EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN PRECINCTS OF ST. FORTY MARTYRS CHURCH (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) A mediaeval stratum was explored in Sector South. The southern surrounding wall of the church precincts was discovered. The wall is preserved at 50 cm in height and has an entrance 1.30 m wide. Three mediaeval Christian graves were explored. Sherds of the 5th – 7th centuries AD were found in Sector Chapel, behind the wall of the Early Byzantine fortification. The nave of the chapel was discovered. It is built of uneven stones bonded with mortar and measures 9.50 m by 6 m. The walls are 90 cm wide and are preserved up to 2 m in height. Two pairs of pilasters at the northern and the southern walls supported arches over which the barrel-vaulted ceiling was constructed. Fragmentary frescoes, small decorative glazed ceramic cups, pottery and coins of the 13th – 14th centuries were found. A lime-pit, used during the building construction, was discovered. The chapel was built in the middle of the 13th century. It had a narthex, 6 m by 6.40 m in size. During the 14th century, an exonarthex (a bell tower), 4.60 m by 6.60 m in size, was additionally constructed. The chapel was already out of use in the second half of the 14th century and a dwelling was arranged inside the building. Baths, which reused the walls of the chapel, were constructed at the end of the 14th – beginning of the 15th century, during the beginning of the Ottoman period. The bathroom was situated within the space of the nave. It had floor and wall heating with a hypocaust. The furnace was located from the outer side of the southern wall. The baths functioned through the 16th – 17th centuries. In that period, a Christian cemetery existed around it. Nineteen graves (three belonging to children) were explored. The deceased were buried in wooden coffins with iron nails. The grave goods included brocaded textile, copper and silver buttons, ceramic vessels, a bronze finger-ring, iron hobnails and an arrowhead.

EXPLORATIONS IN VELIKO TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The church explored was situated to the south of St. Forty Martyrs Church. Its nave was constructed over a pavement of stones and fragmentary bricks of the 13th – 14th century. The church was built in the 14th century. It was single-nave and single-apse, with a narthex, covered with a barrel-vault, and 15 m by 6.30 m in size. There was an exonarthex, additionally built from the western side of the church, thus extending its length to 19.20 m. The walls of the church were 90 cm wide and were preserved up to 3 m in height. The northeastern corner of the nave, part of its eastern wall and the apse, 1.65 m wide and 0.70 m deep, were discovered. There were fragmentary frescoes preserved on the northern wall of the apse, showing the polystaurion of a bishop who was depicted in the scene of worshiping Christ child as the Eucharistic victim (Melismos). The frescoes dated to the middle of the 14th century. The finds included fragmentary steatite icons, two iron procession crosses, a glass icon lamp, and parts of polycandelon. During the end of the 14th – 15th centuries, the church was already not functional and two ovens were built inside. During the Ottoman period in the 15th – 16th centuries, the church was reconstructed and transformed into baths. The floor of the bathroom was explored. It was constructed of stone slabs plastered with mortar and paved with marble slabs. The floor was supported by 21 small columns of the hypocaust, which were arranged in three parallel rows consisting of seven columns each. Terracotta tubes of the water-conduit were documented on the eastern wall of the bathroom and a chimney was discovered. The baths had four rooms: a bathroom situated in the nave of the church, a dressing room situated in the narthex, a stokehold from the southern side and a gallery from the northern side. A female burial (No. 23) of the Christian necropolis of the 16th – 17th centuries was discovered close to the baths. The grave goods included gold-lace textile and a copper finger-ring. In that period, the apse of the church was filled with stones paved with slabs and an iron cross was found on the slabs. Probably, during the 17th century when the baths were already not functional, the building was used as a cemetery chapel.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The site was situated to the south of St. Forty Martyrs Church. Part of a Mediaeval midden pit was explored, containing sherds, including sgraffito, animal bones, fragments from roof tiles and bricks. A wall of the 14th – 15th century was discovered, built in rubble masonry and 75 cm wide. Two Christian graves were situated over the wall. They belonged to the Post-Capital Christian necropolis of the 16th – 17th centuries, which was situated around the baths, already not functional in that period. Twenty-five graves were explored and the total number of the graves discovered in the necropolis reached 48. Seven burials belonged to children. Almost all graves contained iron nails and remains from coffins. The grave goods included three silver and seven copper spherical buttons, 10 buttons produced of wire, two copper bracelets, a silver appliqué, a small glazed bowl and a small ceramic cup, a fragment of a roof tile with a graffito: a cross and the abbreviation IC XC NI KA. In addition to the grave goods, the finds discovered during the excavations included silver and copper coins, a gilded copper jewel, a small copper chain, glass beads, pottery, terracotta tobacco-pipes, fragments from frescoes from the decoration of the church, sherds from sgraffito pottery, including a fragmentary dish showing the images of two warriors.