EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF RUETS (Georgi Ginev – georgiginev@abv.bg, Ivan Ivanov) Tumulus No. 2 is 35 – 40 m in diameter and 3 – 4 m in height. Sondage No. 1 was carried out on the place of a stone pile in the western half of the embankment. A plundered and destroyed grave constructed of uneven stones was discovered under the pile. The grave is rectangular and northeast – southwest oriented. The two long parallel walls were partly preserved. The width of the grave is 80 – 85 cm, while the depth is c. 40 cm and the length is not more than 1.50 – 1.70 m. The northwestern wall is constructed of two vertical stone slabs, while the southeastern consists of uneven stones and slabs. The floor was paved with stone slabs. The grave was covered with stone slabs, some of them still preserved in the corners. No grave goods or remains of a burial were found. The stratigraphy shows that the grave was secondary and was dug into the tumular embankment. Sondage No. 2 was carried out on the place with clandestine digs with uncovered stones, in the eastern – southeastern part of the tumulus. A stone pile with irregular rectangular shape, 2.20 m in width and 1.20 – 1.50 m in height, was discovered. Most likely, this is part of a krepis constructed over the tumular embankment, at 1.50 – 1.80 m in height. A hearth and an eschara were discovered on the bottom of the sondage. A bronze fibula and two iron spearheads were found. Sherds of hand- and wheel-made pottery of the 4th – 3rd centuries BC were found in both sondages. The grave construction and the finds allow us to date the tumulus from the mid 4th to the first half of the 3rd century BC.