缅甸琥珀简史2 v3 p! Z, G$ X. ~9 d& f
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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 c( w+ W2 {/ J+ @$ j1 ?+ _9 y, c
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources - }4 |) m( |. y( f" M* U) v
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . : Z& v1 ?# d, j# g% Z ]- H
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was - j8 ` o: x9 E
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring 2 J+ \( Z$ u$ ?* k
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two / S, V: `1 r* d: H
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also 6 X+ \& ]( k( O0 {) \- W. ?) P4 i
used and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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' f$ F; \1 \8 z* {2 z& s/ v: E& P& HThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 0 U: J7 W7 I* {$ u `6 \ {
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to L3 r" t4 @+ w. D; U4 }7 F& @
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. 6 `8 p- Q* S; B$ R) D! f
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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)
& n& x! g$ V1 p t6 r7 n6 X% ]7 xand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) ) ^0 E. S% U* B! K1 |6 {; M
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
# Y- m/ a* ?( u" Q, J q, k8 xpits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
3 `$ S7 G! ^5 v- E“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 9 t6 y* ]6 v% S0 s2 A2 c* \# b
+ a& o8 l: g ~: t/ g2 }9 d$ Z; yIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
3 r+ ]; p6 R# M1 K/ |: JIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
& X1 x w) W" |3 c5 G7 OMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
+ M" M8 \" ^- n8 z: M/ d5 Hnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name % O7 y# M5 l/ X q8 k' k @% s X7 `
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in / H, l1 F( ]1 F! {8 ?
1893.
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' Q$ k3 N4 g0 U4 l+ u, o6 n, VIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 6 K" X4 n. z" l. I3 F, N- ]# p
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
9 ?% {3 W& c% n- w2 jinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly ! J7 Q) x( z# I7 j
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
0 c7 ^6 i% ?2 W. Q: d2 sfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the ) M V j8 R4 k0 |5 ~; j
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
5 v4 Z- ~3 q3 ?- ] W& m' ?(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as ( |- b; r" a9 T D$ v; O* M1 a8 b2 [: E
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
+ e( [5 ?7 n, f1 z& u2 x- gChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. : ?1 I, W( D+ a: k
P+ F2 @1 }7 FDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
% l) o. }% G1 {: W5 pJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the % P* _* A. N. Y" W" o6 U
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
$ x* i) ^" u3 j z& z' vup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
( y# q9 P% x( g6 b) J. ]/ g# XIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited l* ?. l9 T, @8 k
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
$ P4 y1 t) B% o$ @2 d+ ~( d5 lname of the country. * Z4 O }7 Z1 t' n* O" v, s
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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 K# S2 h& R; j) @6 AGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
, H @" ]+ H4 d5 C$ zbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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3 C7 w9 j0 V; t/ X& E4 P! f& GLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and & Z! _# y; s4 O; O/ y6 J2 G- K% H5 ?
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
# K0 H3 Z, P. |& x p4 rprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 1 n1 W; F4 u$ T- e4 \
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per 3 q% g1 F3 O1 r8 W( T8 b
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
! D9 d% P- ~% o; Y8 sHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a + ~- C: r! H7 k, O
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
/ {( @: q' f1 \8 S$ Vscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
# h, v% o6 F; Hdescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 1 l; b6 S0 Y: H4 P+ g% N
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
% d3 I% c% L: G7 _/ A' w8 c1 F; ^! ywhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in - {- U1 p9 ^- f+ n P
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |