KRANIDI - 2004

Kranidi, Alonia or Thyni (land of N. Benroubi). E. Sarri (Δ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of an Early Byzantine single-roomed church (one of the earliest indications of the spread of the Christian faith into the area of Ermiones). Two building phases are reported. During the first, represented by the lowest course of stone foundations, the church was small (4.7x3.5m), with an apse but no narthex. The second phase, built over the first, was larger (9.5x4.7m), with a larger apse and a narthex (with a partially preserved plaster floor). A stone mound along the north side of the building consisted of construction material. Four tombs were found: two pits cut into the rock to the east and west of the church each contained a single inhumation without goods. A further pit on the south side contained two successive inhumations, the long bones of the earlier being gathered by the cranium of the later.