ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The sector located to the north of church No. 11, excavated in 1979, was explored. The earliest occupation period dates to first half of the 13th century. An L-shaped groove cut into the bedrock, which was part of technological construction, testifies to the craft activities. The period ended with a fire. The second occupation period dates to the second half of the 14th century and is synchronous to church No. 11. The area to the north of the church was overbuilt. Two parallel buildings, consisting of one room and oriented northeast – southwest, were discovered. The first building is 4.20 m in length and 3 m in width. The length of the second building cannot be specified, but its width is 4.20 m. The walls of the buildings are 70 cm in width and are constructed of uneven stones bonded with mud. The buildings were burnt. Remains of a third building were discovered to the southwest of them. Rectangular pits with unclear function were dug into the bedrock in the southern parts of both buildings. The finds include coins minted by the Bulgarian kings Ioan Alexander and Ioan Shishman, spindle whorls, a knife, a tool consisting of spatula and knife, a pan of scales, buckles and sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries. The buildings were used both for living and for craft activities. The third occupation period dates to the beginning of the Ottoman rule. The grave chambers cut into the rock outside the church were used for multiple burials. Bones of unspecified number of reburied individuals of both sexes were found in the graves, in addition to intact burials. After the grave chambers were filled up, part of the bones were reburied in a pit. Two burials were found close to the pit, most likely belonging to a new cemetery.

EXPLORATIONS IN CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The exploration of the residence of the bishop of Cherven during the Early Ottoman period was accomplished. The residence was burned most likely during the military campaigns of Mihai Viteazul, Prince of Walachia, at the end of the 16th century. The southwestern surrounding wall of the complex, its connections with the neighboring walls and the area between them and church No. 11 were explored. Four burial chambers cut into the rock near the western wall of the church and in front of its western entrance were discovered. Two of them most likely were used as a family tomb. The chambers contained mixed human bones from different individuals and were reused for multiple burials after the complex was abandoned and a cemetery appeared on its place. A burial of a middle age man without grave goods was discovered in chamber No. 3. Spherical buttons from older burials, a skull with an imprint of copper or bronze jewelry and another skull with a hole of a bullet were found in the chamber. The southwestern surrounding wall of the complex is identical with the northern and the southern. It is 12 m in length and was built of uneven stones with a bonding medium of mud. The wall has a shallow foundation within a layer containing material of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (12th – 14th centuries). Only parts of the wall are preserved at one course in height. The entrance of the complex most likely was in its southern corner, which adjoins the main street of Cherven. The finds include sherds, fragments of candlesticks, a bronze appliqué showing St. Mary Hodegetria, a tile with incised cross and inscription IC–XC/NI–KA, a gem, coins, etc., and show that the area was inhabited until the beginning of the Ottoman period.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) A sector in the northern periphery of the saddle that divides the Inner Town of Cherven was explored. The saddle was fortified from the north and the south where it was accessible. The ditch in front of the fortification wall of the Citadel is situated in the eastern part of the saddle. The excavations were carried out in eight trenches and separate sectors around the northern fortification wall. Three parallel walls, oriented east – west, were explored at up to 9.50 m in length. They were built of uneven stones bonded with mud and are 60 cm thick. Traces of fire were found and burned parallel wooden beams, arranged over the clay floor, were discovered. The finds date to the 13th – 15th centuries and include sherds, ceramic vessels, coins, iron tools, nails and a fragment of a ceramic melting pot. A wall oriented north – south, built of ashlars bonded with mortar, was discovered to the east of the three parallel walls. Sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries were found. The northern periphery of the saddle in the Inner Town was occupied during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the Early Ottoman period (15th – 16th centuries).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The saddle in the Inner Town was actively occupied during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (13th – 14th centuries) and the Early Ottoman period (15th – 16th centuries). Houses and workshops were built in that area. The building in squares 13/14 was explored. Stones from the collapsed walls, sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries, burned coins of the second half of the 14th century and iron nails were found inside the building, while fragments from burned wooden beams were discovered on the floor. The building was 9.20 m by 2.20 m in size and was a workshop, probably a forge. A large building was discovered in square 11. Its walls were 60 cm wide, built of ashlars bonded with mud, and were preserved up to 80 cm in height. There was an entrance, 2.20 m wide, on the eastern wall. The northern wall of the building was situated at 90 cm from the northern fortification wall, which was built during the second half of the 14th century. A destroyed oven was discovered inside the building. Sherds of the 14th century were found. A sunken-floored house destroyed by fire was documented in square 4. A floor level with an oven dug into the ground and some stone structures were documented under the sunken-floored house. The finds from the excavations included sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries, coins of the second half of the 14th century, iron nails, buttons, horseshoes, and animal bones from caws, sheep, goats, chickens, large fish and shells.

EXPLORATIONS IN CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The explorations of the buildings, partly discovered during the previous excavations in the southern and the western sectors of the Inner Town of Cherven, continued. The building in trench XI probably was a shelter open to the south, which was a workshop. The northwestern corner of the smithy was explored. Fragmentary wattle-and-daub, fragments from a destroyed furnace and burned wooden beams, probably from the floor of the upper storey, were found. The building situated in trenches ХVІІІ – ХІХ was explored. It was single-room and measured 9.40 m by 4 m. Its walls were 40 – 60 cm wide and were constructed in rubble masonry. A coin from the second half of the 14th century was found on the floor. A pile of stones, constructed during the 14th century, was discovered close to the south of the building. There was a path paved with stones, 80 cm wide, situated over the stone pile and it was explored at 4.80 m in length. The path probably leads to the northern water-supplying corridor of the fortress. A Christian necropolis, which existed until the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century, was discovered in the eastern half of trench XX. Parts of skeletons laid in a pile were discovered. There were bones from children among the skeletal remains. Three regular Christian burials were also discovered. A Bulgarian imitation of the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century was found in grave No. 1. A child, c. one year old, was buried in grave No. 2. A woman was buried in grave No. 3. The wall situated to the southwest of the explored area was discovered. It was c. 1 m high and 17 m long. There was a terrace, up to 5 m wide, situated between the wall and the rock cliff. A staircase with eight steps, 3.80 m long and 90 cm wide, connected the terrace with the road leading towards the western part of the town. There was a room, 4 m by 3.10 m in size, cut out in the rock, situated in the northern end of the terrace and adjoining the inner side of the northern fortification wall. The finds from the excavations included sherds from the 13th – 14th centuries, iron knives, rings, clamps, an ashlar with incised crosses, and coins of the Bulgarian Kings Michael Shishman (1323 – 1330), Ivan Alexander (1331 – 1371) and Ivan Shishman (1371 – 1393).

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The excavations continued to the east of the area explored in 2009. A building constructed in rubble masonry, 4.60 m long and preserved up to 70 cm in height, was discovered in trenches 19 – 24. The finds included sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries, including sgraffito pottery, fragmentary small bowls from the façade decoration of a church, coins of the second half of the 14th century, nails, iron mill-bars and animal bones. A wall supporting a terrace was discovered in trench 23. A building constructed of ashlars with different size bonded with mortar was discovered in trench 20A. It was 4.20 m long, preserved up to 70 cm in height, with walls 55 – 70 cm wide and an entrance 90 cm wide on its western wall. The finds included sherds of the 13th – 14th centuries, animal bones, nails, and an ashlar with incised outline of a building and Cyrillic letters. A burial of a man was discovered in the necropolis in trench 20. The finds from the excavations included coins of the Bulgarian King Ivan Shishman (1371 – 1395) and the Despot of Epirus John II Orsini (1323 – 1335), imitative coins of the second half of the 14th century, a bone handle with incised decoration, an arrowhead, a spherical copper button, a bronze belt buckle, a copper earring, a handle of a door, a copper plate from weighing balances, sherds mostly of the second half of the 14th century, including sgraffito pottery.

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) Church No. 13 with two construction periods was discovered in the Inner Town: during the earlier period it was built of ashlars bonded with mortar and during the second period of roughly-cut and reused stones bonded with mud. The structure from the later period was built over the earlier structure. The church was destroyed most probably by an earthquake in the first half of the 13th century, then it was reconstructed and was finally destroyed after the Ottoman conquest of Cherven in 1388. The church had a single nave and an apse and was without a narthex. It was 4.63 – 4.75 m long and 3.03 m wide with walls 53 – 65 cm wide. The roof was covered with tiles. The floor during the earlier period was paved with slabs. The apse was 1.72 m wide and 1.45 m deep. The foundation of an altar table built of ashlars bonded with mortar was discovered inside the apse and a fragmentary stone slab of the table was found. The lower part of a window, 40 cm wide, was preserved in the apse. During the earlier period, the church had niches on its façades. A niche on the western wall to the south of the entrance was 74 cm wide and 20 cm deep. There were three graffiti in Old Bulgarian inscribed in the niche and the best preserved says that the church was dedicated to St. Mary. The entrance of the church, 94 cm wide, was on its western side. An iron handle from the door was found. A layer with traces from fire was documented, related to the final destruction of the church and containing iron nails, copper coins of the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander and Andronikos II Palaiologos. Sherds of the 11th – 14th centuries and copper coins of the first half of the 13th century were found under the floor of the church and a child burial was discovered. A Christian cemetery was explored around the church and the burials of two men, four women and 13 children were discovered. Two of the deceased children have coins put in their mouths. The grave goods included buttons, copper earrings, coins of the Bulgarian Kings Ivan Alexander and Ivan Shishman, Bulgarian and Byzantine coins of the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th centuries.

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The northern part of the Inner Town was occupied during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (12th – 14th centuries) and the first centuries of the Ottoman domination (15th – 16th centuries). Sherds from the 12th – 14th centuries, nails and coins of the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander (1331 – 1371) were found in a landslide layer in Sector I. Shallow pits were discovered, containing sherds of the 12th – 14th centuries and the 15th – 16th centuries, nails and pieces of charcoal. A building of the 15th – 16th centuries was discovered in Trenches Nos. 23 – 28. It was 10.65 m long, with walls 70 cm wide and built in rubble masonry. The explorations of the cemetery in front of Church No. 13 continued in Trench No. 20A in Sector II. Six burials were discovered and the grave goods comprised glass beads and spherical copper buttons. Grave No. 5 belonged to a man buried in a coffin, as evidenced by carbonized timber remains. The burials were situated at several levels and close to each other. The cemetery was intensively used due to its limited area and appeared before the construction of Church No. 13, since its foundations were built over burials that were discovered. Material from the 12th – 14th centuries was found in the upper layer: iron knives, spurs, fragments from a glass bracelet, glass beads, copper buttons, a copper earring, a bronze finger-ring, a terracotta spindle whorl, a terracotta loom weight, a pot, a stone mould for producing jewelry, nine copper coins, three of which belonged to the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander with Theodora.

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) A cemetery and a quarter with houses and workshops existed in the Northern Sector of the saddle in the Inner Town. The explorations of the building c. 10 m by 3 m in size, located close to the Central Sector, continued. Its walls were 70 cm wide, constructed in rubble masonry. The surface stratum was as much as 40 cm deep, containing sherds of the 13th – 16th centuries, coins of the 14th century, knives, nails, iron slag, arrowheads and slingshots, which had slid down the slope. The lower stratum was 30 – 50 cm thick and contained debris from the building, sherds of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (12th – 14th centuries) and the Early Ottoman period (15th – 16th centuries), 20 copper coins (including from the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander, Ivan Alexander with his wife Theodora of Walachia, Ivan Alexander with his son Michael Asen IV, the Bulgarian King Ivan Shishman, Bulgarian imitative coins of the second half of the 14th century, one coin of the Bulgarian King Kaloyan or the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, one coin of the Despot John II Orsini and one coin of Theodosius II), copper spherical buttons, appliqués, an earring, a finger-ring, a belt buckle, fragments from glass bracelets, a small bronze cross, part of a small goldsmith hammer, a chisel, a pair of scissors, knives, scrap from copper sheet, copper melts, glass melts, iron nails, clamps, rings, animal bones from boars, pigs, ox, birds and fishes. The building was a jewelry workshop. This identification is confirmed by the mould for production of jewelry that was found in 2012. Judging from the coins that were discovered, the workshop functioned actively during the second half of the 14th century.

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The explorations of Church No. 13 built at the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century continued. A stratum was documented, containing sherds of the 12th – 16th centuries, animal and fish bones, pieces of iron mill-bars, glass melts, copper coins – mostly Latin and Bulgarian imitative coins of the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th centuries, fragments from glass bracelets. Burial No. 4 was discovered. Two strata with sherds mostly of the 13th century, charcoal, nails and human bones were discovered to the north of Church No. 13. The strata continued beneath the western wall of the church which shows that it was constructed over destroyed earlier graves. Burned beams from a timber shelter or a timber bell tower destroyed by a fire were discovered. The fire destroyed the church of the first construction period; it probably occurred during the Mongolian invasion in 1241, or in 1278 when the town was conquered by the Byzantine army under the command of Michael Glavas Tarchaniotis. Two burials were discovered in front of the entrance of the church: the first one belonged to a child under 3 years old and the second one to a girl under 15 year old with grave goods (a gold earring, a bronze finger-ring and two spherical copper buttons). A pile of reburied human bones was discovered close to the burials. Two more burials of small children and two burials of adults were discovered as well. Another grave from the Christian cemetery that preceded the construction of the church was discovered under its floor in front of the altar.

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) During the 14th century, there were buildings throughout the saddle of the Inner Town, outside of the cemetery. The explorations continued to the south of the jewelry workshop. The northern part of a building was discovered along the main street, constructed in rubble masonry and 3.30 m wide. The finds from the excavations included fragmentary bricks, roof-tiles and terracotta decoration from a church of the 14th century, sherds of the 14th century, single Thracian sherds of the 1st millennium BC, 17 copper coins: mostly of the 14th century minted by John I Orsini and by the Bulgarian kings Mihail Shishman, Ivan Alexander and Ivan Shishman, and a Latin or Bulgarian imitative coin of the 13th century, copper plates, knives, a spur, nails and finger-rings.

CHERVEN (Stoyan Iordanov – stojan_jo@abv.bg) The narthex and part of the nave of Church No. 16 were explored, built of ashlars bonded with mortar. The narthex measured 5.10 m by 2.70 m and had two entrances. The floor was plastered with mortar. Fragments from frescoes of the lowest decorative line were preserved on the walls of the narthex and the nave. The frescoes in the narthex showed a white drapery with floral decoration, while the frescoes in the narthex probably showed geometric figures. A grave was discovered close to the northwestern corner of the church and three graves were excavated in the southwestern corner of the nave. The grave goods included spherical copper buttons. The church was built at the end of the 13th – first half of the 14th century. During the Early Ottoman period in the 15th century, this part of the town was abandoned.

CHERVEN (Svetlana Velikova – svetlanavelikova@abv.bg) The explorations of Church no. 16 continued. Its walls were 80 – 90 cm wide, built of ashlars bonded with mortar and preserved up to 1.60 m in height. The church was 12.80 m long and its western façade was 6.70 m wide. There were pseudo-constructive decorative niches on the façades, 1.30 m wide and 10 cm deep. The nave was 5.33 m long and 5.10 m wide. The floor was plastered with mortar. A bench cut out in the bedrock was discovered along the northern wall. A second entrance was discovered on the northern wall; it was subsequently walled. The church had a single apse. Fragmentary frescoes were preserved on the inner sides of the walls: mainly parts from the decoration of the plinth and the lower frieze in the apse (painted drapery) and on the southern wall of the nave (the feet of military saints). Seven burial chambers cut into the bedrock were discovered in the nave, two from the outer southern side of the church and one from the outer northern side. A significant number of fragmentary human bones were found above the bodies buried in the nave, indicating that the graves were reused multiple times. A number of copper and silver spherical buttons and two gilded silver earrings were found. During the excavations, 80 coins were discovered. The church dated to the first decades of the 14th century. There were later walls of the end of the 14th – beginning of the 15th century around the church.

CHERVEN (Svetlana Velikova – svetlanavelikova@abv.bg) The excavations of Church No. 16 continued. It was 13 m long and 7 m wide; its walls were 80 – 90 cm wide, built of ashlars bonded with mortar and preserved up to 1.60 m in height. A number of fragmentary bricks that were discovered indicated that there were rows of bricks in the upper parts of the walls. Traces from fire were documented. The façades of the church were decorated with pseudo-constructive niches, 1.30 m wide and 10 cm deep, while the pilasters between them were 80 cm wide. Traces from frescoes were preserved on the inner side of the walls. Graves Nos. 11 – 20 were discovered around the church. Eleven bodies of babies and children were found in some of the burial chambers and between them. Graves No. 9 and No. 10 cut into the rock were discovered in the nave of the church. They contained a large number of human bones, situated above the bodies of the deceased, indicating that the burial chambers were reused many times. A gold finger-ring was discovered in grave No. 9. The finds from the excavations included 366 coins (194 belonging to a hoard), gilded earrings, silver and bronze buttons, belt buckles, a clasp for a book, appliqués, tools and sherds from the 12th – 16th centuries. Church No. 16 was built during the first decades of the 14th century, while during the Early Ottoman period it was probably reused as a house and a warehouse.