缅甸琥珀简史- j$ K) U, ?* I; s
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
/ g* ?/ Y; x! r- u) p- RState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 1 Y# a* a& Q) J- i
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
; Q' U1 M! z( Q- DFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
3 j# a4 K! `0 }5 Vhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
4 O# X' c- [, t0 W+ x, H0 w6 v6 B0 zto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
. L9 _" Q7 v$ `: q' j/ rthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
3 R8 B9 J! p5 c1 [# o" c5 pused and is still used in Chinese medicine. 5 @/ j, f. p! F
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
% |0 F/ A' L: @Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to ' I8 K6 B* n; o- S
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. % r! h2 s2 k1 T
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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)
& f3 c( s5 E+ A8 E G# B* Land Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
+ {3 m' I+ M+ v4 Q: f' SValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 5 q- V) \) @3 h/ J& ~- a8 n+ |. f$ {) ~
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the 1 ?6 U# m8 d# c1 g, X" F0 d
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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! {3 R) s" U2 p9 j- d0 ?In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
" L3 ?" ]& f) R% oIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 6 ^ `% Z- y/ d5 N0 g0 e) a
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of ! f5 P* r$ H8 H- y7 c$ X
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
8 L& `/ m1 Q' H1 w" a5 xburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in ( ~4 Z& d; ?- E5 _- ]( v
1893.
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: V/ n4 a1 M' T# M1 B; k% Q1 M+ @In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
9 u4 A* s9 K! w% A# a7 RSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
% e6 a1 g% N/ i% Q, rinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. - s) x7 L! B" l% Y) Z4 r
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
7 B4 S4 b0 y- Q+ ]6 f& z( v/ K8 KUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
! y# V7 t3 a2 O3 {0 ~2 q! E' L, Kfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the * {+ b5 H& a$ R4 @) |
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 9 E" K7 v% [9 O9 |; q4 ~) H
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as & q5 H+ \8 ~7 d9 L& e0 t1 [4 i
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
1 I$ S) M% ^; r9 L4 Q+ h8 JChibber (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 9 `9 j# A% [2 o* N" Y" K
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
# Y) ?) G" K; G! q0 H, b0 Tconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected : W, l! |3 o; j0 d7 t' f
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war " B. R6 V2 ~& p9 Z
material.
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) h/ `% V+ }+ r; z, ASince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin $ W: u6 \3 s" X9 m
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited ) m4 O2 O& I- R" y9 T6 Y
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
7 F8 d3 s7 v7 Q# p. a" sname of the country.
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8 n, w( N* C$ r0 }, a0 FSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David " b5 R1 w+ L$ P2 Y
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
/ ~7 ?( W G5 ?: M1 I% ?. abecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” " m' h, J- }. s7 P( L
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
1 A3 h7 p8 f4 k) [8 ?4 i: s1 wplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold - B, ]8 d" T# \# |; @/ `
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening / c7 o* u6 e8 M8 r- [
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per $ p3 |. v5 v& {$ y; d
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural " O3 B, x, }( |% f6 n
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
8 u) j/ Y6 d: P* y0 o S u* B0 Bscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
/ y6 N, F! e9 `. wscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a 7 V" R0 W1 \6 O9 y
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
4 Z! M" `1 V8 Rage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from - _, G& n) v( h# l
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. ( X6 ^" E& Q; B8 T" p& `4 Y
/ ?/ |- N/ C/ {- s+ I" c( ~2 _Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
0 l& |; V& k/ W' K7 A) gburmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |