缅甸琥珀简史
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
( p4 }' O9 v kState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 2 n" G' q+ S4 j4 S7 A% |5 F
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . . A: q: I# [ N: |% ^9 P
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
5 M' s2 i3 D+ M: Z- s' n8 Shighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
0 {: ]- Y: V' ]7 n( V, w3 Ato Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two / v( [/ F/ d" p# J
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
6 w* `) i* L/ A3 vused and is still used in Chinese medicine. # m& M. n; ~- D+ j4 I
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
. p( w6 i) }* \; v. kSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to & _; B6 ]/ @9 ^' p8 f+ ?+ d! {" O: v2 X
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. ! G2 C5 W; g8 x1 f
/ W7 p/ [( Q0 O G) [( `; R9 KIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
- }, [: m5 N/ s' |% x$ p) zand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) . R a5 W& v0 K
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 7 G! D3 Z2 x- C, T% R' y; Y v" c
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the # C0 x/ i5 O: T) P$ D" J
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. + l8 [' ?& I8 a
* S6 W* i+ {; L# k2 gIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to ! @/ C. l4 k+ { }1 k, |
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
0 t. M) v9 m* s+ f4 v3 nMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
3 ?( E# p4 V+ `& s9 x( n, vnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
! Z( a A) h$ ~2 W! {( B* oburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
3 e; ~& \, r* y; q x' J1893. % t# N g. c, }7 R% ~$ B& ?; [
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
" R! L' H# m, H* k+ aSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
; F# @* O* d1 M* X& |) Linternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. * @) F+ {1 t8 N* h- i* S0 w5 T$ L% r
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly # |6 D5 I C( Z0 l
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District - V/ L) z. c1 g+ O0 Z- ?* K) j
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
* V1 M5 H, M5 l& w8 M' ?' I0 O) ~$ {Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 6 S# A5 l; g: g4 r/ o0 m- j# c
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
0 ]8 R5 a# M* G& j: PBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
$ D3 V$ j/ s! d( s7 ~: @Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. ! i+ @* W2 |# A, N+ ?9 Q
5 n0 B9 c! U7 j1 C- P$ h" q8 `During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the , `3 R% ~; Y3 L7 t& @% w
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
" s C) ~ h" P! R9 I4 uconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
/ i f" Q8 C \up 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
8 c% B. L) N" YIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
( x( s9 g6 x: }- F6 i+ raccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
8 D; i! f4 G3 s' S6 ]: kname of the country. : x# I: |5 \ k% o+ T
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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 $ f( J* x2 E7 d" d
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
! C8 q1 l: |& s5 `$ h8 [3 Gbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” 4 K) S6 V; y( Y% K, `
0 A3 P9 I2 l* J" U( ?( ^Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
+ `& q! b {( @, `3 t' bplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 8 ?$ U; g( v- t3 t: P
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
. |, s, q' ~2 O1 q4 i# [4 w+ Bthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per : g) I _" h' a
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
5 Z' ?9 q& {. W% l2 ]History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a 5 e7 d3 [5 l. q3 s, ]) |5 L' o
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a ! b! f9 Z- e/ \ n( [
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
" C+ w' [6 \! r& [ D1 ?1 o0 F' r5 pdescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
, Q: g; z" l" S4 R( t: eage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
$ z% n2 [3 h5 i, x' H2 [which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. / R7 V* z/ u2 o6 A6 i2 P- m
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in " p' L, p1 ^( Q$ p. N
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |