ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN THE KOZARNIKA CAVE (Nikolai Sirakov – nikolaysirakov@gmail.com, Jean-Luc Guadelli) End of the Lower Paleolithic period and the Protomousterian – Sectors 7 – 8, 12. The exploration of layers 11 a – b in Sectors 7 – 8 continued. Several litho-stratigraphic facieses were discovered. Several hundreds flint artifacts, including nuclei with Levallois appearance, were found in facies 11 а`. Presumably, the assemblages of 11 a – а` were related to a Protomousterian variation. Its context refers to bio-stratigraphic zone B1 in the Kozarnika Cave, which began in the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene around 700 ka BP. The Protomousterian assemblages probably refer to the second half of bio-stratigraphic zone B1, which ended at 400 ka BP. Several facieses from the lower part of layer 11 b were explored in sector 12. The flint assemblage is relatively small in number and includes a convergent side-scraper and series of retouched flakes. The discovered bones predominantly originated from hunting activities. The material includes Equus cf. stenonis, Bison sp. and Felis lunensis (archaic horse, bison and wild cat), which date layer 11 b and the archaeological assemblage to 900–700 ka BP. Occupation area in the cave interior of the Middle Paleolithic period. A sondage, which was located at 72 m from the cave entrance, was carried out on an area of 7 sq. m. Data for intensive Mousterian occupation were discovered. Flint artifacts were found: Levallois nuclei and retouched tools, including a roughout of bifacial leaf point. Parallel and even distributed transverse cut-marks were identified on a fragment from horse rib, which was found in a previous archaeological season. The cut-marks could be related to an intention for decoration or could be a designation of quantity. The bone fragment originates from a well dated Middle Gravettian layer of 26 ka BP.