EXPLORATIONS IN KASTRITSI FORTRESS (Valentin Pletnyov, Hristo Kuzov – h.kouzov@abv.bg, Asya Stefanova) To the south of the corner tower, the western fortification wall was explored. Adjacent buildings arranged in a line were discovered. The finds include pottery of the 13th – 15th centuries and a treasure hoard: a small pot containing silver buttons, two finger-rings and an earring, plus 20 Ottoman Akce minted by Sultan Bayazid I spread around. Church No. 1 measures 8.80 m by 5.50 m. Two coins minted by the Bulgarian Kings Theodor Svetoslav (1300 – 1321/1322) and Michael III Shishman (1323 – 1330) were found in the trampled floor level. The church was built in the beginning of the 14th century. During the second half of the 14th century, a narthex, three rooms and precincts with fence were constructed. Twenty-eight Christian graves with deceased persons ranging from infants to adult men and women, dated to the 14th – beginning of the 15th centuries, were discovered around the church and inside. Copper buttons were found in some graves. There is a denture of terracotta and resin on the supramaxilla of the woman buried in grave No. 30. A Late Antique building is situated below the church. Sherds of the 5th – 6th centuries AD, coins and layers with traces of fire were discovered. A building with two rooms, measuring 14.50 m by 5.50 m, was explored to the east of the street that is adjacent to the church. Pottery and coins of the 14th century were found. The finds from the excavations include Late Antique and Mediaeval pottery, terracotta and lead weights of fishing-nets, lids of exagia, knives, tools, spindle whorls and 184 coins of Odessos and Marcianopolis and minted by Faustina Junior, the Roman and Byzantine Emperors Antoninus Pius, Probus, Licinius, Constantine I, Constans I, Theodosius I, Arcadius, Justinian I, Justin II, Tiberius II Constantine, Maurice Tiberius, Phocas, Heraclius, Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos and Romanos I Lekapenos, Michael VIII Palaiologos, Andronikos II Palaiologos and John VIII Palaiologos, the Despot of Epirus John II Orsini (1323 – 1335), the Bulgarian Kings Konstantin Asen (1257 – 1277), Theodor Svetoslav, Michael III Shishman, Ivan Alexander (1331 – 1371) and Ivan Shishman (1371 – 1395), the Despot of Dobrudzha (Northeastern Bulgaria) Dobrotitsa (1366 – 1385), the Golden Horde (14th century), the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid I, Emir Syuleiman (1402 – 1410), Beylik of Saruhan (mid 14th century), the Prince of Walachia Mircea the Elder (1386 – 1418) and the Doge of Venice Francesco Dandolo (1329 – 1339).