DEULTUM (Krasimira Kostova – kr.kostova@mail.bg) An area of 404 sq. m with strata from 2 m to 4.70 m thick was explored. The excavations in Sondage G revealed that the proto-Bulgarian defensive rampart of the 9th century AD was constructed over a stratum of AD 400 – 450, which was partly destroyed during the excavation of the ditch to the east of the rampart, 3.50 m deep. Part of a wall was explored with foundation dug out into a layer with traces from fire of AD 400 – 450, dated by coins of Honorius and Theodosius II. Sherds were found in the debris from the fire, including from Gothic pottery and amphorae. A floor of a room of the beginning of the 4th century AD was discovered, dated by coins of Constantine the Great. The floor was dug out into a stratum of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD and laid over the foundations of an earlier building which dated to AD 150 – 250, judging from the coins, and was burned. The fire was dated by a coin of Gordian III and its debris contained fragments from mortar plaster decorated with strips in relief in stucco. After the fire the building was reconstructed: an inner wall built after the middle of the 3rd century AD was discovered. The explorations in Sondage Z revealed a building burned in AD 450 – 475, dated by coins of Theodosius II and Marcian. The debris from the collapsed burned roof covered with tegulae and imbrices was explored. The finds included sherds, including from amphorae of the LR 1, LR 2 and LR 4 Types, and Gothic jugs and pots. A floor of the beginning of the 4th century AD was documented, dated by coins of Constantine the Great and Licinius I. A layer with traces from fire was documented below the floor, dated by coins of Gordian III. A stratum of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD was discovered, containing sherds from red-gloss jugs, bowls and cups, amphorae of the Dressel 24 and 25 Types, Pontic amphorae, fragments from mortar plaster decorated with strips in relief in stucco, coins of Antoninus Pius, Faustina the Elder and Gordian III.

DEULTUM (Krasimira Kostova – kr.kostova@mail.bg) The explorations of the villa suburbana situated to the east of Deultum continued. In Sondage D, a stratum with traces from fire of the second half of the 4th century AD and a pile of roof-tiles and debris from building constructed of bricks were explored. In Sondage Z, debris from a burned building was discovered and two hoards with coins of Constantius II of AD 353 – 358 were found. The fire dated to AD 358 and was related to the earthquake documented in the thermae and in other buildings. The atrium of the Roman villa was discovered with the impluvium and part of the vestibule. Stone bases were discovered in the four corners of the impluvium, probably for wooden columns that supported to compluvium. Parts of three rooms were discovered, one of them with traces from the fire of AD 358. Stone pavement of the second construction period of the villa was explored. A leveling layer was discovered under the pavement, which had destroyed a stratum of the first construction period containing finds of the 2nd – first half of the 3rd centuries AD with latest coin of Gordian III. Four rooms of the building were discovered to the south of the pavement. The foundations of the building of the first construction period were built of stones bonded with mortar. During the second construction period of the second half of the 3rd – 4th centuries AD, repairs were done and some rooms were divided with walls built in rubble masonry. A leveling layer with finds of the 2nd – first half of the 3rd centuries AD, with earliest coins of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder and latest coin of Gordian III, was explored under the floor of the second half of the 3rd – 4th centuries AD in the southeastern room. In the other sondages, a room with suspensura and a floor paved bricks was discovered and four bronze coins of the end of the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD and a sherd of Visigothic pottery were found in the debris. A second room with floor paved with bricks was discovered to the south.