ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF ISKRA (Ivan Dzhambov, Georgi Mitrev – gmmitrev@yahoo.com) The layout of the chapel located to the north of the single-nave church was revealed. The chapel measures 7.80 m in length by 4.20 m in width. Its entrance, 1.10 m in width, is from the north. It became clear that the chapel and the church were synchronously built. The church is 22.30 m in length. The stratigraphy within the apse and the area in front of it was explored. The highest cultural stratum contains traces of fire and burnt sgraffito sherds. It dates to the 13th – 14th centuries. The stratum below contains fragments of building terracottas and pieces of mortar. It is a result of the destruction of the earliest building. Remains of demolished walls were discovered within the stratum. The next stratum also contains traces of fire, while the pottery and other finds date it to the 11th – 12th centuries. The lowest stratum contains single sherds of Thracian pottery. Two walls with a bonding medium of mud were discovered inside the nave. Further exploration is needed in order to specify how these walls were related to the reconstruction of the church that happened during the 13th – 14th centuries. Three secondary burials of adults dated to the 13th – 14th centuries were excavated under the threshold of the northern entrance of the chapel and in front of it. The finds from the church and the chapel include: a bronze coin of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century, a bronze coin of Manuel I Comnenos (1143 – 1180), part of an iron cross, iron knives and nails, fragments of window glass, two small ceramic bowls, etc. A settlement of the 11th – 14th centuries is situated near the mediaeval fortress in the Golyam Hisar locality. Remains of burials, presumably belonging to a mediaeval cemetery, were registered near the Vakafa locality.