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( }/ d Z; U1 d6 @Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 3 T! E9 V G( ]8 m5 x' _& }
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
' m, D0 u- H. z( U) a: Y; k8 `amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
3 t) ]& U# F7 @ U% z! g8 }From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
* |/ l- d$ O. O! J* N$ K* fhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
" g* O! J8 }. X2 e; }& Oto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two " i& o$ g9 V! H' l% d4 \4 ^( O/ H
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
" w) I& F. d! \* s$ ^1 wused and is still used in Chinese medicine. $ m+ P5 q7 p" @) I
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez + |+ q9 X7 b5 S& D/ E; d
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
% p% q2 b, J3 i& Sred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. 3 S7 K' y# g1 [
0 @* {) k3 l B$ W' O) QIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
0 X& N6 Y1 s9 e7 x7 Fand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) 1 e2 r$ d1 u, {; j0 `) d
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
! e4 i8 |' L4 h; L5 h& ppits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
* W9 z1 k8 A$ U& P& L1 y“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 2 O& L/ h" s& r% r4 j
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to % i" L7 R! [- t( u
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to ( P$ _2 b+ O9 x/ a ]
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
, {1 f% E" ]. Y& l$ b Wnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name * X' O/ [! v; z( O2 L
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
6 m8 K; e6 ]2 W2 u* P1893. + ]8 v* r" Y6 Y' F _4 l
. D: ^, v4 k/ {! s" \In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
# ]2 @0 S- Z! DSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also 7 }1 m3 C, k" ^. g
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
( G+ ~ s, K, t4 W* bUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
4 J- S* M ~+ x, N' T) h( Q) rfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
. O8 p& r- i' [; D# XHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
& @& m9 H% N, j D(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as ! X) }5 ]& m* V" U
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
- ?5 `% G5 R# F a9 k. p1 ~7 MChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. % \" f W8 G. H* E3 i7 y6 e- K
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 6 G" j) k4 X' L+ N
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the ! x5 y- U/ w9 ]: t+ T2 I
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected ( S* ^& d* d- H! }
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
A% ?. f( w) R5 q ~Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
' i0 r$ {$ V/ l7 @9 F+ n$ [" vaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
( l/ u2 h0 m6 e5 gname of the country. 2 E# e) A' T. n! E) T$ b$ L/ H$ _
p% x+ k' j7 i7 \* a6 V" XSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
' A) p2 W8 I# h% dGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
0 O7 H( g3 |( N) j0 D7 [7 e: Qbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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/ z! h3 i _: H' h* Q/ lLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
0 l+ b2 p0 w# l% ]7 F( Cplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold " W# i. J: U) ^) w% }, ^' }5 ?
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
$ {7 S$ U$ C7 L9 r/ l5 W# Ithe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
4 l" X( z% R: U. A" T3 i# |year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural # ]$ H G' O" ]7 A+ P9 n- `
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
% n, @( \5 X9 S8 q0 B' K; r) L- xscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
v5 |7 J6 M, @( w. l, Dscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a + }: J/ M, d7 G# f
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous / R, P! B3 T+ Y0 F
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from : u) Z+ ~3 E6 |/ t( a) S
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. ) d: n- R' |1 z0 p0 n: `
' P/ E- k, [* ~2 f# dSince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in . J6 L* ]- b/ L- g
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |