EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN PRECINCTS OF ST. FORTY MARTYRS CHURCH (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) A mediaeval stratum was explored in Sector South. The southern surrounding wall of the church precincts was discovered. The wall is preserved at 50 cm in height and has an entrance 1.30 m wide. Three mediaeval Christian graves were explored. Sherds of the 5th – 7th centuries AD were found in Sector Chapel, behind the wall of the Early Byzantine fortification. The nave of the chapel was discovered. It is built of uneven stones bonded with mortar and measures 9.50 m by 6 m. The walls are 90 cm wide and are preserved up to 2 m in height. Two pairs of pilasters at the northern and the southern walls supported arches over which the barrel-vaulted ceiling was constructed. Fragmentary frescoes, small decorative glazed ceramic cups, pottery and coins of the 13th – 14th centuries were found. A lime-pit, used during the building construction, was discovered. The chapel was built in the middle of the 13th century. It had a narthex, 6 m by 6.40 m in size. During the 14th century, an exonarthex (a bell tower), 4.60 m by 6.60 m in size, was additionally constructed. The chapel was already out of use in the second half of the 14th century and a dwelling was arranged inside the building. Baths, which reused the walls of the chapel, were constructed at the end of the 14th – beginning of the 15th century, during the beginning of the Ottoman period. The bathroom was situated within the space of the nave. It had floor and wall heating with a hypocaust. The furnace was located from the outer side of the southern wall. The baths functioned through the 16th – 17th centuries. In that period, a Christian cemetery existed around it. Nineteen graves (three belonging to children) were explored. The deceased were buried in wooden coffins with iron nails. The grave goods included brocaded textile, copper and silver buttons, ceramic vessels, a bronze finger-ring, iron hobnails and an arrowhead.