ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN GOLEMI PECH CAVE (Stanimira Taneva – stanimira_taneva@abv.bg) Two sondages were carried out: No. 2 located in the cave entrance and No. 3 in the cave interior. Sherds, flint artifacts and bones were found in layer 1 from the Holocene. Thracian pottery from the Early Iron Age (11th – 6th centuries BC) prevails: sherds with stamped decoration (interconnected “S” and circles) and with cannelures under the rim of the mouth. The Pleistocene sequence covers layers 2 – 6 and is c. 2 m in depth. A small quantity of flint artifacts and paleontological remains were found. There are no diagnostic shapes among the flint artifacts found in the layers from the Holocene and the Pleistocene sequence. The bones from the Pleistocene layers show the presence of Ursus spelaea, Lynx spelaea, Capra cf. caucasica, Canis lupus, Carnivore ind. The presence of bones from cave bear (a fragment of skull and teeth from four individuals at different age) and other Pleistocene species allow the relevant layers to be dated to the Upper Pleistocene. The dividing line between the Pleistocene and the Holocene lies between layers 1 and 2. According to the flint artifacts and the bones, layers 2 and 3 could be related to the end of the Upper Pleistocene, i.e. they are chronologically related to the Upper Paleolithic period. The lower part of the Pleistocene sequence (layers 4 – 6) is related to earlier stages of the Upper Pleistocene and to the Middle Paleolithic period. This is also supported by the Levallois design of some artifacts found in 2007 in sondage No. 1.