EXPLORATIONS IN THE KOZARNIKA CAVE (Nikolai Sirakov – nikolaysirakov@gmail.com, Jean-Luc Guadelli) The exploration of Sectors 7, 8 and 12 in the cave entrance and Sectors 72 – 75 in the cave interior continued. Occupation stages of the beginning of the upper and the middle part of the Lower Palaeolithic sequence – flint assemblages, consisting of several hundred artifacts each, were discovered in layer 11b (Sectors 7, 8). Lithic series, predominantly consisting of flakes without informative elements and related to the lower part of layer 11b, layer 11c and the upper part of layer 12, were found in Sector 12. The facieses in the upper part of layer 11b are related to the Lower Palaeolithic period that preceded the Protomousterian. Semi-steep retouched flakes prevail among the retouched tools, but there are also core-tools, punches and rarely scrapers. The layers from the middle (lower part of layers 11b, 11c) and from the end of the lower part of the sequence contain bones. The material includes bones from Procamptoceras brivatense and a regional variety of Equus cf. stenonis related to bio-stratigraphic zones 18 and 19 after Guerin, which date between 1.8 Ma and 1 Ma BP. The relevant layers in the Kozarnika Cave date between 1.6–1.4 Ma and 1 Ma BP. The exploration of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence in Sectors 72 – 75 continued and earlier stages related to layer 10b and probably 10c were uncovered. A domination of the Levallois methods of debitage was attested, along with the use of the discoidal debitage and other simpler methods. The shapes include bifacial leaf points, scrapers and retouched flakes, some of which with bifacial retouch. If the lower layers of the Middle Palaeolithic period date before the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene, there would be more arguments for the early appearance of the Mousterian with leaf points.