While much of HALO's work understandably focuses on the humanitarian benefit of mine clearance, landmines and other debris of war can have a harmful impact on the world's historical and cultural treasures too.
Take the Kaman Holy Site in Abkhazia, which dates back to the Roman Empire. The site includes a Holy Spring, which according to Orthodox pilgrims, emerged from the ground to quench the thirst of an early Christian martyr awaiting trial in a Roman court. His memory is honoured by an ancient church nearby. The site is also said to be where St John Chrysostom made his final prayer before dying, as well as a cave where the remains of St John the Baptist were allegedly interred as a relic in Medieval times.
But during the war, the Georgian military set up defensive positions in the village of Kaman, while Abkhaz soldiers held offensive positions along the wooded hillside. What had once been an important destination for East Orthodox Christians had now becomes no man's land.
All this changed when the British Department for Foreign Development (DFID) funded HALO to clear Kaman of the debris of war in 2003. During the next six years, HALO teams cleared 50,946m2 and found and destroyed 161 AP mines and 17 items of UXO around the Holy Site.
Special care was taken to preserve potential historic artifacts found during clearance operations with deminers preserving recovered metal to be examined by the Abkhazia Archaeological Science Center. With approval from Abkhaz authorities, HALO passed on an arrowhead to the British Museum in London for radiocarbon dating and preservation. The museum confirmed that it dated back to 4th century CE.
During clearance HALO routinely liaised with local priests and monks in order to prioritise routes used most frequently by pilgrims. Signs were placed around the spring and church warning tourists and pilgrims to stay on the marked paths. HALO also donated a generator to supply the valley with electricity, enabling the monastery to host guests during the winter months. Since HALO completed clearance in 2009, Kaman has experienced a boom in tourism and pilgrimage, contributing to recovery in the area and allowing Orthodox Christians to worship safely.
Monk leading pilgrims up path cleared by HALO.
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