缅甸琥珀简史
' I% n I9 _ k/ {: U
* I& V4 i- K# T T& [' _& U(注意我标注的红色文字)
( o, W+ E2 n3 M; I) R
7 q8 p- e' o; F, o E
6 r3 Q& d7 z! O, W2 ?3 p( a q9 LBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
' y7 A1 g& o& M3 o# iState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
G0 Q6 z9 V5 C2 ^9 Eamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . ( v( E5 j" m6 L5 E9 B
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
. O. C; c# C% s7 J4 a9 Z. u8 T$ Dhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring 4 Y U9 _ i& e& }; m
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
4 B: }1 w3 e& @! }# vthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also c# t% M6 E) Y/ P, O
used and is still used in Chinese medicine.
( W3 v- Y3 v" L' m% K) d! r4 L" y& N- `
The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez ( v/ H" J+ Y! Q/ R# H- i4 M( i
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
$ {1 V/ z4 n' `# ?0 F& Pred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. 9 ~! a- H* n6 N
0 V+ Q/ ^- f; N) \% ~4 SIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) 0 |9 o, J6 z- L6 F
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) : A4 ~( ^4 I7 g# E6 s2 H
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
& j' F# R# g% a& c. r8 p' wpits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the & P$ o) J% K# I1 V2 H3 Y7 X( m$ v
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
4 s5 o6 b- m9 o
8 n8 A+ |- o( ]2 I6 E k& uIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to ; n8 G* c2 E- w7 b* I* m
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
3 v6 b- m7 j2 n. FMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of 8 q; z! z( s7 _3 P
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
# a( P! ?4 M2 gburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
- X' ?# G, O4 F" _1893. $ I! n. p; `% Y2 q& _2 \4 q: c( i- l
. d. [3 i+ w$ m( g: y
In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the . f$ P" s3 t$ d+ E" D
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also 6 `! k; L" j. W3 F" |6 a1 M
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. : I, t, d g' g c( @# x
; T8 V: O& f$ M( J8 L( QCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly , d& H, M. V+ b( n. w& P7 M2 ]9 X
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
& ^: F6 i( f0 G4 r1 ]7 |4 g' Vfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the 6 q# m' \$ r% b$ P' g
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson % D$ d- F6 U$ D" `, p" _
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as 2 e8 K+ m0 r' ` W; p7 ^+ v
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
9 g5 q# J0 ~2 F9 @5 lChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
/ v( X. c) C+ G4 I+ N! d( m0 i
' j5 X3 l5 O: X4 _During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the : M8 m& B# K9 [3 J# S3 |
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
6 R/ }9 A, }5 ^3 V8 o- F: Z* @7 \2 s( oconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 6 E" z0 g) m5 f6 J
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
9 X" c. A1 J2 w2 m! Bmaterial.
/ X, s0 z6 Q( X3 J* H! v7 {, m( y" _
Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 2 M0 J( y7 r4 b, l, S9 ^
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
& M. W( U2 l8 L* eaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
r5 g3 a0 u; r0 g# Bname of the country.
4 A6 G4 ?2 v' E$ ?' b# Z8 X' f8 P+ a% Q) m! h" K
Since the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
( E& Z, _' o7 WGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
2 K4 s1 R9 l: obecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
5 d4 Y8 |# Z( w% M& o/ k& V- E& u6 F7 S) V5 p
Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and ?$ C3 p( U* b ]& F8 S
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 6 C9 n ?" P3 {6 R, ]) P
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 5 |( R5 q& K9 r* p" L, m# r
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per $ j k6 |/ ?* Y& ~, g
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural 6 J$ y" Y2 X/ g( Y. u4 }3 J$ s/ u
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
& y) b- i& l$ ?4 Z, D- W! @scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
. p) D/ h: Z6 W, _! z u' cscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a / c: f5 i9 S8 z3 b3 L- u2 S% e+ `
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 8 M' C, p+ o& N" z* `3 g
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from / R0 P- p6 _" W, F$ ]2 y! {
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
8 l i# k3 K3 U; A# Z: s% ~
0 r' \+ ?4 s, v3 e& e' u8 sSince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
P& u6 p P* Xburmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |