SONDAGE EXPLORATIONS IN THE GOLEMI PECH CAVE (Stefanka Ivanova – ivanova.stefanka@gmail.com, Stanimira Taneva) The Golemi Pech Cave was formed within Jurassic limestone. A sondage, measuring 2 m by 2.50 m and 3.80 m in depth, was carried out at 10.50 m from the cave entrance. Nine litho-stratigraphic strata were specified: stratum 0 – contemporary, strata 1–3 – Holocene series and strata 4–8 – Pleistocene series. The study of the small mammals shows the presence of steppe (Ochotona sp., Lagurus lagurus, Microtus gregalis, Cricetulus migratorius, Mesocricetus newtoni) and mountain (Chionomys nivalis) species, which indicates of continental and cold climate connected with some stages of the early Würm. This paleo-ecological interpretation is supported in the sedimentological observations of strata 6 and 7. The following big faunal species were registered in the Holocene strata: Bos Taurus, Capra hircus, Ovis aries and Sus scrofa domesticus. Small number of remains from Ursus spelaeus, Vulpes vulpes, Cervus elaphus and Artiodactyla ind. were found in the Pleistocene series. Sherds from the Late Antiquity were found in the Holocene strata. There are a small number of flint artifacts. Four artifacts, including a nucleus for chips and an untypical scraper, were found in the Holocene series. A fragment with a facet lower part, which could be related with some of the Levallois chips from the Levallois – Mousterian assemblages in the Kozarnika Cave, deserves attention in the Pleistocene strata. The specificities of the Pleistocene fauna allow us to date the Pleistocene strata to the first half of the Upper Pleistocene (c. 126 000 – 10 000 BP). This chronology corresponds to the presumable Levallois affiliation of the flint artifact from stratum 4, which may belong to a Mousterian assemblage.