缅甸琥珀简史& @1 n) ~& h; F, P0 E. A3 Z
, R$ S5 }& N9 F
（注意我标注的红色文字）
! m* h! c4 S& g7 U' P5 P7 v; j* R6 {5 `) H2 g* f& |
( d3 c m' |* I: T- L! J) _: K
Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
. u. b; }. S& y- O3 S" A$ xState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
/ T0 @6 A/ W% g) Wamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . ! T( L( I9 y1 c
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was ; A$ s6 z4 J4 q* Q) ]+ r0 o
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
' Q# V% I* t; A- D9 Fto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
4 U C) j; D2 T! othousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
5 E g: O) b$ [used and is still used in Chinese medicine. & R1 H$ R% A! F2 O
! o4 X% H7 v5 J+ PThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 0 j3 K) b9 p N& w, u8 ?- u
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
5 v/ [+ z0 V! `: T3 Z! `red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. $ Z0 U8 Q+ x4 ~
8 X: h9 b$ c$ E; U5 [+ Y3 x
In the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
( y# Y E" T5 q3 Q& b! Nand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) 8 _- s0 h5 C; M0 Z7 B
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 3 w& v7 U6 g. ]) M
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the 9 g6 l- w8 m$ K+ [; |. |' w; o& L
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
& O/ K& z, m9 `6 m1 N) Y8 s
0 `+ o. S' Q+ QIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
6 }& a$ Q2 |! l; H( zIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to l7 q2 \ ^ h. t
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of 0 m0 R/ A) x; L* `8 o
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
) F5 p9 P6 O( D0 j- Kburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
/ r+ M* s8 T5 D1893.
2 S0 C9 e7 Y( I( R8 U1 W# \3 G
5 O" X; p: ^! O, ]In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
8 {# l( i Q7 C" z' E2 gSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also & [0 [1 M- P! d* b3 _2 |
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. / u6 L7 O9 H# }- M0 i+ s2 F5 P! |
* d5 e: v: M0 \& h% F% ~/ Z
Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
O3 X/ ?0 w8 d+ r8 A. r) FUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
" M) p" A ?9 G& q V. a: A$ `6 _from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the % U! r$ i6 D# {
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson , G, Z6 R( T1 N6 f+ `
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
0 q& U) I3 H; g! }. m) A# O2 xBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. ; }' F8 I8 w# O' a ~6 f# K" P
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. : R# n1 c7 ~+ v6 J8 S. M1 J2 y
$ D, g8 x5 y* B! ~8 d3 b" N& E h
During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 2 C$ a2 f- s+ ^7 Z5 x
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the " L* F6 \2 s1 Z8 p3 A' _, c
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected ' c$ i( _5 n# [' ?
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war * B$ @, ?/ V4 ?/ Z( Z' O, D
material.
1 q( z8 G. X0 S' r) B# Q( y: `8 o, U3 c8 y
Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
* {" T M8 p4 j+ T0 K: O" F4 RIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
8 l) c. v. \# k' q. Aaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese * Z1 P+ k/ S( ^7 l8 E
name of the country.
$ P( g8 y/ C( \9 Q3 I: c. K8 Z2 i( {" R) Z# U {
Since the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
) R6 E* l6 y$ x% [0 Q& I3 p/ ?% yGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
! ~9 [; i+ ?5 O" W$ ^/ r$ mbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
1 Z t5 p( R! _: W
$ Y) @0 f# ]6 rLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
) k; y; P( ?) |+ Nplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold ; f, \ a$ w) Q6 k- w
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening # [# _2 M1 ?: X- ]$ K! S
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per 4 F3 e4 F* k; `# B; }- e( q0 Y/ W
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural $ H2 G( h8 t1 J k8 p
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
. @0 K7 O$ y- E- `/ g0 I* Nscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
* V0 v! _5 s6 K+ }scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a 8 t( r/ I5 n9 U6 g
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
' J$ E5 } z7 dage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from ( u! X1 n! t; R+ n" D# Y
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
2 H. g- I- z% h( ?0 T: E7 {) I
$ U- X. X8 e& c& W4 L4 B# u ^Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
2 b* B& ^2 ^* k8 D wburmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |
狗仔卡
发表于 2011-1-14 04:20:54
显身卡
