ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF MIRKOVO (Ilian Boyanov – ilianboyanov@nbu.bg) During explorations carried out in the middle of the 20th century, fortification walls and a circular building were documented. In 2011, stones and fragmentary burned wattle-and-daub from the walls of houses of the 4th – 2nd centuries BC were discovered. The finds included coins of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great, Thracian sherds from pots, dishes, bowls and dolia, two sherds from imported black-gloss skyphos and kantharos of the middle of the 4th century BC, a bronze arrowhead and an iron fibula of the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC. The osteological material included bones from sheep, goats, ox, pigs, deer, roe deer and bears. Part of the southern fortification wall of a Roman burgus was discovered, built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar. A wall was documented separating two rooms. Pottery, two fibulae and coins from Trajan Decius to Aurelian were found in the rooms. The fortification dated to the second half of the 3rd century AD.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF MIRKOVO (Zhivko Uzunov – jivko_uzunov@abv.bg) The Hellenistic stratum in Sector 1 was partly destroyed by the building activities of the 3rd century AD. A building was documented with walls built of roughly-cut stones bonded with clay, c. 45 cm wide and preserved up to 45 cm in height. Another wall built of roughly-cut stones bonded with clay, 70 cm wide, was discovered. The upper parts of the walls of the building were most probably constructed in wattle-and-daub, judging from the burned fragments that were discovered. The finds included Thracian sherds from pots, bowls, dishes and dolia of the last quarter of the 4th – beginning of the 3rd centuries BC, sherds from imported Greek black-gloss small bowl and kantharos dated c. 325 BC, two bronze coins of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. The Hellenistic settlement dated from the last quarter of the 4th to the second half of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd century BC.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF MIRKOVO (Zhivko Uzunov – jivko_uzunov@abv.bg) The site was occupied during the 4th – 3rd centuries BC and during the third quarter of the 3rd – 4th centuries AD. The stratum in Sector 1 reached up to 40 cm in thickness. Two rooms were documented in the building with walls preserved up to 55 cm in height, constructed of roughly-cut stones bonded with clay. Room No. 1 was 4.10 m by 3.20 m in size with walls 0.70 – 1.05 m wide. A hearth was documented in its northwestern corner. Sherds from at least two dolia were discovered in Room No. 2. The sherds were from pots, bowls, dishes and a lekane dated to the 4th – 3rd centuries BC. Five bronze coins were found: two of Philip of Macedon, one of Alexander the Great, one of the Odrysian King Amatokos II and one unspecified.