CHURCH ST. FORTY MARTYRS. THE NORTHERN SECTOR (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The site is located alongside the River of Yantra, to the west of the church and the fortification wall of the Early Byzantine fortress. A well and a cobblestone pavement dated to the beginning of the 19th century were discovered. A cultural stratum, 1.50 m in thickness, containing pottery, fragmentary porcelain, terracotta tobacco-pipes, coins, iron objects and animal bones of the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, lies under the pavement. Two graves with partly preserved skeletons were excavated within the stratum. A building containing material of the 18th – 19th centuries was explored. Five cultural layers of the Middle Ages were discovered. The finds from the excavations include five mediaeval pots, fragmentary faience, kitchen and sgraffito pottery, 30 terracotta tobacco-pipes, a bronze finger-ring, bronze buttons, an iron arrowhead, terracotta spindle whirls, small bronze spoons, an iron key, a bronze belt buckle, fragmentary glass bracelets, a copper necklace, 100 copper and silver coins, etc. A grave dating to the end of the 13th – mid 14th century and belonging to the mediaeval cemetery was explored. The grave goods include two copper buttons, a bronze finger-ring and textile remains.