ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR VRATSA (Nartsis Torbov – natorbov@abv.bg, Alexandra Petrova) The northern parts of Trenches AB3 and AB1/4 close to the baptistery of Church No. 2 of the Late Antiquity and the inner side of the Mediaeval fortification wall were explored. The foundations of the walls of two buildings were discovered, built of mortared rubble. The coins that were found, including one of Justin II and Sophia, showed the date of the later building, which was approximately synchronous to Church No. 2. The building ceramics from the earlier building dated to the second half of the 3rd century AD and a coin of Probus was found as well. A wall was discovered in Trench AB2, probably belonging to the Mediaeval fortress. The finds, including a silver coin of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin, indicated that the wall probably dated to the 14th century. The explorations of the fortification wall, built of mortared rubble and 1.90 m wide, continued in Trenches AB1/2. Four Christian burials of the necropolis of the 13th – 14th centuries were discovered in Trenches AB2 and AB1. The finds from the excavations included fibulae and appliqués of the second half of the 3rd – 6th centuries AD, a silver coin of the Bulgarian King Michael III Shishman Asen, a Mediaeval gilded bronze button and a gold jewel.