EXPLORATIONS NEAR SMYADOVO (Stefan Chohadzhiev – s_choha@abv.bg, Svetlana Venelinova) A pit and a pottery kiln of the 9th – 10th centuries AD and a pit of the Iron Age (1st millennium BC) were discovered. The deceased in the Chalcolithic (4900 – 4100/3800 BC) inhumation graves (Nos. 21, 22, 23 and 25) were placed in a Hocker position on their left side (No. 25 is on the right side) and are oriented east – west with their heads to the east. The grave goods include ceramic vessels, flint and stone artifacts, and a bead of Spondylus. The Early Bronze Age (3500 – 1900 BC) graves are situated at 10 – 15 m to the west of the Chalcolithic burials. The deceased in inhumation graves Nos. 19, 26 and 27 were placed in a Hocker position, oriented east – west with their heads to the east (No. 19 to the west). The grave goods include ceramic vessels, flint and bone artifacts, a necklace of mother-of-pearl beads, pieces of red and yellow ochre placed on the heads and the feet. Five individuals were rested in grave No. 20. The burial pit is rectangular. Four deceased (Nos. 20 A – D) were placed stretched, oriented east – west with their heads to the east. They were buried in two couples, each one consisting of a man and a woman, c. 25 years old, placed embraced face to face. The fifth deceased (No. 20 E) was rested in the western part of the burial pit with his head oriented to the west. The grave goods include two ceramic dishes, two flint artifacts, four silver earrings – one for each of the four deceased (Nos. 20 A – D), a bronze dagger and a piece of red ochre placed on the chest of the fifth deceased (No. 20 E), a piece of red sandstone on the pelvis of one of the buried (No. 20 B) and a necklace of three silver spirals and 18 shells of Dentalium on the neck of another one (No. 20 D). Grave No. 24 is a bell-shaped pit, containing multiple inhumation burials and burned fragments of wattle-and-daub, charcoal and ash. The first deceased was placed over a layer, c. 30 cm in thickness, with head oriented to the north. There is a layer, c. 40 cm in thickness, heaped over the first buried and the second deceased was placed on it with head oriented to the south. The third deceased was placed over the second one and his head is oriented to the east. There are traces of posthumous trepanation on the skulls of the three deceased buried in grave No. 24.