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) Twenty-four graves of the 16th – 17th centuries were explored, two of them secondary burials and one child burial. Almost all graves contained nails and timber boards from coffins. The grave goods included a silver finger-ring, a small copper finger-ring, 29 copper buttons, a spindle whorl, a small pot, an arrowhead, five copper and one silver coins. An oven of the 16th century was explored. A wall in rubble masonry of the 14th – 15th centuries was documented, probably part of a southern fence surrounding the church. Sunken-floored House No. 1 of the 14th century, 2.80 m long, was explored. Sunken-floored House No. 2 of the 14th century, 2.70 m by 3.50 m in size, was explored. Grave No. 65 of the 14th century was discovered at 12 m to the south of the church. The western fortification wall of the Early Byzantine fortress was explored to the south of the church. Its foundation was down to 75 cm deep and the wall was preserved up to 2.40 m in height. A lead seal of the 6th century AD was found inside the mortar of one of the fortification towers. Two places for stirring mortar were discovered. Pottery of the 13th – 14th centuries and the 16th – 19th centuries was found in the upper layers. The finds from the excavations included small glazed bowls, a small bronze spoon, an iron reaping hook and terracotta tobacco pipes of the Ottoman period, and a bronze cross, a bronze procession cross, sgraffito pottery showing images of birds and warriors of the 13th – 14th centuries. C. 1500 fragments from the frescoes of the church were classified and conserved. The image of St. Mary seating on a throne and several images of monks and military saints were reconstructed.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The site was situated at 60 m to the south of St. Forty Martyrs Church. A place for sitting mortar was discovered, used for the building of the Early Byzantine fortification of the 6th century AD. A sector of the western fortification wall was discovered, 2.60 m wide and preserved up to 2.60 m in height. The foundation of the wall was 1.10 m deep, constructed of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar. A ditch of the 13th century was explored, containing charcoal, Thracian, Early Byzantine and Mediaeval sherds. Four graves of adults dated to the 14th century were explored. Fourteen midden pits the 14th century were discovered, containing sherds, charcoal, animal bones and copper coins. A kiln of the end of the 14th century was explored. Two graves in the Christian cemetery of the 16th–17th centuries were discovered. The finds from the excavations included coins, small crosses, a finger-ring, a bracelet, a spade, pots, spindle whorls and bone objects.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) An area of 70 sq. m was explored to the south of the Mediaeval church that was transformed into baths during the Ottoman period. Layers containing mixed Thracian, Early Byzantine and Mediaeval sherds and fragmentary roof-tiles were documented. The layers were spread in the 13th century to level the terrain. Two burials of a child and an adult, belonging to the cemetery of the 16th – 17th centuries, were discovered near the Mediaeval church that was transformed into baths. So far, almost 80 graves were explored in that cemetery. The finds from the excavations included a copper coin, sherds from sgraffito bowls with graffiti, terracotta tobacco pipes and a stone mould.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The explorations continued to he south of the Mediaeval church that was transformed into a bath at the end of the 14th century after Tarnovo was conquered by the Ottomans. A stratum of the 14th – 15th centuries 25 – 40 cm thick was documented. Midden pit No. 15 of the second half of the 14th century was explored, containing pieces of charcoal, animal bones, sherds, fragmentary bricks and roof-tiles, an iron knife, a bone blade and three copper coins. Three places for stirring mortar of the end of the 14th century were discovered. A stratum of the 13th – 14th centuries 15 – 60 cm thick was documented. Another stratum of the 6th – 7th centuries was documented beneath. The finds from the excavations included a gold coin of John III Doukas Vatatzes, five copper coins of the 13th century, part of a mouth of a small bronze vessels showing the figure of a saint, a bronze appliqué, a copper button, two bottoms of sgraffito vessels with graffiti, another bottom of a sgraffito bowl showing an animal, a small glazed bowl from architectural decoration of façade, a bone appliqué and two stone projectiles.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The explorations continued to he south of the Mediaeval church that was transformed into baths during the Ottoman period and to the east of the western fortification wall of the Early Byzantine fortress. A stratum of the 6th – 7th centuries AD was documented, related to the fortress, and single Thracian sherds of the 1st millennium BC were found. The upper strata dated to the 13th and the 14th centuries. Until the middle of the 14th century, there were no buildings in this part of the capital suburb. The top strata dated to the Ottoman period: end of the 14th – 15th centuries, 16th – 17th centuries and 18th – 19th centuries. A small part of the painted plinth of the second half of the 14th century was discovered on the northern wall of the nave of the church. Three places for stirring mortar for the building of the baths at the end of the 14th century were entirely explored. The finds from the excavations included nine copper coins, sherds from sgraffito pottery showing parts of human figures, a pendant from a chandelier and a frame from a small steatite icon.