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3 ^* \6 D" p q6 e! n) mBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
; q' C9 t$ \* T: o6 O5 z* E. C3 @State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 7 Q$ ~+ w J" [2 [9 Y
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
. y |7 y# U% m9 @$ b* \$ _From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was . ?5 @( V, b7 m( @
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
0 k' ~' R# z, B; _3 ?( h* sto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
; @ p) M2 ^8 S/ f/ J# ethousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also
7 w/ b+ ~8 X+ n: f3 `" g+ _" Tused and is still used in Chinese medicine. " v: x& J/ z# N
" k7 a; X" U) P. \, TThe first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 7 M: g! M" y; J7 G! e e
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
% c0 T. F( _ nred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. * F. I, i7 j/ }
2 f b0 S% P, V- TIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
g8 v! U' i, R/ b E3 p. n5 p1 W! Zand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
- s* b5 Z @7 T3 l# x3 X+ qValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 0 p' l- \% Q6 N w. S% U( v0 s2 o" s a
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the # @: N1 i. S- B" O
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 1 L' e: s6 S/ Y4 u8 g! J/ Z
3 u- s4 h0 J9 F& p" n: F4 z* U% hIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to 0 V1 V$ P" @) V' {# `
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
/ I1 M M% s- p3 X4 iMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
H" g" y5 A+ P% o6 k- \, p# Mnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name ) t+ N" b5 n/ D. S; d! a3 B
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in $ z9 L- b3 R6 C, `; t
1893.
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( a' X8 I7 `" v- \# tIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 0 q4 _9 n: ? D5 e( I8 x
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
# l) |- _2 `) k' r# Y2 rinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. , Q+ U$ `) i! v9 P- w
* w9 P. n6 q1 p: d+ M" u2 Z# h3 g a- aCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
, G, ]/ ]: @5 \* b. B4 X2 h NUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District " H' Q3 K4 W" F0 J
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
, v# a, |( p2 q3 R _Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
- } K, p5 C6 o* l" J6 I1 q; y(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
2 _7 X* b ^- t! v$ T! Q' PBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. 7 ~$ n' T- G* c' \4 S
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. % n8 L- V# c% y' N! S' J3 @
: ^0 b% U3 S! B% h) }% \9 @During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the ; u# X) `) \ S$ n- z/ r* X% M
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
% f4 }& `8 c" q, k% ]( k& {construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
# s' H, E2 s) j, G! mup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
) j) F2 L r [2 a1 ]' f6 S0 }& rmaterial. 7 ~2 l2 \" U7 j, g) u4 k
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin ( q1 ` ^* E: o x0 y" w
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
( E- G3 D V; q+ a: U* iaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
, a+ }: x1 d. o( yname of the country. ' T4 d% U9 I7 R. |! \
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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
9 D8 Q! f3 S: q% Z3 ]3 CGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
( t9 l- F: m* H4 l# d! X( B( ^because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” 9 e) I3 d; ~; v' ^- _# p# ~ s
- m# I F; i. s I/ L/ v* kLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
5 {8 J+ ^. j% Z+ o' g7 E5 Oplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold , W" q, G' @( S
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
7 |3 { i0 I3 \the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
' f3 n c2 @$ ] Iyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural $ k* v3 E& g- X5 j+ v1 I9 g/ q
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
: w! {1 B7 t( _scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a . C9 y4 d4 m& t/ C4 U
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
6 ]. N1 ~8 G2 k7 Xdescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
* G4 z) I0 i6 r0 G0 wage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from K; f: A" f3 Q) `
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. / D# R$ f8 A* Y8 ]. R0 U0 D% x
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
% h) ]" w% m' `! v6 Vburmite. 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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