Archaeologists uncover rare 2,500-year-old votive statue bases at lost Apollo sanctuary in Cyprus

Archaeologists working at the Sanctuary of Apollo at Frangissa in Cyprus have uncovered more than 20 votive statue bases preserved in their original positions, offering rare evidence of how religious offerings accumulated inside an ancient sanctuary over centuries.

The sanctuary lies near the village of Pera Oreinis and has become the focus of renewed archaeological work led by Matthias Recke of Goethe University Frankfurt, with Philipp Kobusch of the University of Rostock serving as field director. The latest excavation season marked the fifth modern campaign at the site and produced some of the strongest evidence yet for the sanctuary’s Archaic phase.

The rural sanctuary was first excavated in 1885 by German archaeologist Max Ohnefalsch Richter. His work was only briefly documented, and the exact location of the sanctuary was eventually forgotten. Modern fieldwork relocated the site and allowed archaeologists to investigate both the old excavation areas and sections that had never been studied before.

The newly uncovered statue bases stood out because many remained untouched since antiquity. Earlier excavations removed large numbers of bases and reused them as fill material when the site was covered again. Researchers involved in the current project recovered more than 100 fragments from those older excavations inside the backfill deposits.

Several of the newly discovered limestone bases still preserved the feet of the statues that once stood on them. Archaeologists also recovered terracotta feet and fragments from clay figurines. The discovery carries particular importance because it provides the first archaeological evidence in Cyprus that terracotta votive figures were displayed on specially made limestone bases rather than being placed directly on the ground or inside rock cut niches.

The arrangement of the offerings also revealed how the sanctuary changed over time. In some places, the bases stood so closely together that they were stacked in layers while still allowing both statues to remain visible. Archaeologists say this is the clearest evidence yet for the gradual buildup of offerings inside the sanctuary.

Careful analysis of the soil layers showed that earlier groups of statue bases were deliberately buried beneath leveling deposits during antiquity. Workers then created a flat surface and installed a new set of offerings above the older layer. Researchers believe this major reorganization likely took place near the end of the Archaic period.

Excavators are now trying to determine why the sanctuary underwent such large-scale changes. Some evidence hints at destruction, though the rebuilding effort may also have been driven by a lack of space as more worshippers added offerings over time.

The latest discoveries also produced the first undisturbed deposits of Archaic pottery found since modern excavations began at the site. Until now, archaeologists only suspected the sanctuary’s early phase through scattered sculpture fragments recovered in earlier years. The newly uncovered statue bases and pottery deposits now provide direct archaeological proof for activity during the Archaic period.

Researchers believe the site offers an unusual opportunity to study how Cypriot sanctuaries developed from the Archaic into the Hellenistic period. The preserved arrangement of the offerings helps reconstruct the ritual practices and social behavior connected with worship at the sanctuary across several centuries.

The excavation project received support from the Amricha Foundation in Leipzig and Argo Frankfurt.

More information: Cyprus Department of Antiquities, Deputy Ministry of Culture