缅甸琥珀简史1 r1 I# b! l ?# V
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（注意我标注的红色文字）
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
9 C5 }/ D/ q/ p) SState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
. w! t. o l1 famber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . # k) ]* k) i+ x. I( \
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
% i! a1 l7 k$ Q3 Q+ F/ e9 Lhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring - L2 ]" A1 v6 b; F6 ]. t
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two 3 }; o/ S6 X$ `; g
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
+ k2 O$ `- D8 R) p7 fused and is still used in Chinese medicine. 3 E% G' a5 W; _4 ]& u
! g6 v7 l9 E/ _3 _4 AThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
1 y: H( b. f) g2 @9 L+ tSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
4 z; J J5 l, |red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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% O+ z' a" g) X+ nIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) 1 i5 G' ] y7 Z |1 C& v6 A
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) / F6 X; q6 y8 \1 [$ R
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow . H2 G2 R0 K) E: c* `. H3 r$ A
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the - f9 i. R3 f$ @
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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& w0 Y" ^5 H$ \3 k6 mIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
% t3 z; J1 T8 ^& L8 fIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
+ X! z9 f7 O p! e% F$ W/ h8 qMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
9 T. o7 D$ s$ M; S8 Jnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name 6 f3 H9 l$ P0 I+ T: N4 g' d
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
; E/ J/ g% h% k, ~$ \! T1893.
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6 B, H/ L, Y/ R1 ^# O( o9 i4 MIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
8 L. s; J1 v$ @7 KSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also 8 F9 i6 R) n' N7 C8 {% @: t8 Y
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. M6 ?( P# r$ b' k* y# S |
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
0 I; f& c6 B+ \6 d1 m; vUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 5 F& p# O5 A; q) K/ k: J' m9 z
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the 7 }4 s' u* r" u6 @
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 2 c% {& b/ v. x) `: l/ P
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as 0 h/ ~1 N$ S5 Q, p9 Q8 I I6 ~% H
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
' K1 A ]; F' h9 [$ J* S) cChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. 3 Y7 ~6 L& U" U2 ^
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 7 p( Q" q4 b* \ k' G9 {
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the # P3 h4 M' \3 X! t. f: \
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 2 Q7 e2 a% y" Z6 \0 T
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war " y% {: u# ~* I% i7 v# Q$ ]% x
material.
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
% G3 @5 d( v5 m" GIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited 3 j% {9 |! u) c0 j7 b0 K. G2 U
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
: N" D: `. x) ]! o( Dname of the country. ) n0 p. K, T! \! t
- O; f. f N+ s- Y* ~& K5 ^1 @Since the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David 4 k; H! v; o/ i
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
; E9 f# l5 ^$ p9 j; D% gbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” , F# m# c K$ t" `. R9 M2 J
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 0 v. |/ t( I: S& Q R
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
' e0 E3 K3 D( S! ^+ B4 j4 Fprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
$ _# }0 V+ w# y' F& j3 d: w% L! Z3 Othe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
0 m: F* r" ]2 ?% I; e6 M8 oyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural 4 D+ D9 i8 {$ t% g' d
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a ! _7 |; c& d; T; t+ i: K8 a
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a # o- ]% Y( {; q: T
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
+ F6 p& f2 j/ Q1 r4 Adescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 7 @5 h g) ]( d3 o3 t
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
# @; E F+ t, E9 owhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. 8 W" E/ E' F) U; j- ?# Y" A
; i4 U. n5 g# s/ sSince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 1 \1 D+ ^; \5 @: h+ @. c
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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