ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR BUHOVO (Snezhana Goryanova – sgoryanova@gmail.com, Vladislav Todorov) During the construction of the single-naved and single-apse church in the Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene, walls from basilica were discovered and human bones were found. Excavations were carried out during the early 1930s and an Early Christian basilica was discovered. It was single-apse, with three naves, a narthex and an exonarthex, two towers on its western façade and a side room adjoining its southwestern corner where Christian burials were discovered. The basilica dated to the 4th – 6th centuries AD. In 2013, the eastern part of the naves and the apse of the basilica were discovered; the side room adjoining its southwestern corner, the northern part of the narthex, the southwestern corner of the exonarthex and the adjoining southwestern tower were also explored. The walls were constructed of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar and were 65 – 70 cm and 85 – 90 cm wide. The positions of the bases of the columns were not visible on the stylobates. The foundation of the floor was discovered, constructed of mortar poured on gravel. The level of the floor in the exonarthex was 1 m lower than the floor of the nave. A Christian burial containing a bronze coin of Constantius Gallus was discovered in the side room adjoining the southwestern corner of the nave. Twenty coins were found in the basilica, minted from Claudius Gothicus until Phocas. Three Christian burials without grave goods were explored outside basilica. Small crosses, jewelry, pierced sliver and billon Ottoman coins of the 18th – 19th centuries and modern Bulgarian coins minted until 1912 were also found.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE MONASTERY (Snezhana Goryanova – sgoryanova@gmail.com, Vladislav Todorov) The foundation of the timber fence of the bema was explored in the northeastern part of the basilica. The nave was 25.90 m long and 9.25 m wide, while the aisles were 3.81 m and 3.92 m wide. The narthex was c. 17 m long and 3.29 m wide and its floor was plastered with mortar. The exonarthex was 3.59 m wide. Part of a wall built in rubble masonry similar to the apse of the basilica was discovered at the northeastern corner of the nave. It probably belonged to an earlier church. Coins of Caracalla and Severus Alexander were found. Thirty-five coins from the time when the basilica functioned were discovered as well. The coins dated from the middle of the 4th to the first quarter of the 6th centuries AD (the latest coin belonged to Justin I) and were mainly of the 5th century AD. Seventeen Christian graves were explored. The grave goods included earrings, glass and bronze bracelets, gilded silver appliqués from a diadem. The cemetery dated from the second half of the 14th to the beginning of the 18th centuries. The dead individuals were from 2 to 60 – 65 years old and were eight women, five men and four children. The finds from the excavations also included Ottoman silver coins of the second half of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, German counters and West European coins of the 19th century.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE MONASTERY (Snezhana Goryanova – sgoryanova@gmail.com, Vladislav Todorov) The Early Christian basilica existed from the middle of the 4th to the end of the 6th centuries AD. It was three-aisled, with one apse, a nave, a narthex, an exonarthex, two rooms from the northern and the southern side, and a square burial chamber outside the southeastern corner of the nave. The basilica was 40.80 m long and 17 m wide, built of roughly-cut stones bonded with mortar with occasional bricks in the structure. Each stylobate supported eight pillars, 96 cm by 65 cm in size, built of bricks and stones bonded with mortar. The floor was plastered with mortar. The foundation of the wooden rail of the bema was discovered. The exonarthex was 3.55 m wide, opened to the west. Tegulae and imbrices from the fallen roof were discovered. Fragments from wall plaster painted in red, green, ochre and brown were found. So far, 44 Christian graves were explored inside and around the basilica. One of them was discovered in the southeastern burial chamber and probably was related to the construction of the basilica. The grave goods from the cemetery included earrings, bronze and glass bracelets, gilded silver appliqués from a diadem, copper scyphates: a Latin imitative coin of 1205 – 1218, two Latin imitative coins of 1225 – 1228, a coin of the Bulgarian King Konstantin Asen minted in 1262/1263. The cemetery appeared during 1225 – 1250. The buried were both male and female, ranging from babies till 60 – 65 years old people.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE MONASTERY (Snezhana Goryanova – sgoryanova@gmail.com) Nine Christian burials were explored in the Mediaeval cemetery to the north of the Early Christian basilica. The deceased were one man, 40 – 50 years old, five women: two 16 – 18 years old, one 25 – 35 years old and one 40 – 50 years old, three children between 2 and 14 years old. The anthropological analysis showed cribra orbitalia among the children, indicating anemia. The cemetery dated from the 1220s – 1230s to the 16th – 17th century. Two silver Ottoman coins, pierced to be used as ornaments, a bronze earring and a bronze finger-ring were found on the surrounding terrain.