EXPLORATIONS IN SOZOPOLIS (Tsonya Drazheva, Dimitar Nedev – am_sozopol@abv.bg) The explorations of the southern fortification wall of Sozopolis began and 45 m of the wall were discovered. It was 1.80 m wide, built in opus emplectum and preserved up to 4 m in height. Two rectangular towers were explored. The western tower No. 1 measured 5.80 m by 5.80 m and ashlars of an ancient building and ancient funerary stelae with Greek and Latin inscriptions were reused in its construction. The front side of the eastern tower No. 2 was projected at 7.30 in front of the wall and an architrave and a cornice of an Early Hellenistic building were reused in its construction. The fortification wall was built at the end of the 4th century AD and was repaired during the 5th – 6th centuries AD. A stratum, 1.20 m thick, containing remains from building activities of the 14th – 15th centuries was situated over the fortification wall. The finds from the exploration of the wall included Early Byzantine pottery and coins. Five Christian graves (two of them with deceased children) of the 4th century AD were discovered. One of the children graves was built of stones and covered with roof tiles. The grave goods included a bronze earring and two coins of the 4th century AD. An ellipsoid ritual pit (bothros), 5.20 m by 1.20 m in size and 90 cm in depth, cut into the bedrock, was explored under the level of the graves. It contained sherds of amphorae with stamps of Heraclea Pontica, Thasos and Mende, local greyware, black-gloss pottery, imported red-figure pottery, 15 terracotta tokens (psephoi), a terracotta comic mask and two terracotta figurines. Two pits filled with copper slag, which remained from metallurgical activities carried out through 550 – 525 BC, were discovered close to the ritual pit. An ancient building, a street paved with stone slabs and a peribolos were discovered close to fortification tower No. 1. A pile of sherds of amphorae from Thasos, Chios, Mende and Heraclea Pontica, black-gloss pottery and red-gloss pottery, was explored under the level of the ancient street. A church of the 13th – 14th centuries was documented. Frescoes were preserved in its apse.

EXPLORATIONS IN SOZOPOLIS (Tsonya Drazheva – archeo@burgasmuseums.bg) The newly discovered section from the fortification wall, situated between both towers, was 24 m long. The wall was 1.80 m wide and preserved up to 3.80 m in height. It was built of ashlars (including spolia: reused ashlars and marble architectural details) bonded with mortar with an emplectum of uneven stones bonded with mortar. The foundation was 20 – 40 cm deep and was constructed over the cutout bedrock. The exploration of rectangular Tower No. 2, 7 m by 8.20 m in size, continued in the southeastern part of the fortification wall. The walls of the tower were 1.20 m wide, built of ashlars and preserved up to 3.20 m in height. The fortification wall and Tower No. 2 were built at the end of the 4th – beginning of the 5th century AD. At the end of the 5th century AD reconstructions of the fortification wall were done and Tower No. 1 was additionally built, in order to strengthen the western side. The finds included sherds from amphorae and pottery from the 4th to the 17th centuries, a Byzantine anonymous follis of the 11th century and a silver grosso of Bulgarian King Ivan Shishman (1371 – 1395). Three kilns, constructed of stones and partly dug into the bedrock, were explored in front and to the south of the fortification wall. Kiln No. 1 was beehive, 1.40 m by 1.50 m in size, with a prefurnium, 70 cm long and 32 cm deep. The kiln was filled with lime. Apparently, the kiln was used for firing limestone to produce lime which was used for the construction of the fortification wall. Kiln No. 2 was circular, 70 cm in diameter. Kiln No. 3 was ellipsoid, 80 cm by 90 cm in size. Sherds and two bronze coins of Apollonia of the 3rd – 2nd century BC were found in the interior of kilns Nos. 2 and 3 and in the layer between them. Iron mill-bar and slag were found close to kiln No. 3 and they indicated that both kilns were metallurgical. The cultural layer around the kilns was destroyed during the construction of the fortification wall and by two graves of the 5th – 6th centuries AD.

EXPLORATIONS IN SOZOPOLIS (Tsonya Drazheva – archeo@burgasmuseums.bg) The southern fortification wall was 2.30 m wide and preserved up to 12.50 m in height. A section of the wall, 38.60 m long, was discovered. The wall was constructed of cut stones bonded with mortar with an emplectum and two construction periods were documented. The fortification wall was constructed in AD 500 – 525 and probably was functional until the middle of the 15th century. It served as a proteichisma of Sozopolis. An entrance was discovered in the right sector of the wall, flanked by two U-like fortification towers, 4 m long and 2.50 m wide, with preserved height of 12 m. The entrance was walled probably during the 12th century. The western U-like tower was 3 m long and the eastern U-like tower was 3.80 m long, while they were 3.60 m wide. The western tower was preserved at 9 m in height and the eastern one was preserved at 11.90 m in height. A church, 13.90 m long, 10 m wide and preserved up to 3.50 m in height, was explored at 8 m to the south of the fortification entrance. It was built of ashlars, smaller stones and reused marble architectural details bonded with mortar, with small bricks incorporated into the joints between the stones. The floor was paved with terracotta tiles. The plaster of the frescoes was preserved in the northern apse of the altar and fragmentary color frescoes were discovered fallen on the floor. The church was a three-naved basilica with an altar with three apses and a narthex with one entrance. It was built in the 10th century and was reconstructed in the 13th century. There was an open gallery in front of the entrance, which was reconstructed and converted into an exonarthex. Two lead seals of the 11th century, coins of the end of the 10th – 13th centuries and a set of exagia were found. After a fire, the church was reconstructed and converted into a cemetery chapel and during the end of the 14th – beginning of the 17th centuries its interior was used for family burials, while its central apse in the altar was transformed into an ossuary. Seventy burials were explored inside the church and in the adjacent cemetery.

