EXPLORATIONS OF KASTRITSI FORTRESS NEAR VARNA (Valentin Pletnyov, Petko Georgiev, Hristo Kuzov – h.kouzov@abv.bg, Asya Stefanova) Four rooms of the end of the 13th – 14th centuries were discovered to the southwest of the fortress gate. According to the coins, they were destroyed by conflagration, presumably in the beginning of the 15th century. Most likely, three of them were built at the same time following a plan. Their walls bond and are 70 – 90 cm in thickness, built of ashlars with a bonding medium of mud, preserved up to 1.70 m in height. In fact, this is a north – south oriented tripartite building with additional reconstructions, whose northern rooms are more than 8 m in length. The other room has a wall built of stones with a bonding medium of mud and was discovered to the southwest of the tripartite building. A demolished wall within a stratum containing late antique pottery and coins was found below the mediaeval flooring level. Indeed, flooring levels of rammed clay were uncovered in all mediaeval rooms. The materials from the excavations are pottery, copper vessels, exagia and coins. Relatively intact ceramic vessels with sgraffito decoration, pots, pitchers and jugs were found. The coins (158 in all) are late antique and early mediaeval from the 4th to the beginning of the 7th centuries AD (the latest ones are emissions issued by Heraclius in AD 611), and late mediaeval from the 13th to the beginning of the 15th centuries (Latin imitations; Bulgarian coins minted by Theodor Svetoslav, Michael Shishman and Ioan Alexander; coins of the Dobrudzha Principality minted by Dobrotitsa and Ivanko Terter; Byzantine coins minted by Andronikos II Palaiologos and Manuel II Palaiologos; coins of the Golden Horde; coins minted by Joan Orsini; Moldavian coins; Ottoman coins minted by Bayezit I and emir Suleyman). A treasure of 47 gold perpera of the ‘Joan III Duca Vatazi’ type was found. Some of the coins are minted by Joan Duca Vatazi, but others are later imitations.