ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF BANYA (Bogdan Athanassov – bo.atana@nbu.bg, Iliya Kulov) Wall No. 1, built of roughly-cut stones and 1.80 m wide, was explored at 8 m in length in Trench H58. The sherds from Trench I58 dated to the 8th – 7th centuries BC. Wall No. 2 in Trench I59 could be dated between the 12th and the 8th century BC: pottery of the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Fist Phase of the Early Iron Age is terminus post quem, while Wall No. 1 is terminus ante quem. Burned fragmentary wattle-and-daub from a building and sherds of the Second Phase of the Early Iron Age were discovered in Trench K58. Probably the building was synchronous to Wall No. 1. Pits containing Thracian ceramic vessels of the Hellenistic period were discovered close to the stone pile in Trench H57. Thracian sherds from bowls, lekanai, jugs and kraters of the Classical and Early Hellenistic periods were discovered in the upper strata of all trenches, including sherds from Thracian cult pottery in the Tsepina Style and a fragment from a terracotta pyraunos. Pieces of human bones and animal bones from goats, pigs, ox and wild animals, including bears, were found. The archaeobotanical analysis identified carbonized Triticum monococcum and Triticum aestivum.