A Byzantine church temple and a clay-processing tank were uncovered during the 2026 excavation at the site of Kophinou Agios Herakleios and Menogeia- Limnes, Larnaca district.
The excavations were conducted 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, titled ‘Settled and Sacred Landscapes of Cyprus’ (SeSaLaC), from June 15th to July 24th, 2026. The project was directed by Athanasios Vionis, Associate Professor at University of Cyprus, and Dr. Doria Nicolaou.
The Department of Antiquities said in a press release on Monday that the 2026 excavation at Kophinou Agios Herakleios revealed significant findings inside the previously uncovered single-aisled church. “The excavation uncovered a near-complete floor made of large gypsum slabs and identified the position of the templon (sanctuary screen), marked by lime-mortar strips on the floor”, it noted.
“The confirmed presence of a dome is a key finding of the season, characterised by curved voussoirs forming part of the dome’s drum and a square bay (3.20×3.20 m) from the second and third pilaster pairs. The excavated single-aisled structure comprises a six-column compact cross-in-square church, built between the 8th and 10th centuries AD,” the Department of Antiquities said.
“Additionally, fragments of non-figurative frescoes, resembling marble revetment with red and green bands on a white background, were revealed on the lower sections of the south wall, indicating widespread decoration. A smaller, secondary apse, built within the former larger apse of the original early Byzantine basilica, was also revealed in the sanctuary area,” it added.
“The ceramic evidence from the collapse layers dates the abandonment and partial collapse of the church to the mid-14th century, while hearths, cooking vessels and animal bones found within the collapse indicate a different, non-liturgical use of the ruined space from the late 14th to the mid-16th century,” the press release noted, adding that “trench D3A, south-east of the church exterior, confirmed the funerary character of the surrounding area during the Late Middle Ages, with scattered human bones, a grave slab and ceramics of the 15th-16th centuries.”
The preliminary dating of the complex now proposes four successive building phases: an early Byzantine three-aisled basilica (Phase I, late 6th-early 7th c.); a domed compact cross-in-square church built over the central nave of the basilica (Phase II, 8th-10th c.); a phase of funerary and ‘domestic’ activity following the church’s collapse (Phase III, mid-14th-mid-16th c.); and the small barrel-vaulted chapel of Agios Herakleios, built over the middle section of the basilica narthex (Phase IV, post-16th c.), the Department of Antiquities pointed out.
“It is for the first time in Cyprus that an organised cemetery, in continuous use from the 6th to the 16th century, together with evidence for cult activity during the troubled 8th-10th centuries, are being documented archaeologically,” it emphasised.
”At Menogeia Limnes, five new trenches significantly expanded our understanding of the early Byzantine pottery workshop. The most outstanding discovery of the season was a built clay-processing tank (trenches U13A-B), constructed directly on the natural rock, with alternating layers of pure clay and sieved earth in its interior, providing, for the first time in Cyprus, direct archaeological evidence for part of the production process in a pre-modern pottery workshop,” the press release said.
”A water channel, formed by two parallel rows of upright stones, was found feeding into the basin, completing the picture of an organised production facility. Trenches R10A-B and T10A revealed further architectural remains of storage and working spaces, including piles of wedged clay body and a large storage pithos in situ, fragments of pottery wheels and abundant production waste (wasters and over-fired sherds),” it noted.
If further added that the ceramic evidence from all trenches spans three successive phases of workshop activity: late 4th-5th c., 6th-mid-7th c., and late 7th-mid-8th c. AD.
”The results of the 2026 season reinforce the exceptional significance of both sites for our understanding of rural and religious life, funerary customs and pottery production in Byzantine and medieval Cyprus, while continuing to shed light on the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ of Byzantine Cyprus (8th-10th c. A.D.), a period that remains largely invisible in the island’s archaeological record,” the press release concluded.