缅甸琥珀简史9 P& x: o7 a+ h1 y% {
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 7 y" D: g$ L* O9 |4 Q
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
9 @5 i0 {3 X5 _7 R! T: yamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . # H6 U0 `/ A _ C: c
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
O3 G6 ?' T! w! Z. S1 Y. bhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
. y, L: h0 o$ Y0 k; x: kto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two 7 j2 Q2 H; W$ |
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
/ l) _* H( A) K# C, Uused and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 8 K9 |8 y$ B- D& c
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to 8 ~ Z: k9 x2 m& J% x* S1 y/ s
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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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)
+ w! n+ g4 l2 P# oand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
5 I w5 ]3 Z% ?) ~Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow & u( F. [3 U, a& i& Q) Y) K
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
; Y p; d* q5 g% ^) T2 [; {/ }“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 2 |) m X/ Y+ t6 G( r/ t
; X- D" \7 D7 U+ M" M* cIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
! A. I, Q6 v6 M9 u. q/ R! T5 ]! y9 q# VIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 8 Y; K! A/ n) o9 |5 N* d
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of 7 O5 e! [) T, z! s$ @
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name ; U; o3 H4 b/ D L8 h( M
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
# P( @( z1 o1 F0 v2 X% g, _ L/ H; ~1893.
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! p" j3 M; d# ~4 j- i2 fIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the & c4 e8 }) r8 L' k6 D; h5 P
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
) w0 ^8 y L5 w5 c. finternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. 1 b# R7 W K$ T( o5 h1 q! a
0 M: ?! p& B8 A6 W1 E Q& JCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly # t$ n c+ f6 s) T
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
/ V# |7 @ y3 W( G! {& Y5 P8 ^from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the & R! q9 \! O5 k1 ^* @( t' l
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
6 Q7 j! S1 s9 g. ](1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as $ H; f* H- _) i2 A& N
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. $ s' R, L1 u" Y
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. 2 E" a+ e& a; j7 v I, f$ C6 m
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
' b: p+ H0 b! r' u; S/ q$ VJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the 2 G" Q l& X3 i2 n2 ]% L8 l
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
9 N D4 ~# x, i% B4 k2 Rup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
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5 D( H5 n2 r0 g" G* y/ o% f# jSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
; A+ b3 o1 f, ^3 iIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited + {9 [/ o: Y; V+ t8 E0 Y* G- i
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
8 I' e. V3 Q# `/ c8 tname 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 & y! g# J& b4 A; a% b
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
' a# R7 [0 d* Sbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” 1 D P& `6 O# Y1 r7 k
5 }3 Q% u" _2 O+ R) \) y% Y0 ]Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
; {7 ~' J. Z+ P3 Jplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
; X9 n# @: O7 r5 o# I* f2 pprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening ) X: m: S' O {: i
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
: B; t! P5 Z8 v2 @year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
$ [1 P D% P, b) yHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a & Z, M0 P" X' n7 B2 Y
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a " G4 G- |; K7 j& S2 x) ^
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a : L# r4 F! I0 b5 S2 l$ R2 K+ T! ~
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
4 H2 V9 }% C: a: }: Z9 lage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
8 n/ D3 }5 x7 Z3 L3 O$ Swhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. 5 _' `4 D/ [1 U4 X+ h* I: Y6 L: |
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 8 D- w/ n! O& o) }7 c$ ~6 H
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
