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, g3 ]5 x' b: R9 @Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin _! f! L, R# h) _2 s: |
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources : _1 q N% n6 E3 d% _0 r# e: Y
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . ( H( \0 j4 I9 F- Q& t7 F
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
- r+ |/ R1 i- C+ zhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
; J( t: r* @; ]$ U& Ito Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two 2 G5 ~4 N( u ^3 G# W! }( c7 p. x, l
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
* B7 D0 o2 F; y9 Q9 |- M$ _used and is still used in Chinese medicine. : o. k+ q* W- w+ J/ L6 @6 {
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez * T; a) D5 P, F* m$ n
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
9 B- Z5 x; u$ N* hred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. / L N% S# W Q9 K3 g7 ]
9 W ?1 }- O3 b: ~3 d1 NIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) 5 d/ s+ N0 ^. W0 ]5 B8 U
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
9 K* F7 K1 _& y8 w( _Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
( X* ?' E& n4 a% j/ V/ ~% ^$ S( ~pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
; a$ ]* ~) d$ U% o. g“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
5 y' f3 g* z6 Z) w ~- D" kIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to / B( @" D8 A. J/ q& G4 ^8 H
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
, K$ H; k2 n3 E2 [0 V0 ?3 Vnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
! B/ Q: J, s( ^, e3 Xburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
9 h/ c3 z; }2 ^! o( u- \1893. " E8 @2 K3 D6 B4 J# z& i
& a0 v% {" s, {8 W' y" H0 ZIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the % A4 z; V4 o% k
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also ( m5 j' y6 [9 \# N. ~: L* y
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
1 p/ ? l+ F6 }Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 7 \2 i: a) D7 R0 N7 @
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the 0 t* D0 R% k5 e5 D& w+ f+ d, K# _7 n
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
$ x5 a# U: ?+ ]& }' }$ B(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as 9 p) V7 f9 Z5 b! O3 n9 c) u' k
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. * f8 r. o& e: R: f( l9 E8 R7 {
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. # N$ X$ J% }8 h4 Y
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
; j6 |+ B9 d0 R( OJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the : B" }: m8 A3 F- M$ m- E* f" g
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected / w5 e+ z% M) n$ v. N
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war + u; R5 w) I8 d/ e2 w
material. 1 Q& d" f, f: X; @" x3 q6 i
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin # J G. i- t) c, H
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited % ]& _' h. W6 s+ I* W" p5 l0 v* Z* {/ U
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
2 N) V6 N1 N% nname of the country.
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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 + S9 y# x( {3 h) y/ E9 b
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
! ] R( O6 C$ \; i4 Rbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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) O. j' v# b( d: PLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and ' c) c4 g5 p- a/ D$ H& g1 g( }! e
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
Q/ j* d8 W4 a0 w' m5 qprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 3 M4 G- e( _# a' k6 m7 Q& B( W, ?
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per ) Q9 j# M3 L, \+ |- v; `5 O- ?
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural * u# M& ?5 H8 c4 o
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a , g- O4 k) e# i- d+ |/ X
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
$ A5 C- l( q/ \- o5 l" F9 a$ {scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
& c/ F+ L2 D! N) }) ~5 m0 j; ~# F1 ^description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous : n: y: A* m7 I1 [$ {9 x0 Y, `4 H
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 3 H: I! d: V9 [6 R) |+ M
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. $ p* ?" U, ?& s6 _- e! H" g
: H6 [* C) \( u6 e3 O2 ySince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in - c, G: A; H4 ^+ M! G8 ~
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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