EXPLORATIONS NEAR VRATSA (Nartsis Torbov – natorbov@mail.bg, Nikola Theodossiev) Foundations of Thracian buildings were documented in the locality. Different finds were discovered: coins minted by the Thracian kings Amatokos II (359 – 351 BC) and Seuthes III (c. 330 – 300 BC), a bronze stamp for minting denarii of Augustus, a silver earring of the 1st century AD and a bronze lamp of the end of the 1st – beginning of the 2nd century AD. Fortification constructions were built on the site during the Middle Ages. A mediaeval Bulgarian inscription of the 13th century was found in a cave related to a church and monastery. The inscription mentions the name of the mediaeval settlement: Vratitsa. In 2007, a fortification with pentagonal lay-out was discovered. The walls were constructed of ashlars with a core structure of uneven stones bonded with mortar. The maximum width of the wall is 2.40 m. Part of the western fortification wall with a square tower was discovered. The eastern fortification wall was entirely explored. There is a staircase in its northern end. Wooden beams for leveling the structure were used during the construction of the eastern wall. A large trapezoidal room, probably the barracks, connects the eastern and the western fortification walls from the south. An occupation stratum of the 4th century AD, containing traces of fire, was discovered under the foundations of the fortification tower and the church. The fortification was constructed and occupied during the 6th century AD, when the territory was part of the Byzantine Empire. The fortification was reconstructed and reused during the 13th – 14th century at the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The church and the cave, where the mediaeval Bulgarian inscription of the 13th century was found in 1942, were documented. During the excavations, 208 finds were discovered: a bronze fibula, a silver coin and a silver handle of vessel dated to the 4th – 1st centuries BC, a coin and a bronze fibula of the 3rd century AD, coins minted by Constantine the Great, Theodosius I and Justinian I, and bronze coins and pottery of the 13th – 14th centuries.