ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR SMYADOVO (Stefan Chohadzhiev – s_choha@abv.bg, Svetlana Venelinova) Explorations of a cemetery from the Chalcolithic period (5th millennium BC) began. The cemetery belonged to the Smyadovo settlement mound. Four graves at 63 – 93 cm in depth from the modern surface were explored. The graves are located at c. 150 m to the northwest from the settlement mound. The deceased were buried in Hocker position to the left, with their heads oriented to the east. The skeletons belonged to one adult and three children. The grave goods include a stone axe with a hole, bone beads, small snails with holes, a copper bracelet, few sherds and small pieces of red ochre. Remains of a Thracian and a mediaeval settlement were also discovered during the excavations.

EXPLORATIONS NEAR SMYADOVO (Stefan Chohadzhiev – s_choha@abv.bg, Svetlana Venelinova) Fourteen graves of the Chalcolithic period (5th millennium BC) were discovered in an area of c. 0.1 ha. Most often the deceased were placed in a Hocker position on the left side with head directed to the east, but also in a Hocker position on the right side with head directed to the west. Three graves were destroyed by later activities. Ceramic vessels, most of them not well fired, stone, flint and copper tools (stone axes, a small copper cotter, etc.), beads of serpentinite and Spondylus, and jewelry of copper and gold were found in 11 graves. Seven graves contain pieces of ochre and three graves – small snails. Adults were buried in graves Nos. 008, 010, 011, 013 and 016, a young individual in grave No. 015 and a child in grave No. 014. The head of the deceased in grave No. 008 is directed to the southeast. Both hands are placed in front of the face. A stone axe was placed in front of the face, while one of the vessels contains more than 80 beads of serpentinite. The head of the deceased in grave No. 013 is directed to the northeast. Both hands are placed in front of the face. A stone axe was found behind the chest and a half of a ceramic vessel was placed between the elbows and the knees. The head of the deceased in grave No. 015 is directed to the east. Ochre and small charcoals were found behind the skull, over the pelvis and under the right shoulder. There are two ceramic vessels at the right leg. A spiral copper bracelet was found on the right arm. A small copper axe was found on the chest.

EXPLORATIONS NEAR SMYADOVO (Stefan Chohadzhiev – s_choha@abv.bg, Svetlana Venelinova) A pit and a pottery kiln of the 9th – 10th centuries AD and a pit of the Iron Age (1st millennium BC) were discovered. The deceased in the Chalcolithic (4900 – 4100/3800 BC) inhumation graves (Nos. 21, 22, 23 and 25) were placed in a Hocker position on their left side (No. 25 is on the right side) and are oriented east – west with their heads to the east. The grave goods include ceramic vessels, flint and stone artifacts, and a bead of Spondylus. The Early Bronze Age (3500 – 1900 BC) graves are situated at 10 – 15 m to the west of the Chalcolithic burials. The deceased in inhumation graves Nos. 19, 26 and 27 were placed in a Hocker position, oriented east – west with their heads to the east (No. 19 to the west). The grave goods include ceramic vessels, flint and bone artifacts, a necklace of mother-of-pearl beads, pieces of red and yellow ochre placed on the heads and the feet. Five individuals were rested in grave No. 20. The burial pit is rectangular. Four deceased (Nos. 20 A – D) were placed stretched, oriented east – west with their heads to the east. They were buried in two couples, each one consisting of a man and a woman, c. 25 years old, placed embraced face to face. The fifth deceased (No. 20 E) was rested in the western part of the burial pit with his head oriented to the west. The grave goods include two ceramic dishes, two flint artifacts, four silver earrings – one for each of the four deceased (Nos. 20 A – D), a bronze dagger and a piece of red ochre placed on the chest of the fifth deceased (No. 20 E), a piece of red sandstone on the pelvis of one of the buried (No. 20 B) and a necklace of three silver spirals and 18 shells of Dentalium on the neck of another one (No. 20 D). Grave No. 24 is a bell-shaped pit, containing multiple inhumation burials and burned fragments of wattle-and-daub, charcoal and ash. The first deceased was placed over a layer, c. 30 cm in thickness, with head oriented to the north. There is a layer, c. 40 cm in thickness, heaped over the first buried and the second deceased was placed on it with head oriented to the south. The third deceased was placed over the second one and his head is oriented to the east. There are traces of posthumous trepanation on the skulls of the three deceased buried in grave No. 24.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR SMYADOVO (Stefan Chohadzhiev – s_choha@abv.bg, Svetlana Venelinova) A sondage measuring 35 m by 25 m was carried out. During the excavations, 14 pits from the Early Iron Age (11th – 6th centuries BC) and the Middle Ages (9th – 10th centuries AD) were explored. Five Chalcolithic burials (Nos. 28 – 32) were also discovered. The grave pits are 0.70 – 1.36 m in depth. Four graves are located on an approximate axis oriented east – west, at 12 – 13 m from each other. Four graves contained inhumation burials and one grave is a cenotaph (No. 30). The four deceased are rested in a Hocker position: three lie on their left side with heads oriented to the east (No. 29, 31 and 32) and one lies on his right side with head oriented to the west (No. 28). The cenotaph contained two ceramic vessels. The grave goods include badly fired ceramic vessels, flint artifacts, beads made from Spondylus and serpentinite, pieces of ochre, fossils (belemnites) and snail shells.