ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF SABRANO (Krasimir Velkov – dakras@abv.bg) Two coin hoards were found near the village: the first one consisted of 600 Late Hellenistic Thasian tetradrachms, including local Thracian imitations, and the second one consisted of over 300 antoniani minted by Gordian III, Philip I and Trajan Decius. The settlement of the Late Iron Age and the Roman period, with adjacent necropolis of four tumuli, was discovered during field surveys carried out in 1991. During the current explorations, the stratigraphy of the site was documented: the layer of the ploughed land was 20 – 30 cm thick and an occupation layer, 20 – 30 cm thick, was situated below it. Debris was documented and it consisted of fragmentary tegulae and imbrices, sherds from dolia and sherds from Roman red-gloss pottery (small cups, dishes, bowls and small amphorae) dated to the 3rd century AD. The finds included iron nails and clamps, a curved iron knife, a fragment of a bronze vessel, and coins of Septimius Severus, Gordian III and Philip I. The debris showed that buildings with roofs covered with tegulae and imbrices existed on the site. Two semi-dug sunken-floored mediaeval houses were discovered. House No. 1 measured 2.50 m by 2.90 m. Four postholes, 20 cm in diameter and 30 cm in depth, were documented. The entrance was from the south. A domestic oven, constructed of stones and fragments of tegulae and dolia, 1.20 m by 0.80 m in size, was discovered in the northeastern corner of the house. A quern was found and a pit (probably a silo) was explored close to it. Pottery of the end of the 9th – 10th centuries was found. Twelve midden pits were explored. They cut the occupation layer of the Roman period and contained charcoal, animal bones and sherds of the 9th – 11th centuries.