[1] Parallel to the Maritsa River on the Pazardzhik plain lays the so-called Via Diagonalis, one of the most important ancient European roads, which passes through the Balkans and connects West and Central Europe to Anatolia and the Near East.

In 1939, Bulgarian archaeologist Vasil Mikov excavated a large trench passing through the central east section of the tell, collecting the first data about its stratigraphy, chronology, and sequence of archaeological cultures.

In 2001, the excavations continued under the direction of Dr. Yavor Boyadzhiev (National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Sofia).

Both the fortress and the medieval cemetery, to a large extent, disturbed the building layers from the Early and Late Iron Age.

Tell Yunatsite is one of the most important sites for revealing the cultural development of the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE) in Thrace.

A trench situated in the western part of the mound revealed remains of a fortification established during the time of building levels XII-X.

In the second half of the Early Chalcolithic (around 4750–4650 BCE) a fortification wall was erected in the eastern part of the settlement, on a small natural plateau 2–3 m higher than the surrounding surface.

The preserved remains of the massive earthen fortification wall on the southern slope of the tell are 25 m long, up to 2.50-2.80 m high and 4 m wide.

The Chalcolithic pottery is of excellent quality and its varied and rich decoration shows the high aesthetic vision of the craftsmen.

The varied anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and ornithomorphic figurines as well as the syncretic combinations between the three reveal some aspects of the religious beliefs of the people.

Additionally, at Tell Yunatsite was attested one of the earliest “surgical operations” discovered in Europe – the wrist amputation of a woman who continued to use her arm for years afterwards.

The pottery assemblage of the lower settlements reached so far in the Mikov's trench is dated to the mid 5th millennium BCE.

Some interesting structures have been revealed, including a well preserved non-burnt wooden floor platform (very rare for this early period and geographical area).

Among the numerous finds, the rich collection of Spondylus shell bracelets and beads is worth noting as they bear witness to intense trade connections with the Aegean sea coast.

The systematic occurrence of such signs at other contemporary sites in Bulgaria and the Balkans has provided grounds to assume the development of some early writing system – the earliest in the world.