ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GORSKO NOVO SELO (Iordan Aleksiev – yordan_aleksiev@abv.bg, Konstantin Dochev) An area of c. 600 sq. m was excavated. Materials related to the destruction of the church were found: cut stones, blocks, bricks, tegulae, imbrices, fragmentary mortar, and four-leaf terracotta appliques, between 6 cm and 13 cm in length, from the façade of the church. The interior of the church was filled with stones, bricks, fragmentary mortar, fragments of the wall-paintings and segment-blocks from the arches and the barrel-vaulted roofing. The main western entrance of the church is 1.12 m in width. The threshold of the entrance between the narthex and the nave, and a second entrance from the south, 84 cm in width, situated against the niche in the northern wall, were also discovered. The floor was paved with stone slabs. The interior painted decoration of the plinth consists of black and red lines and is almost entirely preserved. Images of saints are presented on the northern wall of the church and on the wall, which separates the narthex and the nave. Only the lower parts of the bodies, below the waist, are preserved. The human figures depicted in the niche on the northern wall wear red mantles and red shoes and step on a red cushion. They represent a Bulgarian royal couple. Standing funeral stelae were discovered outside the church. There is a two-line inscription in Middle Bulgarian on a funeral slab: ‘The souls (are) beneath the marble. God rest (them).’ Most likely, the church belonged to a rural aristocratic domain and the founder of the church had close relations with the royal court in Tarnovo. The construction of the church could be dated to the mid 13th century. Coins minted by Andronikos II and Michael IX Palaeologos and by Andronikos III Palaeologos, a silver clasp for a book and a silver earring were found during the excavations.

EXPLORATIONS OF MEDIAEVAL CHURCH NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GORSKO NOVO SELO (Iordan Aleksiev – yordan_aleksiev@abv.bg) The church is single-nave, single-apse, with a narthex, an entrance from the west and an additional entrance from the south. It is 13.70 m in length and 6.20 m in width. The wall is 90 cm in width and was built of stones bonded with mortar. The foundation of the wall lies down to 60 cm in depth. The façade was decorated with four-leaf terracotta appliques. The church has a relatively well preserved painted decoration. Part of the paintings were ‘al fresco’, but were finished ‘al secco’. The plinth consists of zigzag-like black and red lines against a white background. The preserved figures from the lower frieze are 1.60 – 1.70 m in height and are frontally standing. Saints (monks and warriors) are depicted. St. Joan Baptist is represented on the inner separating wall to the north of the entrance. The king, the queen and a saint-protector are depicted in the middle niche of the northern wall. Twenty-two graves were discovered: three inside the nave (preceding the building of the church), two inside the narthex (synchronous to the church) and 17 around the church (presumably dated after the mid 14th century). A gold-lace cloth, a copper finger-ring, three silver buttons and two silver earrings were found in grave No. 1 inside the narthex. A silver coin showing the Bulgarian king Ioan Alexander and his son Michael (minted in 1337 – 1350), and iron pendants and buckles, most likely from a belt, were found in grave No. 11 in the churchyard. Tin belt appliques and an iron buckle were found in grave No. 16. Twenty coins minted between 1215 and 1270 were found during the excavations. The church was built in the 1230s and existed until the mid 14th century.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GORSKO NOVO SELO (Iordan Aleksiev – yordan_aleksiev@abv.bg) A supporting wall was discovered to the west of the church. Drainage facility was explored in the northern part of the pavement of stone slabs, in front of the western entrance. A place for mixing mortar, a pile of stones, roofing tiles, and sherds from pots, pitchers, cups and sgraffito pottery were discovered on the eastern slope of the hill, to the west of the church. A Christian burial of an adult was explored. Fifteen graves were discovered to the north, east and south of the church. The burials belong to the third period of the cemetery (after the church was demolished in 1350 – 1375). In some graves, the head of the deceased was placed over a brick or a roofing tile. The grave goods include copper spherical buttons and a bronze ear-tab. The Christian cemetery had three periods of existence. Three graves in the nave are the earliest ones (before the construction of the church). Two graves in the northern and the southern part of the narthex are synchronous with the church construction. The rest of the graves located around the church date after its destruction. The features of the cemetery around the church, containing burials of men and women at different age and many children, show that after the church was demolished, most likely a settlement cemetery emerged around the debris. The sondage excavations in the eastern part of the nave and the altar were completed. Four-leafs terracotta relief decorations from the façades of the church and bricks were found.