AD PUTEA (Petar Banov – plevenmuseum@dir.bg) The site covered an area of c. 1.3 ha. The mansio was built on the road from Ulpia Oescus to Philippopolis during the 2nd century AD and the adjoining fortified settlement was built after AD 250. An altar with the image of Dionysus, another altar with a votive inscription, a sculpture of Heracles and a leg from a bronze statue of Heracles were found in the past. Clandestine excavations and destroyed walls and buildings were documented on the site. During the explorations, a fortified tower was discovered which probably was three-storey and might have been used as barracks as well. The tower was 13.40 m by 12.25 m in size and its walls were 1.80 m wide built in _opus mixtum_. The fortified tower did not belong to the fortification wall and it was a separate structure. It was destroyed and subsequently reconstructed, most probably during the reign of Justinian I. A layer up to 50 cm thick was discovered above the floor, consisting of burned timber beams from the collapsed roof and fallen tegulae, 40 cm by 60 cm in size. The finds from the tower comprised an axe, a spearhead, an iron plate from a door, a bronze key, a bronze lamp, a cylindrical bronze sextarium and carbonized remains from a wooden chest full of carbonized grain. Part of a house built in rubble masonry was explored to the southwest of the fortification tower. Two rooms were discovered. The finds from the house comprised pottery, coins of Gallienus, Valens, Theodosius I and Arcadius. Part of fortification wall and adjoining rooms were documented at c. 15 m to the northwest of the fortification tower. The fortification wall was over 1.90 m wide, built of ashlars with a core structure of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar. The pottery discovered during the excavations dated to the 2nd – 6th centuries AD.

AD PUTEA (Petar Banov – plevenmuseum@dir.bg) The castellum covered an area of c. 1.3 ha and existed from the second half of the 3rd to the first decades of the 5th century AD. Thracian sherds of the 11th – 6th centuries BC were discovered on the site as well. In Sector 1 the watchtower built in c. AD 250 was excavated. It measured 14 m by 13 m and was used as barracks as well. Its walls were 1.90 m wide, built in _opus mixtum_. The roof that collapsed during the fire was discovered on the floor of the tower. Burned remains from two wooden chests, which contained grain, probably einkorn, were discovered as well. Seven copper coins of the last decades of the 3rd – 4th centuries AD were found. In Sector 2 two rooms were explored, adjoining the western side of the watchtower. The lower parts of their walls were constructed in rubble masonry and the upper parts were built of sun-dried bricks. The roofs were covered with tegulae and imbrices. Sherds were found, mostly from pitchers, amphorae and pots. An altar with a Latin inscription of the beginning of the 3rd century AD was discovered, being reused as a step between Rooms Nos. 3 and 4. A second altar with a Latin inscription was discovered, devoted to Jupiter by Sorcius Probus. A coin of Honorius was found as well. In Sector 3 the foundations of a tower on the fortification wall were explored. The tower measured 3.60 m by 3.60 m, with walls 1.30 m wide and built in mortared rubble. In Sector 4, at 9 m to the south of the watchtower, two rooms built in rubble masonry were discovered, probably belonging to a workshop. Fragments from tegulae and imbrices from the roof were discovered. The finds included lead and glass melts, a stone pan for pouring the melted lead, a fishing hook, two terracotta net sinkers and sherds of the 4th – beginning of the 5th century AD. In Sector 5, at 11 m to the south of Sector 4, two bases for columns and _pilae_ constructed of bricks for a hypocaust were discovered.

AD PUTEA (Petar Banov – plevenmuseum@dir.bg) The explored castellum is later than Mansio Ad Putea on Via Traiana. The watchtower was explored. It was a three-storeyed burgus built in _opus mixtum_. There was a buttress at its southeastern corner. A grain storage was additionally built to the south of the burgus and a dolium with carbonized einkorn was discovered inside. After a fire in the middle of the 3rd century AD, the grain storage was rebuilt. During AD 375 – 400, the grain storage was burned again. There were four buildings constructed to the west of the burgus with foundations of stones and walls of sun-dried bricks. Sherds from pitchers, jugs and amphorae of the second half of the 3rd – 4th centuries AD were found. The explorations of the building with the hypocaust continued. _Pillae_ built of bricks were discovered in the hypocaust of the northeastern room. The building dated to AD 270 – 376 and its end was attested by a hoard of 65 coins of Valentinian I, Valens and Gratian. In Sector 6, four altars, a bronze leg from a statue and architectural fragments, probably originating from a temple, had been discovered before the archaeological explorations were launched. A wall 70 cm wide, built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar, was discovered. A second later wall that adjoined the first one was explored. The corner between the walls was shaped with a reused pedestal of altar or a small statue. A hearth was discovered and coins of Valentinian I and Theodosius I were found. Traces from two fires were documented. A bronze cross-encolpion of the 11th century was found above the later layer with traces from fire.

AD PUTEA (Sonya Lazarova, Petar Banov – plevenmuseum@dir.bg) In Sector 1, the explorations continued in Room No. 4 where Chalcolithic sherds and burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub were found. Animal bones and Thracian sherds of the 5th – 1st centuries BC were also found. The explorations of the monumental structure built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar and identified as a temple of the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD continued to the south of the tower. Its foundations cut a stratum with Thracian sherds and fragmentary wattle-and-daub. The warehouse adjoining the southern side of the tower was built in rubble masonry. Fragmentary sun-dried bricks, bricks, roof-tiles and dolia with carbonized grain were discovered there. The building dated to the last decade of the 4th – beginning of the 5th centuries AD and was destroyed by fire. Room No. 5 was built during the 4th century AD and continued to function during the 5th century AD. Debris from houses of the end of the 4th – 5th centuries AD and of the Middle Ages were documented to the north of it. In sector 4, two domestic ovens were excavated and a quern, sherds and intact ceramic vessels of the 13th – 14th centuries were found around them. Late Antique finds were discovered beneath. A pile of fragmentary bricks, roof-tiles and sun-dried bricks from a destroyed building of the end of the 4th – 5th centuries AD was documented in the northwestern corner of the sector. In Sector 5, a warehouse was discovered, built of sun-dried bricks over foundations of stones and destroyed by fire. The finds dated to the 4th century AD.