Larnaca: A medieval single-aisled barrel-vaulted church and a pottery workshop dated to the Early Byzantine period were uncovered at the site of Kophinou Agios Herakleios and Menogeia-Limnes, Larnaca District.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Department of Antiquities announced in a press release that the excavations were carried out by the field project of the Archaeological Research Unit and the Archaeological Summer Field School of the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Cyprus, under the project ‘Settled and Sacred Landscapes of Cyprus’ (SeSaLaC), from July 1st to 31st, 2025. The project was led by Athanasios Vionis, Associate Professor at the University of Cyprus, and Dr. Doria Nicolaou.
The Department highlighted that the excavation at the Kophinou Agios Herakleios site concentrated on two areas: south and east of the ruined chapel of Agios Herakleios, also known as the ‘martyrion’. It was confirmed that the remains of a single-aisled barrel-vaulted church excavated in 2025 belong to a later medieval phase, constructed atop an earlier three-aisled basilica, likely dating to the early 7th century AD. This later church was supported by three arches with buttresses, and evidence of frescoes and stone fragments were identified among the collapse layer, indicating the interior’s decoration and function.
An additional significant discovery was a burial inside a stone larnax from early Byzantine times located on the outer side of the south wall of the ‘martyrion’, which contained a human skeleton in situ. Further excavations south of the ‘martyrion’ revealed two parallel walls that probably outlined part of the narthex of the original early Byzantine basilica. The presence of a hearth and a mortar base to the west and south within the same trenches are linked to later uses of this space in the Late Middle Ages.
Ceramic finds from the collapse layer of the single-aisled church east of the ‘martyrion’ of Agios Herakleios date from the late 14th to the mid-16th century. The site, as evident from the first excavation season in 2024, was used continuously from the 6th to the 16th century, with successive phases of ritual and burial use. The Department of Antiquities noted that the excavation documents for the first time in Cyprus the existence of an organized cemetery around a basilica in the rural countryside, possibly established in the 6th-7th century AD.
At Menogia Limnes, the excavation focused on a trial trench at a site identified as a pottery workshop dating to the 5th-7th centuries AD, with a notable concentration of wasters, unfired clay, and combustion residues. A structure with a circular notch built into the natural rock was uncovered, likely near a kiln. The finds included numerous pottery wasters, charcoal, glass, and metal fragments, confirming the site’s role as a rural industrial center during the Early Byzantine period.
Excavations at both sites have illuminated important aspects of daily life in rural Cyprus from the Early Byzantine period to the Late Middle Ages, revealing the continuous use of these areas in the Xeros valley for residential, ritual, and production purposes. This data also bridges the archaeological gap of the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ of Byzantine Cyprus and contributes to a better understanding of the economic and social organization of the region.