缅甸琥珀简史6 G/ M6 z- L2 D) \5 ?2 L
- S% l% z$ J e7 {（注意我标注的红色文字）0 w- K D' M- M" U
F1 ^5 d. C0 }
P% X( Q) u2 XBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 8 H8 [5 m: @& ]' }
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 9 l: u6 A% L/ K& h
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . 4 q: @& m) q/ ]8 P. V% C* }
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
8 t' b, [ n7 _1 Z, u+ Ohighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
- V7 ^# F7 I2 D6 Qto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two & y, {1 L$ K3 e
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also # k0 o* C) I- Z! _
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. " H) w+ s1 | h
$ P4 ~8 \; G* E8 `
The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 1 G" I$ q& Q3 ~+ x
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
: z/ K" q3 `2 Z+ j" ered amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. / H, Y( f3 Z6 H, n7 k6 E
; ?1 c' B* w; p" i& D$ {0 i
In the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) # }: l1 i, T# ]: y
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
3 `1 P- A+ i$ W* v- T+ jValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
1 d" i3 J# Y% H' c3 o6 u, npits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the ( Q; e: c$ ^. Q- W# e% ^4 T
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. H* T* h: H3 Q# v2 o
- d6 L5 {% g9 V9 N* v% p5 A Y. ^/ EIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to ! \' r8 u0 D) D; _0 c4 J
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
# i* C$ T8 Y( V! g7 N( q0 OMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
0 F3 {1 C- X# `$ Q- v0 O1 qnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
% S/ h! i0 M) ?6 L Sburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
9 o$ e, t3 i" L4 g5 M7 W1893.
% R' y- B: _. v/ \6 b1 Q2 }" g+ [2 m# C, [
In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
- c0 b7 h0 u3 s% r; I9 P0 ~0 oSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also , j# `+ |' B; s; I; @
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. - m5 B6 o# K+ W
' k1 ~+ H9 @+ U" A) J. e: `
Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly ' ^ R/ C. y- H) L2 i
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 0 t; i, _" C0 M" y8 m4 k
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the # S5 `% K+ _& v
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
. T5 v6 g1 e7 D, I" E(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as 5 `6 [1 h" E5 {3 E, }
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. 3 z# O5 G1 D) m7 j
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. + M$ g: p; Y1 w- |
( V5 _# K! d/ a6 \% u. [! b9 tDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 6 g/ k$ a; i; R0 C& c1 [, A
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the $ W! a: t# C' f5 ~
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
5 b/ E( j: `. G7 _up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war 0 `# ^- M' f+ b9 |6 i; F; ]/ T
material. + g9 @ y4 {0 m2 o8 q6 f
6 i# {3 S+ D5 U& x! P: e h
Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 6 R+ X/ |" ?, f! E
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
; w) z0 w* {/ K2 j5 c& D8 Uaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese : b* }, x* h! u6 h0 f
name of the country. # I1 s% h( n: b- V6 y
& l: Y9 _% C8 e3 R
Since the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
8 R1 @# C6 V$ `Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
- {$ f" n& b$ I& K# v0 Y, | [: Ybecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
1 V1 t0 [# F& r$ m+ ^$ n
1 f: T7 D( M u" E( g+ {5 K O% ]Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 6 G* B* D4 @9 C( l: Y- f5 H/ \
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
3 O0 Y- c. k5 Eprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
3 s* V4 G- t' V; g3 R6 l( C* ~the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per 3 ]- c8 g4 ~1 S* Z7 x: c
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
5 y9 I5 G) g2 D8 L0 U" jHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a 6 `. k7 b3 ~ ^
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
8 | m% A) w" T& D" `8 n Qscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a ) e" R" z7 L0 i' C
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
: I6 ]5 _/ F$ q& J: v& Z+ b* ]age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from ! \: ?, a6 e( ?9 G8 ^# A
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. # ]: u! T! C S8 j
0 W. v4 o7 ]3 v# h5 f. XSince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in ( I" q ` o5 g8 T' c7 O \2 p) h
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |
狗仔卡
发表于 2011-1-14 04:20:54
显身卡
