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本帖最后由 德道 于 2010-10-30 22:21 编辑
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% z9 Q& V. @8 T. O5 \Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin 6 x1 P& R! F( J- Y" g$ a4 D
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources , I3 p, ]2 |; o) U! M* C2 G
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
! z, K1 M( _6 b8 I% |4 S" C; YFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
( E3 ]+ v' t+ x2 d# p( D3 ~8 Hhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
1 o [" g9 R! v( A9 t0 Uto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
) T* B1 O9 @8 I% Y q4 tthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also + H& m0 _3 v% m
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. # u( o" D5 @% v8 [9 N
5 m* Q8 h8 R8 ?/ K) q% G ^The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez + h0 i4 c: G2 U/ `
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to 8 e$ Y( j4 v5 x2 K5 U; j* O8 x5 v# {
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. $ x2 C6 B0 a7 S4 {4 O6 ?) b D
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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)
/ F _! r4 C7 d8 D% H, e {and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
2 |$ ?& O8 w bValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow ! Z4 h' }6 R) _5 O
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
3 A0 H* ^8 ~4 i: B% p# k“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. 3 W# c. {7 S5 r* `
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
5 G( \3 X; a% n! S: K* }# x2 |India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 3 v' Q3 g A/ i: v; {( I) K0 f
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of - w$ A* K- J- p- ?2 `: Q! a% n
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
! a+ N& n1 _' l" F. n5 bburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
" d& v% h& Q. S0 q( t {7 }5 e' J1893.
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- \0 ]# L/ Q N1 fIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the . l' d U1 i% P0 s# R) T
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also + t" U; ?! T$ Y4 J0 w
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly ; ~1 E Z, g- E8 H( P% F( _& m
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District + U1 ^: A1 ^8 X1 L$ ]* @+ y
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
) g( I( }5 V7 z6 QHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
y* B u( R% ]) a(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as : i @/ \; U& d, a' h3 X1 {
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. + _' y8 T2 w5 ] N2 w/ G$ E
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. % e+ B! g0 t" D+ ^( ?
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 0 J" @* r3 r- ?& E5 A$ x1 u' o6 C
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the 5 @" {( M: T% [) g& D" G
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
$ `% }$ L9 i; x3 Zup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
: P% n9 T' @2 h! K1 Z, D' Ematerial. 2 O1 k: {1 q% ]2 Z# i" a5 ^
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin - u5 a: L4 C8 C) V1 G
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited + z3 Z3 M$ M1 o7 a+ t- D2 B7 C2 i
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese 2 V2 I3 u. k. |: _+ \+ a7 _" f H
name of the country. / z5 i1 g2 b' D# Y- E
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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 , j! K, y( t' K6 W! t
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part 2 h8 U6 f& d" ~9 W- _
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 : o- {: c8 ], V; q, h8 G% H. X
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
# g- Y0 b# _) Bprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening % t; F) A0 d8 r4 \# S0 g8 C
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per 3 w8 k/ S$ y8 L0 m9 a+ S
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
8 C! K& Z. b) b7 VHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
( V# C, e- i1 L* W! {3 q) b- Sscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
/ ~* X- e G/ I4 [- Jscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
$ g3 N& t! x" n; Y' h p* {description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous : x0 P5 c- H: q9 l2 G7 T
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from * ^2 {+ \& t+ F v8 J. Z$ F+ v
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. * z9 z6 L" }& e) W$ t8 U% ?8 d
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 0 U, {* c9 X& d
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber.
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