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" y& K" c& D& `+ LBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
1 A4 a. g1 g. X8 C% IState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
7 F* e5 ]4 [0 G* W; ]4 C6 Samber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
* H6 ~4 D( c) \$ W/ cFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
, {3 s9 }8 v {) G1 q1 C1 {highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring 7 o; X/ s+ ~( T% s }
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two " o! y* L$ k, z' O U9 G4 r3 n
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also # h/ q% n5 h2 ?' a: f) T
used and is still used in Chinese medicine.
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez " g @6 k% b. b& {+ P) ^
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
- z! C# @# f/ N- ~+ \: I0 sred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. 5 `; A7 ^' d. G( z% ~: x6 N
. M% P, _9 o6 ]0 mIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835) ) k6 d9 @8 p8 O2 @/ x1 U
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
5 r0 Q5 f( t# {: R( c1 o6 k; TValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 3 |0 E: S. B4 ?# K
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the / {% |$ M1 N* o6 J: e
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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In 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to o0 b* G) a- t5 i" ~8 w' p- p
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
3 T# \; J: s( @$ S( I( z3 A; jMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of $ [8 K/ h& A V1 ?: e5 z2 q
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name ! n% j0 j( _, i9 {3 \8 u
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
# Y/ r5 Q5 S- _$ r4 V) i, ~1893. 9 J o4 r' @9 u5 A7 ^; I
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
) z8 U" r7 z) |9 k2 VSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also * I9 e8 C U. T# r
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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. @6 T: e6 {) m9 ?; H, D% T% iCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
8 h% n E6 Q* u6 G6 E4 E/ \6 l! FUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 5 I5 _+ u1 x( R6 w3 I
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
1 p# o t& }- l3 m) Y/ h7 t% K, mHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
/ J; n6 B! U* G2 J(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
5 C7 B5 Q$ m) l* G5 d/ t" tBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
" S/ D! p8 G9 p+ |. N3 cChibber (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
3 I- ~- T) B; z( K2 `+ j5 _Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the , K& y( ?1 \3 z* G
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 8 [* n/ A# R8 |: @& G" K, }
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war $ \+ \% I5 o- ?( J0 U
material. 2 H8 I5 ~5 h8 y2 i% h7 N# b
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin , Z; j& T/ |' q; O- U+ m4 w7 ^
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
7 b! l. E1 R, d( Naccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese
+ n3 c% O9 [4 B8 U3 \4 Z V" d Nname of the country. 2 {+ ]: r9 i; Q; Y) K
3 \5 }& }% b; M N3 XSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David 9 x# ~9 ~) N) D, W4 X
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
. s5 r* R4 o+ e, m0 X7 Ibecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” 3 j% N" Z8 q7 V, O7 h. x9 ]$ I
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
/ ?7 y1 C$ D& `. q, {, \platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold + g9 A) n6 f. @
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening 5 i: \/ \3 H `; p: e3 f: S4 d
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per 2 |/ F- s' B) C" W: f! {
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
+ I/ f( {8 a& v8 X; }8 ?1 THistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a 1 S# |. |% @! b; H
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a 5 F& R1 O! _, C
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a % D* \) a- B9 U# G4 E) p0 ?
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 3 X, A" H A/ P) F7 r
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from . L1 H; y9 |. t
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
( M. ~: }; j& D$ qburmite. 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
显身卡
