缅甸琥珀简史: t/ B& t* Z; H# |1 J0 n6 }6 Z
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 9 Q- `8 B4 L/ q/ t' A
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
! O' B7 h& Z. ~- J6 xamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . : z& \2 k3 @) |0 V1 y1 d
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was ; ]5 | k- c6 I$ w7 t
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
: [! [* j; L: x6 A+ n3 Yto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two * h& q1 e- y. I; l2 F5 A3 |
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
+ g7 h, D+ I0 u: xused and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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# ~& Y" ]9 j0 [, o& l- CThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 8 f$ l7 p0 ~9 k
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
$ O: q4 m3 b* o% V6 t6 Z% Mred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. + U; ~6 [' H0 x1 J8 y! U5 n2 y
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In the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) 0 O4 `$ z1 [1 a0 {+ ?8 J
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
1 l6 {3 D& ~7 ~% E$ {Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
9 v2 `2 m+ B5 K8 Ppits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
( t$ u( `. S5 X“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. + j1 J- k% w$ I' ^$ d4 [) k: g1 {8 w
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to - \" ^: j* ^& ?0 X, o$ V& p5 j+ Y
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 9 X$ U; z$ J& I S
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
2 r5 Z9 \- Z, U1 L# I# xnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
: ]/ T, \# [* s- `, b" @burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
q" T0 V) r- u1 S( `1893. 3 K) A" G, y% [. ]8 G; `( _
$ R/ Y4 p2 u: l4 [6 l6 P4 I( G" fIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 5 I- }& `9 F6 G
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
^/ u, t6 L O$ xinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. ) z/ F3 b6 l. \$ Z5 f- O O
4 @3 S0 F/ M2 j8 Y+ zCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
n1 T) i, b( g2 x# K% m/ L6 bUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District & l1 i% f, ~: c( T$ O, M
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the % Y3 c# i2 B! N" n! `
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson & T8 r. m' c# D' z
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as : Y |+ C4 M7 N" A: d& f% N
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
; d& c" u6 l+ u# i0 l. F( W% `Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. ( I% _ ~3 u) C4 ~& U
& J0 ~$ |/ ^5 P9 E: z5 i' q, MDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
* [# y# b7 i. x8 X# qJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
" ~; {% ]! r2 z- j' Nconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected " V4 Z7 \; {* ] c
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
4 r r& w- ^ I' j. O# d% rmaterial.
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, N$ Q1 x( E6 F7 V ?* e# MSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin ; F5 g+ F& x; [" e4 w0 A( f
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
, X7 l' I% \7 v# P! Aaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese ( S5 |5 |& o- X" y; x' v5 L6 L- l3 r
name of the country.
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' p( V; i4 ~ J5 v4 P7 z; OSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David 0 B( q$ _: P `7 u) i
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
- v7 z" y6 P6 u) ]1 ?because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 6 ~; k! A, v& h4 L5 }
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
. [/ L) j9 r' j5 d8 L4 oprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening ; V2 i. S% X8 l9 h1 B1 K$ S+ @
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
; d& j6 ]3 U; ^0 t2 u! s# Cyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
& i5 f3 m0 P4 s4 P- sHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a ) S' ], N1 a8 @; l
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a " e1 O: `& t# F( a @! v
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
& K6 J$ |3 j* E% j! a( Edescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
- y. E7 E* s4 H3 b6 }8 C! q! Lage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from . I7 T! T6 C6 E% s$ _# ^ t
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. 5 ]3 W" I7 V! o5 C
) b% q% m7 L$ V7 @8 oSince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in ( a- @: m8 _7 w
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |