ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PAUTALIA – VELBAZHD – KYUSTENDIL (Rumen Spasov – rumenspassov@abv.bg) An area of 350 sq. m was explored. The occupation strata are 3.50 – 3.90 m in thickness. The excavated strata and structures date to the Revival period of the 19th century, the Ottoman period, the Middle Ages, the Late Antiquity and the Roman period. Single finds date to the Neolithic period (late 7th – early 5th millennia BC). Three buildings belonged to the Revival and Ottoman periods. Five mediaeval midden pits date to the 11th – 12th centuries. An earlier mediaeval layer, containing materials of the 9th – 10th centuries AD, was discovered. Parts of two streets: a decumanus and a cardo, were situated in that part of Pautalia during the Roman period and the Late Antiquity. The two streets cross in the area that was explored. The archaeological data allow us to specify three construction periods in the development of the architectural complex that includes the two streets and adjacent buildings. The results from the archaeological explorations give important information for the urban system of Pautalia. The previously known cardines of Pautalia are narrower than the newly discovered street, which could be identified as the cardo maximus. The newly-discovered cardo is situated in the western half of Pautalia, close to the supposed location of the agora.