ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR SOZOPOL (Petar Leshtakov – junior_1_bg@yahoo.com) The exploration of pit No. 1, documented in 2008, continued in the eastern part of the settlement. Two smaller pits (Nos. 1A and 1B) were discovered inside pit No. 1. Pit No. 1A had ellipsoid layout and was 1.60 m by 1.80 m in size and 70 cm in depth. It contained ash, small pieces of charcoal, sherds, fragments of burned clay wall plaster, animal bones, and flint and bone tools. Pit No. 1B had ellipsoid layout and was 5.60 m by 2.20 m in size and 85 cm in depth. It contained charcoal, fragments of burned clay wall plaster, sherds and animal bones. The pottery was decorated with cannelures, small holes, Barbotine and painted ornaments, and dated to the end of the Late Neolithic period (5100 – 4900 BC). An area of c. 170 sq. m was explored in the western periphery of the settlement. Fourteen parallel trenches, dug into a clay layer, were discovered. They were 2.30 – 9.60 m long, 50 – 80 cm wide and situated at 50 – 70 cm from each other. The trenches contained sherds from the Late Classical and Hellenistic periods and from the 2nd – 4th centuries AD. Probably the trenches were remains from agricultural activities, related to a vineyard. A layer, 5 – 10 cm thick, was documented. It contained fragments of burned clay wall plaster and a few Late Neolithic sherds. Two Neolithic pits, up to 1.60 m in diameter and up to 40 cm in depth, were explored.