EXPLORATIONS IN APOLLONIA (Martin Giuzelev – martingiuzelev@abv.bg, Konstantin Gospodinov) The Late Antique and Early Mediaeval stratum is 0.90 – 1.20 m thick. The finds include amphorae sherds and a restruck follis of Emperors Justin II and Sophia, or Emperor Heraclius, which gives a terminus ante quem for the construction of the fortification wall. There is a monogram of the Bulgarian King Mihail III Shishman (1323 – 1330) incised on an ashlar of the fortification wall, related to the second period of its use. Walls of dry uneven stones, 60 – 65 cm wide and preserved up to 1 m in height, were discovered. The walls belonged to a room from the Hellenistic period, which measured 5 m by 4 m. There was a second room to the west, probably belonging to the same building. Probably, there was a third room to the east. Part of its floor level, which covered the pavement around cistern No. 1 of the end of the 4th century BC, was documented. Fragmentary roof tiles, amphorae, black-gloss and local pottery, and coins were found in the rooms. The rooms and the cistern situated at the foundations of the fortification wall date to the end of the 3rd – first half of the 2nd centuries BC. A bi-partite room of the Classical period was discovered, destroyed during the construction of the Hellenistic cistern and the Late Antique fortification wall. The walls of the room, 40 – 50 cm wide and preserved up to 1.50 m in height, were built of ashlars. Fragmentary amphorae and black-gloss and local pottery of 430 – 400 BC were found in the room. A pile of sherds of 450 – 425 BC was discovered between the Hellenistic and the Classical room. Amphorae from Chios, Miletos and Thasos prevailed. Fragmentary Archaic East Greek and Attic pottery, charcoal, shells, copper slag and melts, and burned clay plaster were found in the layers situated over the bedrock. Two pits of 555 – 525 BC were discovered.
