ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KRASTEVICH (Mitko Madzharov – m_madjarov@abv.bg, Dimitrinka Tancheva) The archaeological explorations were carried out because of active clandestine activity. There were two clandestine digs on an area of c. 20 sq. m. Remains of walls built of roughly cut stones without a bonding medium were discovered within the excavations. The explorations showed the existence of a rectangular building. Thracian sherds were spread inside the clandestine digs and around them. In addition, two legs of a small terracotta cult table were found. The Thracian pottery from the excavations is typical of the 4th – 1st centuries BC. A few sherds of the Roman period (1st – 3rd centuries AD) were also found. Remains of walls on an area of c. 500 sq. m are visible nearby. According to the information of the local people, coins from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century AD were found there.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KRASTEVICH (Mitko Madzharov – m_madjarov@abv.bg, Dimitrinka Tancheva) The site covers an area of c. 0.1 ha. A rectangular building c. 20 m in length was partly discovered. Its walls were built of stones with a bonding medium of mud and are preserved up to 15 – 70 cm in height, while the upper wall construction above the stone walls was made of adobe. A staircase of four stone blocks, leading to a second floor, was discovered in the southwestern part of the building. The entrance of the building was from the southwestern side. The floor consists of closely arranged boulders and there is a layer with traces of fire above it. The entire cultural stratum is up to 90 cm in thickness. It consists of a level, 20 cm in thickness. A layer, 60 cm in thickness, containing fragmentary pottery and tiles is situated below. The layer containing traces of fire, which is 10 cm in thickness, lies below it, just above the floor of the building. The lowest layer contains sherds and lies below the floor level. Various materials were found during the excavations, mostly within the burnt layer. The pottery dates from the beginning of the 5th to the end of the 4th centuries BC and is the most numerous material. A terracotta head of a snake, four terracotta weights, two iron knives (one of them in a scabbard), a bronze handle decorated with images of Silenos, a cult basaltic object decorated with rosettes and a spiral were found. A treasure of 19 silver coins minted between 525 BC and 360/340 BC was also found. The Thracian settlement was established in the beginning of the 5th century BC and was demolished in the mid 4th century BC, most likely during of the Macedonian conquest of Thrace.

EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KRASTEVICH (Mitko Madzharov – m_madjarov@abv.bg, Dimitrinka Tancheva) Building A has three parallel rooms interconnected with entrances and another room in the northeastern corner, measuring 3.25 m by 4.77 m. Its walls were constructed of stones bonded with mud and are 50 cm in width, preserved up to 50 cm in height. The floor of this room is covered with stone slabs. Its western side is open towards the main room. The central room was explored. The floor is covered with trampled stones. The northern wall is 90 cm in width. There is an entrance, 1 m in width, on the eastern wall of the central room, which is leading to the eastern room. There is a second entrance, 1 m in width, with a burned threshold, which connects the central and the eastern rooms. The western wall of the central room is 1.10 m in width. There is a drain constructed of stone slabs in the middle of the western wall. An entrance, 1 m in width, connects the western and the central rooms. A dolium dug into the ground was discovered in the western room. The outer wall of the eastern room was explored. It is constructed of stones bonded with mud. Both faces of the wall were built of cut stones, while its filling consists of small stones. The wall is preserved up to 35 cm in height. A hearth was explored in the eastern room, and bronze and iron slag and bronze melts were found. The building was two-storey. The lower part of the walls was built of stones bonded with mud and the upper part of the walls was constructed of sun-dried brick. An eschara was explored from the outer side of the eastern room and seven terracotta loom weights were found. The finds from the excavations date from the beginning of the 5th to the mid 4th centuries BC and include fragmentary bronze vessels, a trihemiobol of the mid 4th century BC, an iron arrowhead, nails, hooks, terracotta loom weights and fragmentary pottery, including Greek black-gloss vessels and amphorae.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KRASTEVICH (Mitko Madzharov – m_madjarov@abv.bg, Dimitrinka Tancheva) Room No. 1 in Building A and the area to the east of room No. 3 were explored. A hearth was discovered at 60 cm from the eschara. Its walls were constructed of uneven stones and sherds. The floor of the hearth was plastered with clay. Fragmentary burned plaster, fragments from imported Greek amphorae and loom weights were found. There is an ellipsoid pit to the north of the hearth. All these structures lie outside Building A. A pile of stones, containing sherds, fragments from Greek amphorae and a terracotta firedog with a stylized animal head, was explored at the eastern wall of Building A. The explorations in Building C were concentrated in its northeastern part. The northeastern corner of the building was unearthed. A stone threshold of a door was discovered on the southeastern wall. The walls are constructed of stones with a bonding medium of mud, with some sherds used at certain places, and are preserved up to 30 cm in height. A pile of stones was discovered close to the southeastern wall and fragments from amphorae and a brick were found. Pit K6, 1.20 m in diameter, was documented under the pile. Part of the interior of Building C was paved with stone slabs. Fragments from two terracotta firedogs with stylized animal heads, one of them showing a ram, were found close to the northeastern wall of the building. The finds include fragments from Greek amphorae, ceramic vessels, dolia, imported Greek black-gloss vessels, tiles, loom weights, spindle whorls, a small iron knife and a whetstone. The settlement existed from the first half of the 5th to mid 4th centuries BC.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KRASTEVICH (Mitko Madzharov – m_madjarov@abv.bg, Nikola Tonkov, Dimitrinka Tancheva) Geophysical surveys were carried out over an area of 2000 sq. m situated in the unexplored part of the site. Supposed debris from buildings constructed of stones were localized between Buildings A and B that were discovered so far. A sondage was carried out over Structure No. 5 discovered during the geophysical surveys. A pile of stones was explored. Sherds from Greek amphorae and from Thracian wheel- and handmade pottery (bowls, dishes, small cups, a louterion) of the 5th – 4th centuries BC and a fragment of a tegula were found among the stones.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KRASTEVICH (Mitko Madzharov – m_madjarov@abv.bg, Dimitrinka Tancheva) A wall of Building D was explored in the southern part of the settlement, in trench No. 2, sector No. 56. The wall was 5.60 m long, 1 m wide, and two fragments from dolium and a fragment from a tegula were found between the stones of the structure. The upper parts of the walls of the building were probably constructed of sun-dried bricks or wattle-and-daub. Sherds were found in the building, including from Greek amphorae and a red-figure krater of 450 – 350 BC. The four buildings discovered so far indicated that there was an architectural planning applied during the construction of the settlement.