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缅甸琥珀简史(英文)

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发表于 2010-10-30 22:01:14 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
本帖最后由 德道 于 2010-10-30 22:21 编辑   h+ l$ @7 N: G, J
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin " g5 v2 H9 L& r" j# X4 N
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources ; y; W9 t4 c" Q& S
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
$ C3 ~0 L5 D, k3 yFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was 3 V: K) f6 f8 Q) v
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring ; D8 j/ P  l& O1 Y, v: n1 }" z
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD).
Thus, burmite has been known for about two
% R4 \, J7 a  I: pthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also 8 y3 M7 U% n* @
used and is still used in Chinese medicine.
: y% i( M, y, w  S& h& v0 Z  \, z' Q3 a( t+ I) Q/ J- p) Y6 `
The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
6 w! N( V# }4 {: r7 ]" g8 |$ R* ZSemedo in 1655.
He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to 8 [# L* N# J8 A( W, O2 I
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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, R* K- R' o. x1 ~  F8 ~In the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
: a  N5 A: E: |8 _( _and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
+ s( ~# j3 y1 w- U- P8 [Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
. k! W" C. m+ T! K4 Z4 f0 \  ^pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the 7 h4 e# D  T* ]4 m8 I( u+ e; Y
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 5 y+ a0 M* E# V2 J7 }

4 ?& s, N( U% s& f0 d! f& |5 HIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
# ~+ L) o  V: j( BIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 0 m  c8 R- o+ p3 B; Q
Mandalay rather than to China .  The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of % P! J' r7 l& \, k4 U( S
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
; U8 e& g: z: l) Zburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
7 w1 `2 I& |: S4 _1893.
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. b8 W7 z/ Z- r. uIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939.  With the advent of the . z1 Q6 @" w: j- W2 G- S2 ?; ?6 J
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
: {5 p0 e: e6 n; f, D9 {% Ginternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.   h6 n4 L4 A8 e$ _$ }
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly % r$ J- |8 X1 s! h( t* r* ?
Upper Cretaceous in age.
The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
8 |& [$ W9 y8 [8 M$ m: Ifrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the - ]1 ?1 L3 d+ b- m% @% r7 Q
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
$ w* z+ a. b' x% L8 G# H- e; S  @; B(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
9 M+ C, B! x5 S! c+ y5 _! O, NBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
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Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. 4 \$ {6 m+ ~& A* T/ U* R( W

' d$ G) O$ M0 p  n- nDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the , n3 S! {; d* Y& Q5 L4 y; D
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina  the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the 6 {& i  Z3 s( \$ W
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
, Y& S7 V4 w2 Z; c, n+ ^3 gup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war " v+ ]# z" U# b
material.
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
2 M4 Z; }( O. yIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
& y! Z1 C+ V, M& J; Z, Oaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
, d" G1 b. ?1 v9 vname of the country. 8 t2 T$ K: A: A2 e' q# L. a% P

1 W1 T; x# v4 p+ B. E' S0 oSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
3 ?, M6 e' }. j) Y! O  RGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
3 q9 K3 _; l8 N: P2 K3 D& {because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 2 z& U0 p* c3 K9 B" K8 E9 V
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 6 e. S! i6 ^" X; }" D1 I: k
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 9 H' M$ O% X, L$ ^6 Y
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
; V# K3 m: b; ryear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural % r! K( }6 e4 X. ~
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a : ~7 h4 D0 l# x% e/ X: q# E( r
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a 4 u1 o! P! Y* [( n  Z
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
- u& w8 g) o* tdescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
" m8 z3 Z. Q% I1 \( Uage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old.
Burmite is thus the oldest locality from   p. W7 F( I5 F' f
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. ! ^3 z, T+ q1 ~" z" p: ~- S# o4 c
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 9 P3 r& M/ F( p
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. + e4 S  z' E) f! `$ ]6 D, {
 楼主| 发表于 2010-10-30 22:02:25 | 显示全部楼层
实在不爱翻了,大家自己看吧,重点看划线的。
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发表于 2010-10-31 12:11:23 | 显示全部楼层
实在是看的太费劲了,还是顶一下吧
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发表于 2010-10-31 12:41:12 | 显示全部楼层
谢谢你
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发表于 2010-10-31 21:08:23 | 显示全部楼层
俺不认识:是我写的文章不?
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发表于 2010-10-31 21:26:34 | 显示全部楼层
谢谢分享~~
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 楼主| 发表于 2010-10-31 22:14:52 | 显示全部楼层
等我抽空把这篇译出来。
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发表于 2010-11-1 14:46:11 | 显示全部楼层
从头学,也不懂。等译出来吧。
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发表于 2010-11-2 02:25:19 | 显示全部楼层
  谢谢分享。
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