HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com, Ivo Cholakov) A fortification wall, 2.10 m wide and built of uneven stones bonded with mortar, with levelling courses of fragmentary building ceramics and stone slabs, was explored on site No. 1. Its foundation is 50 cm deep. The wall is preserved up to 1.80 m in height. A section of the wall, 13.50 m long, was discovered. According to the coins, the fortification wall was constructed after the 1st century AD and before AD 257. A burned house, which was built of uneven stones with a bonding medium of mud, was explored. The occupation strata are c. 3.50 m in thickness. The occupation strata on site No. 2 are also c. 3.50 m thick, but reach up to 4.50 m in thickness. A production facility of the 4th century BC – 6th century AD was explored in 1958. In 2007, its chronology was specified. The production facility was set to fire during the first half of the 3rd century AD. Terracotta figurines were produced during the second occupation period. Basins, buildings constructed of uneven stones and dried bricks with roofs covered with tiles, a street, a catch-water drain and dolia were discovered. The production facility was set on fire after AD 270. The production of terracotta figurines continued during the third occupation period. A catch-water drain, a supporting wall, 1 m wide and preserved up to 4.50 m in height, and barrel-vaulted rooms were constructed. The production facility was set on fire at the end of the 3rd century AD. The production of terracotta figurines stopped during the fourth occupation period. A fire dated after AD 383 was registered. No materials dated after the 4th century AD were found. The finds include 94 bronze and silver coins from the 4th century BC to 4th century AD, terracotta figurines, terracotta moulds for producing terracotta figurines, two small votive reliefs showing Artemis and Heracles, terracotta lamps, ceramic vessels, loom weights, iron tools, bronze jewellery, bones of pigs, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, ox, hens, dogs, foxes, rabbits and wild pigs.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com, Ivo Cholakov) Site 3 was located between Site 1 (Roman fortification wall) and Site 2 (Roman craft quarter). An area of 0.1 ha was explored. Early Hellenistic material was found over the leveled bedrock and under the lowest floor level. Four construction periods, ending with fires, were documented above. The earliest fire dated after 27 BC and was probably related to a military attack, judging from the spearheads, the arrowheads and the lead slingshots discovered in that context. The second fire dated after AD 295 and the latest fire dated after AD 341. The longitudinal axis of the rooms was oriented east – west. Paths with stairs and drains were located along the steep axis of the slope oriented north – south. The streets cut out into the bedrock and leveled with rubble were oriented east – west. Twelve Early Christian graves, dated after AD 341 and dug out into the debris, were explored in Sondage No. 2. The graves were constructed of cut stones (probably taken away from the debris), bricks and roof-tiles with or without a bonding medium of clay. The graves contained from one to three deceased individuals. No grave goods were found. Skeletal remains from at least 18 individuals were documented: a newborn baby, a baby up to 6 months old, three children from 3 to 6 years old, five children from 8 to 14 years old, an adolescent, four adults over 18 – 20 years old and an adult 50 – 60 years old. The finds from the excavations included bronze, silver and lead coins and Thracian imitations minted from Philip of Macedon until Valens, pottery, loom weights, terracotta lamps, lead weights, bone hair pins, beads, finger-rings, querns, arrowheads, spearheads and lead slingshots. Bones from ox, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, donkeys, dogs, deer, boars, rabbits, chickens and fishes were identified. According to the paleobotanical analysis, oak and poplar were present.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) Four occupation periods were documented in the craft and living quarter discovered on Site 2. The end of the second occupation period was caused by a fire, accompanied with an attack with spherical stone projectiles that destroyed houses built of sun-dried bricks. In that time the southern and eastern feet of the hill were protected with fortification wall built in the period after the 1st century AD and before AD 257. During the third occupation period a supporting wall in _opus mixtum_ with a monumental staircase leading towards the quarter were constructed. The houses were built of sun-dried bricks over stone foundations. Spolia were also used in the buildings and the roofs were covered with tiles. The third occupation period ended due to a fire, which occurred after AD 276, at the end of the 3rd century AD. The fourth occupation period also ended due to a fire, which occurred after AD 383, at the end of the 4th century AD. One of the barrel-vaulted rooms that was located to the east of the staircase was explored. The rooms had traces of occupation after the end of the fourth period, during the first half of the 5th century AD. Judging from a coin of Marcian, soon after AD 450 this part of the city was abandoned. The finds from the excavations included terracotta and stone loom weights, querns, bone hair pins, bone needles, glass bracelets, lead and terracotta fishing weights, pottery, terracotta figurines, terracotta moulds for producing lamps, terracotta lamps, an intaglio, a bronze figurine of Hermes of the 4th century AD, fragments from marble statues and from a small marble votive relief of Nemesis, 178 bronze and three silver (one of them fourrée) coins. It is interesting that coins of the 2nd – 1st centuries BC circulated simultaneously with the Late Roman coins. There were Barbarian imitations of coins of Constantine the Great that circulated in the period AD 319 – 350. A dolium of the third occupation period had a stamped Greek inscription that reads: “Production of Dionysios”.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) An area of 0.02 ha was explored and the average thickness of the strata was 2.50 m. In the southern part of Site 2, the monumental staircase in the craft and living quarter of the 1st – 4th centuries AD was thoroughly discovered. The staircase led toward a marble door of a large public building with color frescoes on its interior walls. The architectural complex comprised barrel-vaulted shopping rooms and was part of the northern side of the agora during the Roman period. The excavation results confirmed that the first occupation period of the town ended with a fire that occurred after AD 14 and the third occupation period also ended with a fire dated after AD 293. The archaeozoological analysis showed the presence of butchers in the town, while the bones from pigs were prevailing, followed by bones from sheep, goats and ox. There were bones from rabbits, hens and fish as well. Pieces from antlers and boar tusks prepared for production of items were found.