APOLLONIA – SOZOPOLIS (Tsonya Drazheva, Dimitar Nedev – am_sozopol@abv.bg) The three-nave and three-apse basilica to the south of the fortification wall was thoroughly explored. An earlier floor of bricks arranged over a mortar layer was discovered under the floor. Graves from the earlier period of the basilica were explored. Foundations of an earlier single-apse church were discovered under the central nave and the central apse of the basilica. During the second half of the 10th century the basilica was built over the earlier church and it functioned until the 17th century. The walls of the single-apse church were 80 cm wide, built of stones bonded with mortar and preserved up to 1.50 m in height. Graves dated to the end of the 6th – 10th centuries AD were discovered around the church. The grave goods included pottery, coins and belt buckles of the Syracuse Type. The burial pits were either covered with roof-tiles, or surrounded with bricks or small ashlars. A street of the end of the 16th – 17th centuries was discovered, paved with spolia. Strata of the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC, the second half of the 5th century BC and the second half of the 6th century BC were documented. The finds from the Hellenistic period included sherds from apmphorae and apmphora stamps of Sinope, Rhodes and Thasos, Megarian bowls, black-gloss and local pottery. A pottery kiln was explored to the northeast of the apse of the northern nave of the basilica. The finds comprised sherds from amphorae of Chios, Lesbos, Thasos and Miletus, local pottery, black-gloss and black-figure pottery of 550 – 450 BC. A workshop was discovered in front of the altar of the basilica and five metallurgical kilns were explored inside. The finds comprised slag, copper and iron mill-bars, sherds from amphorae, black-figure and East Greek pottery of 540 – 500 BC. A sanctuary with an altar over a platform with stairs was discovered to the northwest of the basilica. The altar was 2.07 m by 1.15 m in size and was preserved up to 1.40 m in height. The finds comprised sherds from amphorae, black-gloss pottery and four amphora stamps of Thasos of the 4th century BC. A public building, 8 m wide and constructed in _opus mixtum_, was discovered to the west of the basilica. Judging from coins, the building dated to the 5th – 7th centuries AD.

APOLLONIA – SOZOPOLIS (Tsonya Drazheva, Dimitar Nedev – am_sozopol@abv.bg) The Late Antique public baths built in _opus mixtum_ and situated to the west of the three-nave basilica were thoroughly explored. The outer walls were 1 m wide and the interior walls were 80 cm wide, preserved up to 2.80 m in height. The building was 15.50 m long and 6.40 m wide, with four parallel rooms arranged in a line. There was a yard from the northern side of the baths, 11.50 m by 3.70 m in size, paved with bricks arranged over a layer of mortar, with an entrance with a staircase 2.20 m wide with four steps constructed of ashlars. Initially the building had three parallel rooms arranged in a line. Eastern Room 2 was 3.65 m by 2.45 m in size with two pools plastered with mortar. Central Room 3 measured 2.75 m by 2.95 m. Western Room 4 measured 2.90 m by 2.85 m with two pools faced with marble veneer. Rooms 3 and 4 had hypocaust and their floors were paved with stone slabs (including marble spolia from an Early Christian basilica) placed over small columns. Judging from the pottery and the coins, the baths were built in the beginning of the 6th century AD and were reconstructed during the second half of the 6th century AD and existed until the middle of the 7th century AD when the building was destroyed by a fire. During the second half of the 6th century AD, Room 1, 5.65 m by 2.70 m in size, was added on the eastern side of the baths. A coin hoard was discovered under its floor. The building of the 4th century BC, located to the north of the baths and 12 m by 7.30 m in size, was thoroughly explored. Its walls were constructed in rubble masonry and were 60 cm wide, preserved up to 1.10 m in height. The finds included sherds, including from amphorae, amphora stamps and copper slag.

APOLLONIA (Teodora Bogdanova – vorbog@yahoo.com, Dimitar Nedev) The area around the pottery kiln of 450 – 425 BC, situated in front of the southern fortification wall, was explored. Mixed sherds from the Late Antiquity, the Hellenistic and the Classical periods were found, originating from strata destroyed during the construction and functioning of the fortification wall. A layer with traces from fire was explored, containing sherds from black-gloss pottery and amphorae of Chios, Mende and Thasos, dated to 450 – 400 BC. The layer was probably created during the construction of the pottery kiln. Another layer was discovered beneath, containing mixed sherds from the Classical and the Archaic periods, including sherds from amphorae of Klazomenai, Chios, Lesbos and South Ionia, pottery with linear decoration and pottery in Late Wild Goat Style. A stratum of 575 – 545 BC was explored beneath, 20 – 32 cm thick and containing sherds from East Greek amphorae, Bucchero and painted pottery, animal bones and shells.