ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF DOLNO DRYANOVO (Anelia Bozhkova – aneliabozkova@yahoo.com, Nadezhda Todorova) The site is located on a steep hill. Due to clandestine digs, rescue excavations were conducted. Seven sondages and two trenches were carried out on a total area of 65 sq. m. Fragmentary tegulae and sherds of the 4th – beginning of the 3rd centuries BC were found all over the site. Piles of stones from this period were documented in two sondages. The piles were associated with a layer up to 1 m thick, containing fragmentary tegulae, sherds, animal bones, loom weights, terracotta spindle whorls and fragments from a terracotta pyraunos. Probably, the piles were deposits for votive gifts. A layer, 30 – 50 cm thick, containing materials from the final phase of the Late Chalcolithic period (4200 – 3800 BC) was documented in sondages Nos. 2, 4 and 6. Piles of burned wall plaster, sherds and uneven stones were discovered. The finds include three flint tools, a terracotta loom weight and a flat anthropomorphic figurine. The Late Chalcolithic pottery is technologically and typologically homogenous. The shapes include dishes, bowls, amphorae, pots, cups, lids and small vessels. The decoration is incised, pricked, stamped and painted with graphite and mineral paints. The decoration painted with graphite is geometric and the motives are predominantly linear. There is an interesting group of asymmetrical pots decorated with painted graphite lines, combined with fields filled with red hematite paint and garland-like motifs imitating impressions with cord. The site was probably related to cult practices during the Late Chalcolithic period and the Late Iron Age.

EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF DOLNO DRYANOVO (Anelia Bozhkova – aneliabozkova@yahoo.com, Nadezhda Todorova) The site was discovered during the 1980s. In 2011, the explorations continued in its northern part. Single sherds of the Early Bronze Age were found on platform 1 on rock massif I. Occupation layers were documented on rock platforms 1, 2 and 3 on rock massif II. The occupation layer on platform 2A was c. 30 cm thick and contained Thracian sherds and artifacts of the 5th – 1st centuries BC in its upper part, and sherds of the end of the Late Chalcolithic period and fragmentary burned clay debris in its lower part. The chronological position of the Chalcolithic material was confirmed by AMS dates specifying the end of the 5th – beginning of the 4th millennia BC. The occupation layer on platform 2 was 20 – 50 cm thick and contained material of the 5th – 1st centuries BC. An occupation layer, containing material of the 5th – 1st centuries BC and a small quantity of Chalcolithic sherds, was explored on platform 1. Materials of the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC and the 3rd – 4th centuries AD (sherds, loom weights, spindle whorls, fragmentary roof tiles, and terracotta lamps of the Roman period) were discovered in rock cracks at the foot of platform 1 and over platform 2. Walls of uneven stones were discovered on platform 2. A building, 5.30 m by 4.30 m in size, was documented in the western part of the platform and its walls were preserved up to 40 cm in height. Two Thracian clay escharai were discovered on platform 2. The first one was situated close to the building. The second one had decoration of stylized ornaments situated within a central square divided in four parts and rectangular frame with a meander motif.