ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GLEDACHEVO (Milena Tonkova – milenatonkova@hotmail.com, Plamen Karailiev) The explorations were concentrated in Sectors I – II West. Twenty four Thracian ritual pits in the western periphery of the sanctuary were explored and structures of the Middle Ages (graves, sunken-floored houses and pits) were discovered. Six pits were explored in Sector I West. One of them contained animal bones and a pile of sherds. Eighteen pits of the 5th – 4th centuries BC were explored in Sector II West. Fragments of Attic red-figure bell-krater were found in one pit. Another pit contained an intact animal skeleton and a pile of sherds. Pit No. 2/L2, which is cylindrical, 1.95 m in diameter and 1.70 m in depth, is of special interest. The pit contained a human adolescent skull, a pile of sherds, animal bones, ash, charcoal, a spindle whorl, terracotta jettons and a bronze ring. The sherds found in the pit belong to Thracian wheel- and hand-made pottery, a Greek black-gloss vessel and amphorae. The discovery of the skull in the pit testifies to a human sacrifice that had occurred. During the previous excavations, intact human skeletons and parts of human bodies were discovered in the sanctuary. Two Christian graves from the mediaeval cemetery were explored. Eight houses and a farming building were discovered. The total number of the houses explored until now is 12. According to the pottery, the cemetery and the houses date from the second half of the 10th to the end of the 12th centuries.