缅甸琥珀简史
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2 M. n1 b9 C6 ^, b2 _Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
+ ]3 I g: z; Q O( vState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 9 _7 \, P2 v0 Q: ^
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
5 O1 S6 M5 U1 Q! g! I$ vFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
* C& E% g2 V, p# ahighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring % p3 D" `9 o" [. r! ?' ]+ E
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
- c" T4 \+ q. [# uthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also W$ l6 ~* y' P* h
used and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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# `9 `3 P. D! y% v8 ^* nThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
( ~8 C$ k( \' f9 C* E: }7 HSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
7 i8 _* G! W# e( }% n+ K& q* k* h4 mred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. / }. E2 f5 q$ B9 J* ^# 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) 0 x; n% e5 p1 ?7 ~+ u: i
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
$ @' l# o* \0 n$ \6 ]Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow % b6 T/ O/ J/ Q V- b) b
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
' ] J3 [* x1 F. G0 h“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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% a* Z% d0 [$ iIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
0 p# {7 k8 n1 ^7 IIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 5 E$ D: @4 t" G
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
' r) Z" a: h X. T' n' A7 Unorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name 8 I7 @% ~, v& S8 q0 q5 }
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in ; X* ~/ P( a8 p n
1893.
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4 _ `" r! G. K0 EIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 7 q. `3 ]5 l8 ]# x2 E
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also ( \! ]/ M3 z3 S0 L
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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) S1 n3 C' o" N% R, n9 WCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
/ o0 A% _4 |% D: F p6 v* wUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 6 V# C( e; G' Y" F6 J
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the ; \! J6 Z7 ?5 J
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
/ a1 g7 [2 e" W3 ]2 ]$ v(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
9 E( O7 m' o4 \# q( v$ B4 SBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
' I3 a. P9 B o: gChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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$ t; S' t' J" }1 I: oDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
) b- q' X7 K1 `# XJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
- O q1 [6 M* _2 n7 o7 Q, jconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 4 s9 h8 A) C; R' X# {+ F! |
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war ' B3 }9 F, \& e- f# W
material.
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& X0 v" P7 u( @& F# O# BSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin % O0 e. X3 C% _7 S! }
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
% }% G" ^/ N/ } Z3 ]access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
0 b7 X* O1 @5 c( X. \3 s& }name of the country. 3 J( g, P% w5 ?7 a& X1 \
, P/ O2 N3 a8 R7 s0 O! n9 pSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David . S0 Z7 ^6 s4 o; Q7 X& [* ^8 p
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
4 |% z8 j4 M6 M8 I4 k( A* ]+ gbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” ! }0 h& a) J; q$ X
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
) a; [ {( z% s( a5 m' c. Nplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 0 b$ m% ]3 ?! S f9 U
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 8 W4 H' _7 ], C% M/ o
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
0 n2 R. B9 e6 a3 `year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
( D9 p; _9 @: f }6 VHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
6 s k5 e2 p) K1 K( _, vscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
4 X! B: @5 r# R( @/ y8 {. x M0 G# Y- Iscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a , G' P2 V% a3 v
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
5 O; ^9 @% F. g, mage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 5 Z" m, w# u& B. f2 {" Q
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
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( l/ W& @* b5 [Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in - V8 C/ P0 [0 ~: T6 W1 O
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
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