ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN KABIYUK (Stanislav Ivanov – stanislavivanovarh@gmail.com, Tihomir Tihov) The earthen fortification covered an area of 530 ha and was located at c. 15 km to the southwest from Pliska, the capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. The site was located at the end of the 19th century by the Czech archaeologist Karel Škorpil. The layout of the proto-Bulgarian pagan temple was documented. The building consisted of two rectangular rooms with the smaller inner room situated inside the larger outer one. The outer room measured 25.60 m by 17.60 m and the inner one measured 17.40 m by 9.60 m. The building was constructed of ashlars bonded with mortar and arranged in headers and stretchers. Wooden posts were driven into the ground under the foundations of the walls and their upper parts above the ground were covered with mortar. A pavement of ashlars and stone slabs was discovered around the temple. Postholes from the pillars of timber scaffolding used for the building of the temple were documented. Eighteen postholes, 1.20 – 1.80 m in diameter, were explored belonging to the timber columns from the structure of a rectangular timber building that preceded the stone temple. The postholes were symmetrically arranged around the outer side of the smaller inner room of the temple. The sherds that were found dated to the 9th – 10th centuries. The temple was built in the beginning of the 9th century and was demolished at the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century.