ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GORNI DABNIK (Ilian Petrakiev – petrakiev23@abv.bg, Snezhana Goryanova) A tumulus, 35 m in diameter and c. 4 m in height, was situated on the site. In the southern part of the site, a pit was discovered, 1.40 m in diameter and 1.15 m in depth, containing pieces of charcoal, animal bones and Thracian sherds of the Hellenistic period. Debris from a house was excavated: burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub and Thracian sherds of the Hellenistic period. The walls of the house were 10 – 15 cm wide. An ellipsoid ritual pit was discovered, 1.40 m by 1.10 m in size and c. 50 cm deep, containing an iron knife, an iron sickle, a half of a broken quern, burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub, pieces of charcoal and Thracian sherds of the Hellenistic period. A sample of charcoal provided the AMS radiocarbon date 386 – 205 BC. In addition, sherds of the Hellenistic and the Ottoman periods, a fragment of a bronze fibula and a silver akçe of Sultan Ibrahim I were found in that part of the site. In the northern part of the site, a pit was discovered, 80 cm in diameter and c. 30 cm deep, containing fragmentary wattle-and-daub and Thracian sherds of the Hellenistic period. A pottery kiln, 1.40 m in diameter was excavated; it was of the Celtic Type and dated to the Hellenistic period.