ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR SMYADOVO (Stefan Chohadzhiev – s_choha@abv.bg, Svetlana Venelinova) A sondage measuring 35 m by 25 m was carried out. During the excavations, 14 pits from the Early Iron Age (11th – 6th centuries BC) and the Middle Ages (9th – 10th centuries AD) were explored. Five Chalcolithic burials (Nos. 28 – 32) were also discovered. The grave pits are 0.70 – 1.36 m in depth. Four graves are located on an approximate axis oriented east – west, at 12 – 13 m from each other. Four graves contained inhumation burials and one grave is a cenotaph (No. 30). The four deceased are rested in a Hocker position: three lie on their left side with heads oriented to the east (No. 29, 31 and 32) and one lies on his right side with head oriented to the west (No. 28). The cenotaph contained two ceramic vessels. The grave goods include badly fired ceramic vessels, flint artifacts, beads made from Spondylus and serpentinite, pieces of ochre, fossils (belemnites) and snail shells.