Palynological investigation of the Vrabchov dol locality (Western Bulgaria) which recently yielded fragmentary dinosaur bones attributed to the clade Titanosauria, reveals well-preserved sporomorph assemblages dominated by angiosperm pollen from the Normapolles group, spores and rare gymnosperms. The age assessment of the studied sequence is based on the diagnostic Normapolles species, such as Oculopollis orbicularis Góczán, 1964, Oculopollis zaklinskaiae Góczán, 1964, Krutzschipollis spatiosus Góczán in Góczán et al., 1967 and Krutzschipollis crassus (Góczán, 1964) Góczán in Góczán et al., 1967. The concurrent presence of these pollen species suggests a late Santonian–early Campanian age for the succession. The sporomorph association is encountered in a palynofacies dominated by continental elements, including translucent phytoclasts (tissues, wood remains and plant cuticles). The sedimentary succession shows no evidence of marine elements and a very low proportion of AOM that attests to deposition within a lagoonal to foreshore marine environment, with high continental input and short transportation. The vegetation in the studied area was primarily composed of a range of Normapolles-producing angiosperms and secondarily of pteridophyte spore-producing plants. Gymnosperms were rare. Such a vegetation pattern reflects a warm, seasonally dry climate during the late Santonian–earliest Campanian in the studied area. The dinosaurs inhabited a wet lowland area, probably rich in herbaceous plants.

40 potsherds and five other fired clay fragments from the prehistoric site of Nova Nadezhda in Bulgarian Thrace were analysed by archaeometric techniques. Twenty sherds and a daub fragment were analysed in thin section by optical microscopy; these thin sections, and thick sections of a further 24 sherds were also analysed by SEM-EDX. Results were used to describe the Early Neolithic chaîne opératoire at Nova Nadezhda, which was then compared to pottery production in roughly contemporaneous Starčevo-Criş communities in the central Balkans, to shed light on the Neolithisation process that took place in the 6th millennium BC. A variety of ceramic recipes was used to make different vessel shapes. Analyses of surface coatings were particularly enlightening in terms of provenance and the organisation of pottery production.

We studied the Nivyanin fault segment from the Devene fault system in NW Bulgaria, using shallow electrical resistivity profiling. The measured profile was located on the Iskar floodplain near Chomakovtsi village and crossed a lineament that connects the northernmost exposures of Upper Cretaceous limestone and Miocene conglomerate on elevated surfaces in which the Iskar valley was incised. The results suggest that the studied fault segment was a strike-slip fault that was active after the deposition during the Miocene. The fault zone is broad over 100 m and consists of sub-vertical fractures and breccia. Vertical fault displacement did not affect the Quaternary fluvial deposit.