缅甸琥珀简史
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（注意我标注的红色文字）
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) } w0 K H& o; EBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin ; Z1 {8 i) N; ?3 R: ~
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
; d1 J: l7 k; H) w% Damber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
' ?0 L. N& p' v$ Q5 tFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
5 o, {. t7 O7 {highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
, u$ S W' R3 y+ l( o! \6 v( zto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
. ~4 f) g% k$ _3 M, ]7 h; Lthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also 8 M5 ^- O, {5 T5 _& o
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
% c% B9 N' u3 u+ V' DSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
& O8 g% J3 d0 s4 A, g2 _8 `2 }8 ]red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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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) 1 f" ^6 G8 e2 l
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
3 e0 ^5 Z, [9 `9 {$ |4 c+ u" n( JValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
% C, {& b. d* D, Z9 L6 v Npits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
" Y+ |# t0 N/ Y: P1 B2 }% l/ g8 q“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
/ V9 p# G5 {( Z. V7 AIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
; s! w5 i1 T& \ x8 o4 VMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of ! [. V7 A, `$ @+ ~& }4 {
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
; n) q6 L* f: cburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in 2 r2 f& T3 o9 D3 G5 H# V3 r
1893. 2 s+ n1 ^ P1 I1 m: J* l1 E9 C
: h8 c8 u4 w! w0 v, U, l8 pIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
% K( c/ _$ E3 ?0 z# ?; W! ESecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
0 j. F' o* @4 J h8 i* Iinternal 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
7 P6 g. B) r" {! P: l- ?Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
! d! s) |+ C! P( b3 {+ W4 zfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the ( T) C8 S7 [$ b9 F: Y: S& o" }( ]
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson . k4 E: Y% X- X6 [
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
/ A( j4 Q. R: _% M1 tBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
2 Y2 r. J0 y( c6 p& u% |1 t3 _2 WChibber (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
" d0 @+ W' o( c- _Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the V5 B$ B3 c7 ]
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected 8 w8 {1 e/ e7 p$ X- s: z$ S7 {5 L- r
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war 7 {0 W2 g. w/ i0 c2 G; r
material. 1 r& g1 O# l# M
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 1 C$ U3 }9 c$ p. G+ S) P
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
& u0 \1 E( X+ P) r6 kaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese $ c# k7 i; ?9 K8 h& b
name of the country. ! n. W& ~# A+ w7 n- U
P1 l2 K g3 eSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
, `; \+ [ b0 u- PGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
( D3 }# N0 x7 Wbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” % Z( n) R; i; d8 Z; E/ @0 h, H+ F0 q
) C4 ?) T8 l7 M) B; ^+ k" F# D( {Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and
5 h3 l5 C3 i/ a- Eplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
7 s* O: z0 q& I5 J* yprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
) M4 Z1 n5 {( Othe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
4 t' J1 ?+ ^9 `# G$ B: xyear. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural . ^7 \; M8 A6 @4 P h) S
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a % M. B5 A- H% B _
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a 5 }4 q! x/ j* l* i/ d; ]0 \
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
& O0 z* s" T- Q# b1 e1 a) Zdescription of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
& K+ E N `0 c( C3 Qage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from . Y$ `# F! D& u) F
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. : Y/ O0 R; {' S3 X5 X' p
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in ( t; f8 e. \( f; N) @
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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