缅甸琥珀简史6 r( F8 M! k* C! I9 h
4 c. B) s9 R' m* T（注意我标注的红色文字） l4 w7 l" F) ]& T0 r
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
9 y+ p# O0 N- ]) rState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
( B2 @6 ?1 h1 Z" P9 x# Qamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . % A8 J) h- s+ n$ I2 _
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was # B9 o* w" k6 _/ [% Z' `: Y
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
4 @' A4 W+ A8 ^0 Eto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
' `, \0 n: y# T4 Fthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also 2 o9 a- j0 g& O2 ]
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. - T9 H" H* T, H
# V) p. v0 Y2 _$ K+ SThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez / E; S0 z4 D3 n7 v
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to 2 c1 e0 f1 r+ v9 [$ Q
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. + O; m v \% B
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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)
# O6 T8 l7 b$ \7 ~5 \and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) * i- i6 q* |+ H2 N7 R- d+ u" C
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
, H/ A1 t' F, Y( | cpits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the , _: C# U, S2 R' }3 ]* h1 u/ |2 U( A
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 3 J* h ^2 m3 e2 M) @" T
$ S5 P% v0 S* q; S4 A+ [In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to 3 I# j- I; p8 w6 }
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 4 V) w# m* f+ |- F+ D
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of 5 l; `! O) S9 _' h# L
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
, }' L- _( @& s" o9 d8 |burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in 2 D, S. i! V6 P) l8 p2 n: C
1893.
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8 E" N* p' C; A8 B: ~, PIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
{- y p/ o a* lSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
7 S7 p c9 }& n7 Z; ^! b9 A; u9 Winternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. ; Q! n* C$ C8 W+ O h8 B* m' X
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly % A0 U( h9 ?( L6 _& P; S+ f% @
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District g2 r7 n$ I4 y2 T% f* Y
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the * ]# n2 U3 s! z+ k: O& `9 Q% t
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
& } k V: p% _& w6 T. y; U0 O' f(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
5 Z2 r5 f! K0 i, d* }5 F7 EBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. , V" l% r4 b4 Q5 f+ ?
Chibber (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 ! b) r. D2 Z. H3 m. V2 {
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the 3 a% o$ H+ C4 }3 y" r
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 0 E: Y; G" W0 u5 {
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war # P; c( P$ o8 v* ^) ] y
material.
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7 b" `3 J, `1 f- zSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
' ^* g7 D2 W. ]: R- C" m; D1 DIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
1 r1 O; L5 r) Waccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
# l. Q$ D+ _* mname of the country.
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" }8 H I! [: Y* w9 F2 LSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David : _4 @0 h) p2 Q* m+ X; l! J' p" |
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part 9 j' e- J+ ^- r7 z& ~% _
because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” ' O* U8 N9 g- \* @$ E
4 P- K5 g- h0 m# n1 I& f* xLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 9 O* l9 t9 x. G% W& i
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold - P5 l+ i4 _* A% |4 N
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
0 [& ~, h/ q: T6 c* Qthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per - g+ F2 d, d1 C0 W4 {
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
7 o3 [8 M/ Q! l3 bHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a $ W& T; g4 P! B' @% n$ d
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a ! Q6 |& q2 h6 d, @
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a , D+ v3 z- g5 ~- W6 e/ \4 }
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
+ G" C n9 |% Uage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 7 |0 V A; U# m0 u% N
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in " Q, G# x4 o X# g) L: D$ D4 n3 I H
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |
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发表于 2011-1-14 04:20:54
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