ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF SREDNYA (Georgi Maistorski – gmaistorski@yahoo.co.uk) Malkata Peshtera Cave was formed when rows of limestone ashlars were cut out and taken away. Graffiti in the Old Bulgarian language, drawings and signs of the 9th – 10th centuries were documented on the ceiling of the cave. The quarry was divided in three complexes: Western, Southern and Northern. In 2011, sondages were carried out in the eastern sector of the Southern Complex. A rock shelter with beds from the ashlars that were cut out and taken away was explored in Sondage No. 1. The depth of that quarry was over 3 m. Postholes from timber scaffoldings and lifts were documented. Several unfinished ashlars were discovered. Over 14 000 ashlars were extracted from an area of c. 0.1 ha and they might have been used for the construction of a 325 m long sector of the fortification wall of Preslav.