ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR BURGAS (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) The chapel was built on the Black Sea shore in the 12th century. It survived a fire and subsequently was destroyed during the first half of the 13th century. The chapel measured 5.80 m by 3.80 m. Its walls were preserved up to 1.65 m in height and were built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar. Single architectural elements of a Roman public building of the 2nd century AD were used as spolia in the walls of the chapel. A holy spring was built in the southwestern corner of the chapel. An altar table was discovered, constructed of earlier architectural elements: a slab and a column. Frescoes were documented as well. About 1000 tesserae in five colors were discovered dug out in a pit in front of the apse. They probably originated from the mosaic floor of an earlier and larger church, while the chapel was built over its apse. Two Christian burials contemporary to the chapel were explored to the east of it, belonging to a cemetery. The deceased were men, 50 – 60 and 60 – 65 years old, one of them with a bronze earring on his left ear. The finds from the excavations of the chapel included pottery, five copper coins: four Latin imitative scyphate coins dated to 1204 – 1261 and a coin of Arcadius, iron arrowheads, a bronze clasp of a book, iron clamps and nails from the roof and the windows. Walls built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar were discovered to the north of the chapel. The finds included pottery of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD, a bronze coin of Antoninus Pius and a Late Mediaeval copper scyphate coin. Probably these were the remains of Roman villa rustica.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR BURGAS (Milen Nikolov – m_kotlenski@abv.bg) The site was located at c. 350 m to the northwest of the architectural complex of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD explored in 2012. Foundations of a farm building of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD were discovered, built in rubble masonry and 50 cm wide. Two perpendicular walls were explored, 50 cm and 75 cm wide. A pile of collapsed roof-tiles and sherds from jugs, cups, bowls and amphorae of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD was discovered.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR BURGAS (Lyudmil Vagalinski – lvagalin@techno-link.com) The explorations of the villa rustica built at the end of the 3rd – beginning of the 4th century AD continued. Its walls were 1 m wide, constructed of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar. Square stone bases located in the middle of a room c. 20 m long accommodated the wooden columns that supported the roof covered with tiles. There was a yard adjoining the northwestern side of the room. Ramshackle farm buildings were situated to the north of the room. The villa was probably destroyed by an earthquake in the middle of the 4th century AD (after AD 337). Parts of the walls of the villa were deconstructed in the beginning of the 5th century AD (after AD 402). The finds comprised Late Roman copper coins and sherds, an iron axe and part of bronze scales with inscription containing the end of the name of the owner or some magistrate, followed by a cross. The villa was built over a layer of the 3rd century AD with traces from fire. The archaeozoological analysis of the osteological material from the layer showed a little bit more bones from oxen than from sheep, goats and pigs.