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) In the southern part of Sector 2, a civic basilica of the 3rd century AD was discovered in the northern part of the Roman forum. It measured 22.20 m by 15.80 m and its walls were built in _ opus mixtum _, preserved up to 5 m in height. A layer with traces from fire of the second half of the 3rd century AD was explored. The civic basilica was situated over an early Hellenistic building. Early Hellenistic strata were documented. Four houses of the Hellenistic and the Roman periods were explored, situated each above other. The end of the III Occupation Period in Heraclea Sintica occurred after AD 307. The severe destruction at the end of the IV Occupation Period occurred after AD 388 due to an earthquake. Several Greek graffiti on pottery and terracotta lamps indicated that the main language in the town was the ancient Greek. The finds included 153 bronze, copper, lead and silver coins, terracotta loom weights, terracotta figurines, terracotta lamps, lead slingshots, pottery, terracotta moulds for producing terracotta lamps and figurines, iron tools, marble architectural decoration, two Late Roman bronze figurines of Hermes and Heracles. The archaeozoological results from the Early Hellenistic strata are identical to those of the Roman period: pigs prevailed among the domestic animals, while goats were more numerous than sheep; bones from deer were used for the production of different objects; oxen, sheep and goats were mostly used for providing milk and wool and not so much for consumption; horses and dogs were not consumed. The paleobotanical data indicated that during the Early Hellenistic and the Late Roman periods the citizens of the town used pine, fir and oak.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) The explorations continued in Sondage 9, to the south of the Late Roman vaulted shops. A corner of a building was discovered, with walls 85 cm wide, built of ashlars with a core structure of roughly-cut stones bonded with clay. The building was burned. The debris contained Early Hellenistic finds, including coins – two minted by Philip of Macedon, and an amphora stamp of Akanthos of 330 – 300 BC. The building was constructed during the second half of the 4th century BC and was destroyed at the end of the century. Probably, it belonged to the Early Hellenistic agora. The finds from the excavations included Early Hellenistic bronze coins, sherds, fragments from building ceramics, lead slingshots, amphora stamps and terracotta loom weights. The archaeobotanical analysis of the timber burned during the fire at of the 4th century BC identified building elements from pine, poplar and oak, the presence of cherry trees, and two fragments from bread from common wheat, einkorn and millet. The bones from oxen and sheep/goats prevailed among the osteological material from the Early Hellenistic stratum. Bones from dogs, pigs, horses, donkeys, rabbits and deer also occurred and a bone from bear was found.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) The Late Roman civil basilica was entirely excavated. During the Third Occupation Period, a kiln for glass production functioned in its northern barrel-vaulted room. Judging from the archaeomagnetic date, the kiln was fired for the last time during AD 303 – 354. A staircase in the southern barrel-vaulted room secured the access to the tribune in the apse of the basilica. A drain was explored beneath the room. The Third Occupation Period ended with a fire that occurred between AD 313 and 355. During the Fourth Occupation Period the floor levels were raised. Two cornices with sculptured lion’s heads-fountains and an architrave were discovered, collapsed in front of the southeastern corner of the basilica. A marble staircase was discovered, leading to the south towards the forum. The Fourth Occupation Period ended with an earthquake that occurred after AD 388, or after AD 402. The animal bones from the excavations were from oxen, pigs, sheep/goats, horses, dogs, rabbits, deer, chicken and geese. Carbonized timber from oak, elm, alder, Scots pine and plum tree or cherry tree was documented.

HERACLEA SINTICA (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) During the II occupation period, which ended with a fire that occurred soon after AD 276, metallurgical workshops were situated in the northern periphery of the forum. During the III occupation period, the forum was reconstructed with spolia. Fifteen parallel rooms arranged in a line were built along its northern periphery. Some of the rooms were sanctuaries, one of them devoted to Nemesis. The rooms were decorated with multicolor plaster and marble veneer. There were staircases at the both sides of the line of parallel rooms, leading from the forum towards the acropolis. A portico with a three-step stylobate, parallel to the rooms, was situated to the south of them. It led towards the _area_ of the forum paved with stone slabs. There was a civic basilica at the western end of the portico and a public building at its eastern end. During the IV or the V occupation period, the public building was transformed into an Early Christian basilica; an apse was added to the eastern side of the building and walls separating the aisles were built in its interior. A strong earthquake occurred after AD 388, followed by a major flood caused by Strumeshnitsa River. Subsequently, the inhabitants of the town used the civic basilica and most of the parallel rooms for houses. Another earthquake that occurred soon after AD 425 ended the IV occupation period. A small gold chain lost during the earthquake was found in one of the parallel rooms. The V occupation period began soon after AD 457. Some of the parallel rooms were reused for houses. A Late Hellenistic inscription mentioned a theater that existed in the town. An honorary inscription of the 2nd century AD shows Roman influence on the Graeco-Macedonian names. An epitaph testified that the town flourished during the 2nd century AD. During II – IV occupation periods, the bones from oxen, sheep/goats and pigs prevailed and oak timber was used in the structure of the buildings. Heraclea Sintica was the main settlement center in the Middle Strymon River Valley from the second half of the 4th century BC to the second half of the 5th century AD.