ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR KOCHERINOVO (Rumen Spasov – rumenspassov@abv.bg) The site was situated on the right bank of the River of Rilska. Early Neolithic pits were explored, containing sherds from vessels with red slip. Two Late Neolithic houses and pits were discovered. The houses measured 5.50/2.35 m by 3.45/3.50 m. Layers of debris, 20 – 30 cm thick, were discovered on their floors, containing fragmentary burned wattle-and-daub. Sherds were found. Late Neolithic dugouts with ovens were also documented. Three pits of the Early Bronze Age were explored, containing sherds. Two houses, ten dolia, pits and an inhumation burial of the 6th – 5th centuries BC were discovered. The finds included Thracian sherds, loom weights, spindle whorls, whetstones, bone objects and small iron knives. A Late Antique grave, 2.63 m by 1.35 m in size, constructed of bricks and with an inhumation burial was explored. Seven houses and five pits of the end of the 7th – first half of the 11th centuries were discovered. The houses measured from 2.70 m by 2.60 m to 3.15 m by 2.90 m. Ovens were discovered in the houses and sherds and animal bones were found.