ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF ZNAMENOSETS (Plamen Karailiev – umbo@abv.bg) The layout of part of a fortress with two circular towers in its corners was traced out. Tower No. 1, 8 m in diameter, was discovered in the northern corner of the fortress. Its wall is 1.40 m thick. Part of the fortification wall near the tower was explored. The wall is built of uneven stones bonded with mortar and is 2 m wide. The northeastern and the northwestern fortification walls make a right corner and tower No. 1 is situated in the corner. The excavated part of the northeastern wall is 18 m long and the excavated part of the northwestern wall is 75 m long. Circular tower No. 2, identical to tower No. 1, was discovered during tracing out the western fortification wall. Three rooms, arranged in a row and adjoining the inner side of the fortification wall, were explored. Their walls are 80 – 90 cm thick and are built of uneven stones bonded with mud and upper parts constructed of mud-bricks. The bottom of a domestic oven was discovered in room No. 1 and two hearths dug into the floor were discovered in room No. 2. Both rooms have identical size: 6 m by 8 m. A layer of debris, 40 cm thick, was discovered on the floors of both rooms. The layer contained fragmentary and burned mud-bricks, fragmentary building ceramics, spindle whorls, terracotta lamps, glass, belt appliqués, fibulae and coins. A hoard of 10 bronze coins was found in room No. 2. The total number of the discovered coins is 32: the earliest one was minted by Anastasius I (AD 491 – 518) and the latest one was minted by Justin II and Sophia (AD 565 – 578).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF ZNAMENOSETS (Plamen Karailiev – umbo@abv.bg) Room No. 3, belonging to the building with adjacent rooms arranged in a line, was thoroughly explored. A sunken hearth was discovered. It is identical to the two hearths discovered in room No. 2 in 2006. Parts of the eastern and the southern fortification walls and corner tower No. 3 were discovered in the Eastern Sector. The fortification wall was c. 2 m wide and its foundation was 60 – 70 cm deep. Tower No. 3 is circular and is located in front of the corner of the fortification wall. The wall of the tower is 1.40 m wide. The tower interior was used as a house. Four sunken hearths were explored. The western and the southern fortification walls and corner tower No. 4 were explored in the Western Sector. Tower No. 3 is circular and identical to the three other corner towers. The tower was used as a house. The fortress has an area of c. 0.62 ha. The building with adjacent rooms arranged in a line, adjacent to the western fortification wall, was the only one structure discovered inside the fortress and no other buildings were found. According to the coins, the fortress dates to the end of the 5th – second half of the 6th centuries AD.