ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR BYALA (Valeri Yotov – valeri.yotov@gmail.com) The remains of the Church of St. John were described at the end of the 19th century. A kiln for the production of building ceramics was discovered during the present excavations. The kiln had an opening built of bricks, two fire boxes 1.20 m wide and 1.20 m high, a fire-grate 2.90 m by 2.80 m in size, and a ware chamber with its walls preserved up to 1.20 m in high. Intact and fragmentary bricks and tiles of the 5th – 6th century AD were discovered in front of the opening and close to the kiln. A fragment from a terracotta plate with an inscription in Mediaeval Greek that reads ‘God, help your servant…’, was discovered to the left of the opening. The kiln was probably constructed to serve the building of the church.