缅甸琥珀简史
% t: D0 w# Z) `
6 m0 Q) F$ D3 _& Q9 d' Z（注意我标注的红色文字）
1 a; F' v3 h1 O a$ f) x4 d( H$ h# ~. T$ O8 v
1 J7 }9 k4 d% j' X0 LBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 4 ~0 h+ Y8 T2 q) Q1 a2 n f
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 5 G7 `; E x( a& S* [/ h
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . - |% f& M. N- k6 `- j2 U! T
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
; n; X4 ^$ X% N9 C% S# Z9 W* R$ ` T% Yhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
' G& n/ o* P3 ^to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two ' Y) ?2 }6 N7 r% `$ W# c0 `
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
! f) k- Y% g3 S( a4 C% S' p- dused and is still used in Chinese medicine. 1 y# r6 D2 s8 g5 d( z1 b
! F3 I! x. H9 C' DThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
2 x. q3 v- T! _8 @& O% gSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to ; o* G( v. K# A3 i! X, Q
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
% ?$ a- W0 q: h6 q, I, K6 @( Z4 \0 {$ @0 J" a0 g6 d( J
In the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
' D6 g8 q9 T9 B- _$ K8 s( }. X/ hand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) / @: a2 m1 W; h) J" ^0 |2 Z
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow & C, ]& {- M7 @1 _
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
. M. e# a1 U. s3 s( |. @( M“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
9 ~; h- R4 ~5 S$ L6 _' A6 @5 @6 @, D* D% { P
In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
+ u) z Z3 l: X: o1 R* J, j3 Z; tIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
& A4 o D( B, t# C. ~0 p# K% _9 XMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of " `7 z+ f X+ t7 Z/ X* q' }
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
/ H# {4 J/ H" d y: _burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in 5 J4 c7 u4 I7 Z! d
1893.
4 ^' Z( c, {% K1 ~/ G' M% c# J% _: X3 R$ X q9 R
In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 5 t* j; A# ]- _, M/ V7 X
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
5 c9 E6 Y5 v9 {! j/ z7 zinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. 3 D( ^' [' n' r; K( P, k$ Z
! h9 F% c: b6 f! S9 A+ {Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly ( S8 l$ Q' S9 v9 _( l, k8 @6 h. T
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District , c3 `5 U3 s( v9 E% {/ E* I' q$ ^
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the ! D# U0 b. b. t4 q
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
: j J# d2 B/ L: _6 q8 d2 h(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as ! o" q: X! |$ X4 S* k, X" L9 W
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
$ ?0 ]' ~6 ^$ Z. m: P( qChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
+ b4 B2 N$ B2 S5 C" U6 K# X
* R+ j) E5 N7 N2 V9 pDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 5 ~7 L* G b# H0 \0 L
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the & C$ q* m7 d/ H a3 k
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected + M q3 [8 V" F% S: k* W5 Z
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
& w3 F2 i# ]2 h7 z% N* }material. 9 \: S2 V) g+ e3 i2 ?/ ~" O
. x* }! F9 k" t- |Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin . C( d# g$ l7 o; k/ ~$ m% }
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
+ X- i+ y: h: w: p$ r% X5 f% H$ X8 ?access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
. Q0 F; g# ~) ^3 h+ C, D2 `name of the country. " E& S' _ A$ L/ E
$ g k0 S6 R& p# g U6 B- GSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
8 w: [% G) L/ }: N: M% |. X: eGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part 0 G' Y2 m: V+ y* P8 z* p
because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
* @6 g, h. L) @3 B+ e
4 P/ A' V# h6 H, [) lLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
& u W ]3 b5 f! d' v% T( eplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
+ A5 f. b3 ^* V1 A5 y5 ^, fprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
! M) C% i* ?3 B0 I' \' Jthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per # y8 ]; j% q+ k( n F( J
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural ; J. T, n6 t5 L$ K& A% w
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
2 p2 \1 [2 \! z, gscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a ' G0 ]! ^1 c9 S+ r! ?
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a / k' F7 [- M6 u, N
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
- z* Q H9 E/ g& fage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
: D3 o* ~# y, X! d' r7 ^% |9 Pwhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
" ]5 h, ]# m+ h
2 _% a) y) K6 i$ \% G8 t: y0 F3 p' G7 ASince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 3 W/ x" _# ]3 p$ O; U
burmite. 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
