缅甸琥珀简史
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- m ]/ m$ H8 g- n0 [Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin ' Q6 X U8 z0 T& M
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
$ t' @$ e9 F3 q( M" T: J( }, pamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
+ A8 ~) j/ @4 e1 A% |From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
1 @& m6 Y1 R# _2 k8 l+ s, J5 `highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
% k% ?' V% l8 Yto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
3 T1 k0 i( q8 V2 v) ]thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also |$ h' U+ m, k4 g$ O/ Z. Q i
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. " O, O7 z7 G' Y
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
, [# j+ N& R/ kSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
; N# A' U- W1 y8 h0 N3 K# P) ered amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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% \+ v' R* }8 A P8 \) B! p2 x. K" N. iIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) 5 `4 s4 ], U2 ]6 c; l
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) ; b0 E% C" C% `
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
4 `; H g6 v6 s, H$ Hpits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
, }, v& S# |- g# g“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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- @6 M- [# m1 r2 ~! J5 J( C/ B% hIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
. r: d+ O" m7 R* U) VIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
+ S p* p% i3 _$ u5 i6 r( rMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of ; @# h, y' p7 f* ~
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name % A2 e1 M) |& t# v, n! O [: F
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in 3 O- I& G5 Q0 r T5 N3 q
1893.
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
2 i& z# A0 Y( wSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
1 n5 V8 g) N3 uinternal 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 0 O3 `) t% w/ w( d6 P
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District ) e! b2 o; e N4 J, |
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
. J/ h& [5 y4 S6 t- M+ V$ nHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
# h5 `# b. G, p+ R4 _3 Q1 i" @(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
5 b% s6 W9 ^# ~0 u$ T% UBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
5 w, n: B! q& L* h* I' AChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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+ Y9 E4 b# K6 M1 o$ S5 gDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the ( a* r+ ^) l! k9 A4 F) B8 J1 G
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
5 s; t) V0 K& G0 q( k$ Hconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected ( W" k; I2 ` _% C3 k
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
4 y% H7 g& d" P& C/ dmaterial.
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin $ D9 g; y* e2 m. k, e( D1 V
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
. C3 L6 L( X$ faccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
& W1 }7 ]. X6 t* Aname of the country. : K; t; A# n% l1 V0 {; x: y! C* [0 ]
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Since the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David " R/ {: T$ n% z3 V/ d* c5 c
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part . r/ g- v) `, m. ?: a' ` h/ r
because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” 5 x6 z9 ~' }9 C* k! Y7 p
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and / g" _: m. k, [8 e1 {) N3 H
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold $ s3 X& m. M3 r5 C' G
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 7 f; D8 O; g B. q9 P: F' b
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per , X& i( G ^5 ]2 r7 g
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural 0 K$ ~. N- v- g6 J9 M7 e
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
* d; G" h6 Y) y9 A7 Nscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a 1 m. p+ c+ Z- C$ a; {0 \ E; o2 L/ S% @- x
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a ; W0 B0 p- E, M5 e9 {6 L
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous ( P0 e& |8 g) U7 Q# }+ Q
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
8 E# y/ ]+ L2 G( @& ]# B7 Gwhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. # D' {& y. ]6 D1 l7 R8 w
8 P* m$ |$ d# {Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in + _& j( N# Y \* V; g
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |
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发表于 2011-1-14 04:20:54
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