缅甸琥珀简史4 P( K: H9 N" h. x. Q+ V+ T
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\5 d0 j" n9 ?/ qBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
" i' g! y* ~; {& g6 IState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources & w8 c$ R M' O5 u q
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
( [" m \' W6 Z" EFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
) I( Y. g2 z$ k G2 v6 {highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
5 a0 d0 s) A; q5 g: a% e) X6 zto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
( w* }' a! }% @1 ^2 g. a0 [thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also # q6 S% J$ ~! s# C$ r
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. $ u9 m( s2 r& y8 I+ f+ l! r
) K+ R# H; \, N/ R& `/ f2 f" Y' GThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
) b; Z% M/ G& }' G+ KSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
: e) O6 f6 y. g. V! ]red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. 1 c# m6 u/ r$ N8 d( V1 M
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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) 1 v+ N4 ?. ^7 t* y# E+ Q2 P9 Y
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) ! w9 \4 Z+ ~# u" L/ `& }, g0 N
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 5 J8 R4 [' o, n m2 Z) ~6 T
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
4 V4 Z7 [9 S+ w& I1 m, U# Y“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. " ^+ P# S7 D7 l8 d9 y& Z1 [
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to H( ?1 v. h5 u. C, J7 }
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
8 p9 W' U7 L* _$ l- k3 C* lMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of 9 ?$ B9 y: [0 {# S1 w: V, u/ n% Q
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name $ n" e3 F; r* p1 q
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in ! |5 {/ s& a3 r( ?' t' Z6 ^. u
1893. : |4 k7 e: i9 Q" Y
( ?5 O+ _% c% |9 O$ R/ {4 F5 C( ~In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 2 D& q8 ]- K7 u2 z9 g$ u5 w' k* L
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also 1 _; X1 n- y, U2 i6 Z7 l V- [% }6 ^
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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1 q. T4 [* U& K- I T# pCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly 7 n$ _* U2 e" |- n- q
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District ' o/ v9 g2 {! {+ x5 u
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the - W' _6 o7 l* u
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 7 e5 \8 k$ O- H4 ]- X6 z v; X
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
% ^. p1 s7 o" D E* S! F5 \Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
. [" a# C- A, N: VChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the , R; i, p5 o; w! g6 g
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the & A5 V" h: e: |. d. n. Z
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
, e# e4 Z1 `1 Q& E% T1 Oup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war 3 [* V* K8 f9 L2 Q: d! {# J
material.
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6 y6 \1 W' W, k4 rSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
8 f) \" _. [7 |Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited 6 C. j5 ]1 n/ Y
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
8 j# y5 _, ~( m% hname of the country. 8 |( e+ {. A' ?4 B, B! P- g2 L
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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 5 W2 H* ]+ [& b0 v8 Z
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
0 C# Q/ x1 a$ D1 mbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” 9 L1 g+ p) _% V; w
" n5 x o2 [+ Z3 V' HLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and & f% o( ~8 Y5 s- d+ D
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
% g& ~. }. r) N% a- Q' Dprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening ! x! h3 A3 _$ n
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
: T1 t2 [0 s) W+ m1 ~9 o' wyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
5 S( T% k6 j* P K! l# x* ZHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a 1 `0 A8 f0 L2 z
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a % v& K1 m3 \7 m5 X' ]" E3 k1 N7 Z% F3 ?7 U! W
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
" K. d# I0 h1 e" K0 [description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 5 J. z/ _8 Q% s
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from ' z5 w. @0 w' I: N. O4 L
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. 9 M% u7 G8 @$ A; i6 @- o
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in , Y6 v5 l# V! V% z3 C
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |