ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR BANSKO (Katya Melamed – katjamelamed@yahoo.com) So far 37 Christian graves were explored, surrounded and covered with stone slabs, or covered with ridge roofing of tegulae. Part of the graves were empty or parts of the skeletons were missing. Grave No. 30 was covered with tegulae and contained a fragmentary iron umbo. Grave No. 33 was covered with stone slab and contained appliqués and a buckle from a military belt dated to the reign of Constantine the Great and two fragmentary ceramic vessels of the 4th century AD: an urn and a cup. Six memorial structures surrounded with vertical stone slabs were explored near to the graves. Two of the structures contained ritual hearths. In 2013, four burials were explored: two cist graves and two graves covered with ridge roofing of tegulae. Three memorial structures were explored as well. In addition, sherds of the 9th – 10th centuries and a gilded iron mace of the 10th century were found. The cemetery dated to the 4th – 5th centuries AD and belonged to local Thracians who were recently converted to Christianity.