VOURGARELI - Kokkini Ekklesia - 2004

Vourgareli, Kokkini Ekklesia. B. Papadopoulou (8th EBA) reports that lifting the present stone floor and fill beneath revealed 27 slab-cist tombs in the main naos, with a few instances of reburial of bones and collections of crania in graves, confirming that earlier burials must have been made in specific parts of the site. Most graves were side by side or overlapping, contained extended inhumations on the same orientation (hands crossed on the chest or by the sides), undisturbed but without grave goods. These burials occupied the area from the west wall to the centre of the main naos, but did not extend into the altar area. The few finds comprise mostly plain pottery (with just a few glazed sherds), a very few coins, plaster fragments, and metal items: these are not associated with the graves and cannot date them. The fact that the graves are grouped neatly within the area of the church and not disturbed by its walls indicates that they postdate its construction. A further ten similar tombs were found in the south part of the narthex, also undisturbed and without grave goods, although some were covered with large, handmade Byzantine tiles. Along the west wall, one tomb, oriented north-south, contained a double extended inhumation, one skeleton facing north, the other south.

The disengagement of a monolithic granite column from the southwest archway implies that original form of the church was a cross-in-square with two colonnades (since the columns are now built into the arch-supports this remains to be securely confirmed, but excavation revealed the foundation of the arch supports with the column bases built into them). On the north side of the base of the column that was uncovered lay part of the original terracotta paved floor in situ. The tiles had impressed decoration of an octagonal garland-like motif with a border band around the tile edges. Undecorated tiles of similar fabric and finish had been re-used also for the later floor.