ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS OF A PIT SANCTUARY NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KAPITAN ANDREEVO (Hristo Popov – popovhristo@yahoo.co.uk) The site is located on a terrace above the Maritsa River. The excavations aimed at specifying the borders of the site and its features. The main part of the archaeological structures belonged to a pit sanctuary. Twenty ritual pits were explored. The pits come from different periods of the Iron Age: the early phase of the Early Iron Age (10th – 8th centuries BC), the transition period between the Early and the Late Iron Age (6th – mid 5th centuries BC), and the Early Hellenistic period (second half of the 4th – 3rd centuries BC). The typical pottery shapes include jugs, bowls, cups, pots and small dolia. A bronze pin with spiral-like head, which finds exact parallels in Itonia, Thessaly, and Drama, Thrace, and dates to the 9th – 8th century BC, deserves special attention among the finds. The pottery of the 6th – 5th centuries BC shows early wheel-made shapes. Fragmentary Greek amphorae were found in some pits, e.g. a bottom of an amphora from Chios that dates to the mid 5th century BC. A small open settlement was founded on the site during the Early Middle Ages. Three semi-dug sunken-floored houses were discovered during the excavations and two of them were entirely excavated. The present data from the excavations allow us to date the mediaeval settlement to the 7th – 8th centuries AD.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KAPITAN ANDREEVO (Hristo Popov – popovhristo@yahoo.co.uk, Galina Grozdanova) During 2006, 2500 sq. m were explored. The total number of the structures dug into the ground and discovered in 2005 and 2006 is 132: eight Early Mediaeval houses with 10 middens and other structures that date to the Iron Age (1st millennium BC). Structures (most likely houses) of the Early Bronze Age were also discovered alongside with the houses and the pits of the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages. The ritual pits of the Iron Age are similar to other Thracian pits known from different excavations. The pottery is heterogeneous. More than 15 intact ceramic vessels were found. For the first time, some pottery shapes are discovered intact. The ceramic vessels display the entire variety of the Thracian pottery: from rough kitchen vessels to fine tableware. The characteristics of the Early Mediaeval settlement are rare among previously excavated sites. The settlement dates to the 7th – 8th centuries AD. The beginning of its occupation predates the establishment of the First Bulgarian Kingdom in AD 681 and is related to the early Slavic settlement in the Balkans.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KAPITAN ANDREEVO (Hristo Popov – popovhristo@yahoo.co.uk, Galina Grozdanova) Four ritual pits of the second phase of the Early Iron Age (8th – 6th centuries BC) were explored in the southern part of the Western Sondage. Fifty-seven structures of the Early Bronze Age (3500 – 1900 BC), the Iron Age and the Early Mediaeval period were discovered in Sector North. A house with ellipsoid lay-out, measuring 3.90 m by 2.70 m, and four ritual pits were explored. They date to the 2nd – 3rd phases (Mihalich and Sveti Kirilovo) of the Early Bronze Age. The house was dug down to 15 cm in depth. There are postholes, 7 – 10 cm in diameter, situated at 30 – 40 cm from each other along the periphery of the house. The pottery includes jugs and bowls. Part of an arch-like construction, probably remains of another Early Bronze Age house, was discovered. Ritual pits of the Early Iron Age (11th – 6th centuries BC) were explored. The area with the pits is more than 350 m in length and most pits date to the 10th – 6th centuries BC. The ritual pits from the Hellenistic period are bigger in size than the Early Iron Age pits. Patches of fragmentary wattle-and-daub, presumably remains of rectangular building, were explored. Sherds, fragments of eschara with lace decoration and a bronze coin of Maroneia of the first half of the 4th century BC were found. Five houses and seven midden pits of the Early Mediaeval period were explored. Fragmentary ceramic vessels and amphorae of the 7th – 9th centuries AD and a bronze coin minted by Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI were found. The coin is terminus post quem for the occupation of the settlement. The houses have square lay-out. Their hearths are situated in the northeastern corners, except for house No. 11.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KAPITAN ANDREEVO (Galina Grozdanova – galya_std@yahoo.com, Anna Agre) A ritual pit of the 8th – 7th century BC was explored. In addition, five ritual pits of the Early Iron Age were discovered, containing decorated Thracian sherds. A circular burial pit, containing two deceased, was explored. The first deceased was a woman, 35 – 45 years old, oriented west – east, laid on her back, with arms crossed on the chest. The second deceased was a man, 45 – 50 years old, oriented northeast – southwest, laid on his back, with folded arms and hands placed on the shoulders, and a folded left leg. Both deceased suffered from Treponematosis. The burial pit contained Thracian sherds of the Early Ion Age. A sunken-floored Early Mediaeval house was explored and a pot of the 7th – 8th century AD was discovered inside. Pit 7 was discovered, containing Early Mediaeval material. It cut the northern part of the sunken-floored house.