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: ], q3 G0 G! {( B- X- [ h# W6 u( bBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 2 y5 E$ I; y5 u& K# g; n
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources , F3 I$ e/ \! ^% k: L
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . - C+ h9 b9 q, r0 _7 |8 k, a( a
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
1 v- l. V \5 P/ ]. Z/ l; z+ Shighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring + j* _ r" ~8 O. ]+ i4 ]! _
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
- V' t/ ~9 o/ L8 E( w. I2 d2 Xthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
N- d9 G u, \# j3 vused and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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5 [* |3 l5 T% z8 u% }" D/ k: t- C4 gThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez ) t4 P2 {/ [1 }( ~& k% g
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
: n: }" s: [& Z$ @ c/ S# e: n+ L; Zred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. 7 T' H5 V% c8 V7 O0 l- X$ J
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In the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) ! X6 Z# |/ D: ?$ u+ h4 t& n
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) 7 b9 R: @" I z3 k% E
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow ; G& A& A$ ~4 i B
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the ; z8 w2 H. P$ a+ g
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. * Q" _! t/ [+ A# S
; q( O E0 d7 _) V# o6 r. |In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
9 B5 B6 ~ s: G7 {8 ^) gIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 3 ~ M' b+ X \/ F
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
& e: r! W) a" r" f* F) r, @northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
1 Q- b1 h9 ~7 {( i j8 yburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in " k/ v4 h, w- L% T- K% z: m& f. g
1893.
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% W) i$ L/ Q* A, J; R% MIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
: w% \( r6 @" `! d9 \6 |Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also 4 O4 t k; U& U0 `1 F8 @4 c
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. 9 B+ O2 X) y4 w# h8 y" D2 _
" r$ W; M; {4 h+ J$ G* L8 _* LCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly 7 Z3 d8 t X# i4 \+ M; C7 U5 g
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
0 o3 h9 A% k0 D- y, q; w3 b1 sfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the 3 \. I/ l: Z f) Q
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson - K d; k7 L0 _ q
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as ; f8 a; N. Q3 j" Z- ^8 T
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. / n3 J" {7 @: a4 g z# _
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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% y6 P1 }4 u# E- g& NDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
8 h" o. \2 ~3 S3 Z$ ]- Q! oJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the 1 Q; ~7 z2 f+ @5 e0 q6 a$ ?) j* e
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
$ [# z# ?$ t7 t& b. bup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war 0 n7 A6 x% Q- }6 l* K+ z
material.
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+ P& B9 K+ b" Z- U4 [- ?. t+ i) H* ~Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 3 I* I- l h6 @
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited 9 v& a% [0 ~1 L2 k
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
2 l0 g+ k0 t8 \7 y* S; U# ]name of the country. ( x. o. j1 G6 h$ L9 T0 e2 _
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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 7 v) E+ u4 ?& K& t0 L
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
# ^# V0 K9 ?( ]# q8 @. ?1 _8 U8 ]because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
& D! I- G; }6 t# Z4 G% N& x* @platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
$ t1 G( |' |) b6 fprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening $ f& s1 y5 r, R1 n0 i( `6 Z7 r
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
# |- ~3 D2 r( c) u! {# o* Wyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural - T `. F) F5 ?$ V
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
; G7 I. U W# A$ z6 o/ Nscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
# p& Q$ H L9 p' P5 N" ~4 Fscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
7 s' o! x# U% a! f3 Q7 M0 J1 Odescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 2 x7 k3 X. f1 i, ~5 F
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 6 C5 k4 E+ M( f7 w- z9 ^% j# o
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
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. x# ?+ g( t! a" {Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
4 L5 u" d# ]3 T( z; [) C' dburmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |