缅甸琥珀简史9 _+ [9 `) M0 M
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin % `* L+ h3 U& e, W0 k) M$ A2 B
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
" i. G& K" o. D& r/ c$ W% Namber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
- g4 |" t& d0 [) X# e/ _8 kFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
/ [: |# Q2 E; Whighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring % z9 S' Q+ ^, Y' F8 Z5 W. v, C
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two 5 O* A1 M6 D3 \+ X5 U+ \* B
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also ) t, I2 ]' x r$ s$ L) f. A
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. ( Q- j1 I( b9 ^) I, Z
) m& p0 V% ]1 ]/ x, vThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez $ f& B& L2 K9 M& s1 M) z: N
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to ' `6 H# V& w. x. B
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)
' o, z% [4 X2 m- gand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
" S8 R0 a- d# O0 m, `' I/ pValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow + e# t, \6 C# ]! v& H
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
) c+ t& D- j* W# t1 ?0 h/ R& N“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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3 H. b# C& q% ?; w# j, aIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
% V/ `- W' ]* q0 S" l! x& IIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
; g) t% B- Y! z) `1 w f$ KMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
# w6 ]" p2 W& P9 Q* N0 \; u7 V8 Nnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
1 Q: d# m9 S) G R( aburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
+ {+ q1 H( e, |9 k; S1893. ) ^( I, J1 H& M9 V0 Y* b( ^
- e3 K y* ^% S7 hIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
! {, o# C) m' ^5 G3 BSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
' ?' P$ ^5 ?8 f1 ~( L3 f9 J+ ?internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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9 ?/ m" X* O. I3 ?/ @% fCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly 2 i- V7 G+ c1 G( _3 k$ G
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 7 U' z3 d7 X) W. L& t0 X! _5 K
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the : S! ?; m9 e5 c& D' q5 [
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
, {2 X' [0 E, O' J6 l& A$ Q( L* @(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
" x3 V+ `+ m( _! |$ G: Q# wBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
2 z C+ G [5 @ ]Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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' Y; x8 n- w! T9 ?! R" V2 iDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
6 z" T. Q5 T& Z# k' M0 bJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the $ a% y, k- p1 \) o
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected + v, a! z# E: L: @6 A
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
- ?+ J+ e4 y s; Hmaterial.
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
$ Q% D1 }" M: t& C( [* o$ @Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited 7 a% s: M2 E! z" k
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
+ ]; D% r) `% O, m) Z* Xname 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 3 k+ T! @6 c/ P" k7 a
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
! ]+ F3 D B' h4 U- H$ bbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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6 I" t6 y* O$ P0 _* Z7 r% V! k+ r7 NLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 9 @1 A. a5 b' ^$ B7 Q
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 6 l6 v. o! ]! s: ]* L' F
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
$ z# p- Y3 k, `' i$ Uthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
4 m, q1 j+ X$ s* W; nyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
1 m; m5 t) \& rHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a ) X+ F) E$ }, S2 M# E- M8 h& j# ]
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a ! _9 Z/ M8 y' c( H
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
9 W6 {' {# O/ B1 q1 M5 Vdescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
, M2 Z8 x& h" S" `% y) Lage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 2 B. T% n; S7 ?- D7 h2 @
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. 9 w1 F, y( s2 \1 Y+ R* X
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 4 J4 I5 @0 w( O4 o7 h) r
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