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Plamen Karailiev, Evgeni Dermendzhiev) The explorations continued to the south of the Mediaeval church that was transformed into a bath during the Ottoman period and to the east of the western fortification wall of the Early Byzantine fortress. The southern Mediaeval fortification wall was documented, with a postern with staircase leading towards the Tsarevets Fortress. Places for stirring mortar, midden pits and debris from sunken-floored workshops or houses of the end of the 14th century were discovered. A sondage was carried out in Trenches XXXVII-9 and XXXVII-8. The lowest stratum of the 6th – beginning of the 7th centuries AD was related to the Early Byzantine fortress. Early Byzantine and Thracian sherds of the 1st millennium BC were found. The upper strata dated to the 13th – 14th centuries, end of the 14th – 15th centuries and 16th – 17th centuries. During the excavations, a sherd from a sgraffito ceramic vessel was found with Cyrillic inscription, featuring the name of Hilarion, the Bishop of Maglen, whose holy relics were kept in the neighboring St. 40 Martyrs Church.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Plamen Karailiev, Evgeni Dermendzhiev) The explorations continued to the south of the St. 40 Martyrs Church, to the south of the church that was converted into baths and to the east of the western fortification wall of the Early Byzantine fortification. During the excavations, 18 coins were found. The explorations of the Eastern Profile from the church to the southern end of the Early Byzantine fortification revealed that the lowest stratum of the 6th – 7th centuries AD was related to the construction and functioning of the Early Byzantine fortification. The different strata from the end of the 11th to the 17th centuries could be relatively clearly identified. Midden pits, sunken-floored houses, the church that was converted into baths and a Christian cemetery were situated in these strata. A structure of a building that accommodated the metallurgical furnace of 1400 – 1450 was documented. The baths dated to 1400 – 1525. Finds probably related to an unknown church (decorative terracotta appliqués of façade, tesserae of mosaics and a small liturgical spoon) were discovered in trenches 37-3 and 38-1.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Evgeni Dermendzhiev, Plamen Karailiev) The excavations continued to the south of the Mediaeval church, transformed into baths during the Ottoman period, and to the east of the western wall of the Early Byzantine fortification. A metallurgical workshop with three furnaces for processing iron ore was explored. It dated to the second half of the 14th century. The finds included sherds, two coins, an iron horseshoe, an iron tool and 30 iron mill-bars. Three Mediaeval pits were excavated, containing fragmentary bricks and roof-tiles, pieces of iron slag, a copper belt buckle, a bronze finger-ring, sherds, including from sgraffito pottery and from a pilgrim flask. A place for stirring mortar was discovered, related to the construction of the Early Byzantine fortification, which secured the water supply for the Early Byzantine fortress on the Tsarevets Hill. The finds from the excavations included 41 coins, three ceramic vessels, three iron knives, three belt buckles, seven lead weights, three glass bracelets, two finger-rings, a bronze fibula, tesserae from mosaics, Thracian sherds and two spindle whorls of the 5th – 4th centuries BC.

TARNOVO (Konstantin Totev – konstantin_totev@abv.bg, Plamen Karailiev) The church was situated in the southern outer precincts of the Great Laurel Monastery with the Holy Forty Martyrs Church. It was built of uneven stones bonded with mortar, with incorporated wooden beams. The church was single-naved, single-apsed, with a narthex, 15 m long and 6.30 m wide. There was an exonarthex and thus, the total length of the church was 19.20 m. The inner walls of the nave were painted with frescoes and its façades were decorated with small glazed bowls. There were two niches, 60 cm wide and 30 cm deep, on both sides of the apse. Two pairs of pilasters on both long walls of the nave supported the arches of the barrel-vaulted ceiling. The marble plates that were re-used to fill the apse were removed. The plates originated from the floor pavement of the altar and from the church furniture. Frescoes were discovered on the plinth of the eastern, northern and southern walls of the altar, showing a white drapery on a dark-blue background. There was no drapery in the center of the apse, but a central panel that probably showed the scene Adoration of the Sacrifice. The paintings in the church dated to the 14th century. After the Ottoman conquest at the end of the 14th century, the building of the church was reused for the construction of baths that functioned during the 15th and the first quarter of the 16th century. During the excavations, 50 coins were discovered, including a hoard of 10 silver coins of the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander with his son Michael Asen and two silver buttons.