ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF LYUBCHA (Diana Gergova – dianagergova@hotmail.com, Momchil Kuzmanov, Yavor Ivanov) The necropolis consists of c. 30 tumuli. Three tumuli, which had embankments of stones and earth and clandestine excavations in the central parts, were explored. Tumulus No. 1 was 40 m in diameter and 2 m in height. A krepis, 11 m in diameter and built of ashlars in two rows, was discovered in its center. A large rock, a circle of stones with a raised stone and a group of stone slabs arranged around an oval stone were explored inside the krepis. A bone bead was found in the earth excavated by the treasure-hunters. The krepis was encircled by a second krepis of uneven stones. A circle of stones, 4 m in diameter, two pits containing charcoal, a terracotta head of a ram, fragments of an eschara, sherds, including from Thracian pottery of the Tsepina type, millstones and terracotta loom-weights were discovered in the northern part of the tumulus. Tumulus No. 2 was 1.80 m in height and 35 m in diameter. Two stone krepides, the inner one 22 m in diameter, were discovered. A skull, probably of a horse, was found in the western periphery of the tumulus and a patch of burned earth and charcoal was discovered in the eastern end. A sherd of a Greek black-gloss kantharos was found among the sherds of the Thracian hand-made pottery. No constructions and finds were discovered in tumulus No. 9. The tumuli date to the 6th – 4th centuries BC.