyrna, Phocaea and Pergamon was most intensive during the second half of the 2nd – first half of the 3rd centuries AD. During the 4th – 6th centuries AD, there was import of olive oil in amphorae of the LRA 2 Type of Western Anatolia (mostly Phocaea, Cyme and Pergamon), supplemented with import from Cilicia in amphorae of the San Lorenzo 7 Type. Judging from the amphorae of the LRA 2 Type, the import of olive oil was most intensive during the 6th century AD. During the 4th century AD, the import of wine was carried out in amphorae of the Shelov E and Shelov D Types of Heraclea Pontica, while during the 5th – 6th centuries AD the import was carried out in amphorae of the Kuzmanov 9 and D Snp I Types of Sinope and in LRA 1 Type. Until the end of the 4th century AD, the wine was also imported in amphorae of the Agora G199 Type of Cilicia, LRA 1 Type of Cilicia, Cyprus and Western Anatolia and Torone III Type of Western Anatolia. Judging from the amphorae of the LRA 1 Type, the import of wine was most intensive during the second half of the 5th – 6th centuries AD. Byzantine glazed pottery was found, including white clay pottery of the GWW II and IV Classes dated from the middle of the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century, painted sgraffito and pottery with monograms. Amphorae of the Gunsenin Type I were also found.

AGATHOPOLIS (Pavlina Devlova – devlova@newobjects.com) Three pottery kilns and five Christian burials were discovered in the northeastern part of the site. The bodies in Graves Nos. 2 – 5 were laid in the pottery kilns. There are grave goods in two of the burials: a bronze coin of the 4th century AD and a bone spindle whorl in Grave No. 1 and a bronze earring in Grave No. 4. The anthropological analysis shows that a child c. seven years old was buried in Grave No. 1, a woman 44 – 50 years old in Grave No. 2, two children 10 years and 12 years old in Graves Nos. 3 and 4. The strata contained finds from the 2nd century AD to the 14th century, mainly sherds, including from amphorae, but also tools, jewelry, weights for fishing nets, arrowheads, a bronze cross for a polycandelon of the 6th century AD, 88 coins of the 2nd – 6th centuries AD, a silver grosso of the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander.