EXPLORATIONS IN ABRITUS (Galena Radoslavova – galena_rz@abv.bg, Georgi Dzanev) Room No. 18 and the area to the southeast of the room with the colonnade were explored in Building VIII. Four Late Antique and two Early Mediaeval construction periods were documented. A two-storey building, comprising at least 13 rooms with entrances to the west and south, was constructed during the first period. The central entrance had a peristyle and measured 8 m by 8.75 m. The building was constructed most probably during the reign of Constantine I and his successors. Judging from the coins, it was destroyed during the Gothic War of AD 376 – 382. During the second period, after the Gothic War and before the demolition caused by the attack of the Huns in AD 447, some of the entrances of the building were walled and a number of reconstructions were carried out. During the third period, after the middle of the 5th century AD, a pool with a drain was constructed. The period finished with a demolition at the end of the 5th century AD, judging from the traces of fire and burned bronze coins AE4 and a coin of Emperor Leo I the Thracian. The fourth period dates to the 6th century AD, documented by the pottery and the coins minted by Emperors Justin II with Sophia and Tiberius II Constantine with Anastasia. During the reign of Emperor Maurice, the building was demolished and abandoned. After c. 350 years, the Bulgars settled over the ruins of Abritus. Sunken-floored houses were constructed during the first occupation period of the Early Middle Ages. Pottery of the middle of the 10th century was found. The houses were destroyed in AD 968 – 971, during the military campaigns of Sviatoslav I Igorevich (AD 945 – 972), the Prince of Kievan Rus. The second period began after these events. Houses were built, dated by pottery of the end of the 10th – first half of the 11th centuries. The houses were destroyed during the attacks of the Pechenegs in the 1030s and the 1040s.