缅甸琥珀简史, I- A/ }7 b; f# d/ A# q$ S4 }
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
& D3 l" m P( ^8 b MState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
~, U! G0 w" `4 Camber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
3 s3 w% b" l6 WFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
& V3 C* ~ ?! ^! N: [highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring ) v$ U2 w) L% v! b" i: U
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
; A5 Z8 G3 H, \9 t2 m; l5 r+ qthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also , N- P k9 }% {' K. J
used and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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. m9 u+ k; l) J9 n& cThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez * t# M# g$ ]4 R3 w
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
$ }* x- u) s* B! D! Jred 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) 2 v' P/ {/ d3 P, B: l7 A7 [
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
# y h' \7 h- c5 gValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow $ \5 u6 W; a. G9 W# t* f' A
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
, q4 C" G+ P; U7 T" a# L“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 0 d; x4 Z3 S6 [( I
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to ; `! X5 ]" P; {5 e: c! l; U9 x
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
6 {+ j* o6 S0 Q5 g+ Z, _Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of ; j$ c* R% Z) X' ~1 I
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
. f4 r- y% w7 e4 C7 Mburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in T8 \ t* H# b* K
1893.
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the + _+ j1 j+ C3 q
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
* Q0 ~+ z. ]) Z: O" F- Vinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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2 h2 U/ |7 c( S0 qCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly 0 _; J6 f* f& O: }8 g
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District + _/ X0 s+ l# Q6 g
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the 1 ?" M' [' |: A5 E& s" |+ l
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson - f" \5 s/ K: T2 Q" ^( s
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
2 g6 ~. ~2 v; G1 b dBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. 0 D( r- y5 P! h* e2 m: n6 P
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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G9 l- m* ^& m% H2 K% fDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 6 q# ?* S1 S# g0 S% c
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
2 j% i3 v6 k9 O2 m" }) L% \construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 4 L1 S6 H+ k9 P- B9 @0 \- g
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
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% H2 {# g7 A) e" M/ uSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
* g l$ S4 i. k) N& _Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
3 z1 v* I4 K1 q& u, s- kaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese 9 \8 e- F! m6 Q
name 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 ( c; h" P3 j W
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part $ c' ]$ J3 g0 v( S* `: ^
because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” ( W( T4 h- w3 F( c" }3 T
8 m8 l$ D0 p6 p% Q6 {$ GLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 9 V& n. ]- k; ~ o$ t. s
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 5 w' s9 j5 }( l \9 I) E4 c
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening " B. w9 v& Y7 k$ N& ?
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
& J9 [) p% d! V+ Z3 Q% Eyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural 7 Y7 ^; _( P; O9 U4 h! V3 ~
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
9 e. S* G% n8 |! @scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a 9 ] K/ R) t8 L; W
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a / u/ j& b' j8 v$ a8 z3 W1 X
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
5 d( K) a8 _/ Dage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
; m* w. Z0 g2 M. l$ }which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. " `* Z! a( G) k" N# K2 R! P
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in ! ~ x6 p! g8 ~4 X$ E
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |