THE LARGE OUTER EARTHEN FORTIFICATION OF PLISKA (Pavel Georgiev – pavel_g@gbg.bg, Radoslav Vasilev) The explorations aimed at clarifying the features and chronology of the “double passage” in the eastern earthen rampart of the outer fortification of Pliska. The beds of two open canals for meliorative water-supply to the Outer Town of Pliska during the 9th century AD were traced out. The canals were dug into the marl bedrock. The width of their upper part is 4 – 6 m, the width of their bottom is 0.50 – 1 m and the depth is down to 3.50 m from the contemporary surface. Canal No. 1 took water from a shallow natural basin in front of the ditch and transported it to the dry valley located nearby. The canal passed through the northern passage of the earthen rampart. Canal No. 2 passed through the southern passage of the earthen rampart and transported water to the same dry valley. Animal bones, sherds of pots dated to the 9th – 10th centuries and fragments of bricks or water-pipes were found within the canals.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PLISKA (Pavel Georgiev – pavel_g@gbg.bg, Stanislav Ivanov) The explorations were carried out at the rampart and the moat of the northwestern corner of the large outer earthen fortification of Pliska. There is a mound, 1.50 m in height, built over the corner of the rampart. A wall built of dry stone slabs, over 1.50 m wide, was discovered from the outer side of the rampart. The wall supported the rampart and served as its facing. Fragments of mud bricks were found. They are identical to the mud bricks that were used to overlay the palisades of the large timber fortification of the Inner Town of Pliska. The construction of mud bricks laid over the stone wall of the rampart. Probably, a shelter or a watch house for guard and surveillance was constructed in the corner of the rampart on the top of the mound. A cross-section of the western rampart was carried out. The top of the rampart is c. 3 m wide, while its bottom is c. 12 m wide. Two supporting walls of dry stones were documented. They supported the earth of the rampart. The outer wall is 1.40 m wide, while the inner wall is 50 cm wide. The distance between both walls is c. 8 m and this was the original width of the bottom of the rampart. The rampart with both stone walls used to be c. 10 m in width.

PLISKA (Pavel Georgiev – pavel_g@gbg.bg, Radoslav Vasilev, Gergana Ilieva) A sondage was carried out in the Large Outer Earth Fortification of the Outer Town. The sondage was situated across Canal II running along the southern passage of the fortification. The canal was cut into the marl bedrock and was c. 5 m wide in its upper part and c. 1.60 m wide in its lower part. A sherd of the 9th century AD, a fragment from a terracotta pipe from water-conduit and animal bones were found inside the canal. The central part of the eastern side of the Large Outer Earth Fortification was without a ditch in a section c. 250 m long, due to the marl bedrock situated very close to the surface of the terrain. That explains why the rampart in this part of the fortification is low and it played the role of a dike, which protected the lower part in this sector of the Outer Town from the water that was collected in the ditch located to the north. During the construction of the rampart, or soon after, Canal I was dug out and it caught part of the water that was collected in front of the rampart and led it into the dry valley located nearby. The digging of Canal II resulted into the opening of a second passage into the rampart. Thus, a double entrance was constructed in this part of the fortification and a road was made.