ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The saddle in the Inner Town was actively occupied during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (13th – 14th centuries) and the Early Ottoman period (15th – 16th centuries). Houses and workshops were built in that area. The building in squares 13/14 was explored. Stones from the collapsed walls, sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries, burned coins of the second half of the 14th century and iron nails were found inside the building, while fragments from burned wooden beams were discovered on the floor. The building was 9.20 m by 2.20 m in size and was a workshop, probably a forge. A large building was discovered in square 11. Its walls were 60 cm wide, built of ashlars bonded with mud, and were preserved up to 80 cm in height. There was an entrance, 2.20 m wide, on the eastern wall. The northern wall of the building was situated at 90 cm from the northern fortification wall, which was built during the second half of the 14th century. A destroyed oven was discovered inside the building. Sherds of the 14th century were found. A sunken-floored house destroyed by fire was documented in square 4. A floor level with an oven dug into the ground and some stone structures were documented under the sunken-floored house. The finds from the excavations included sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries, coins of the second half of the 14th century, iron nails, buttons, horseshoes, and animal bones from caws, sheep, goats, chickens, large fish and shells.