THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST (Todor Marvakov – tmarvakov@abv.bg, Martin Giuzelev, Konstantin Gospodinov) The crossed-dome Church of St. John the Baptist was built over a Late Antique three-nave basilica: the southern and the western walls of the crossed-dome church were constructed over the foundations of the southern and the western walls of the basilica. The southern stylobate of the basilica cut a wall of the Hellenistic period built in rubble masonry. Initially the basilica had one central apse and later on, two small apses were constructed at the southern and probably at the northern aisles. The basilica dated to the 6th century AD. At the end of the 10th century it was destroyed and the crossed-dome church was built over its foundations, while spolia from the basilica were used for the construction of the crossed-dome church. Forty-two Christian graves were explored inside the church and around it. Three graves dated to the 6th – 7th centuries AD and one of them contained a bronze belt buckle of D22 Type according to Schulze-Dёrrlamm, dated to the first half of the 7th century AD. Ten burials dated to the 10th – 15th centuries. Their typical feature was the use of cist graves. Twenty graves dated to the 16th – 18th centuries and all of them contained carbonized remains from wooden coffins. During their digging, most of the earlier burials were destroyed, while the bones from the graves were collected and placed in ritual pits.