缅甸琥珀简史
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/ g9 X1 P# X. K- x: J9 UBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
/ {: B6 E2 P" \6 Y5 C9 s" D( {5 OState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources * `# Z# ^ z: ?! M1 j
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . ( J+ W% T* W& E: M+ _8 f1 m
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was * C$ M" w: s% x; y1 f
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
2 V; X+ \( e o" P2 P) \to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two 2 ]5 G. p3 J4 O/ U, z" Z
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also 2 n; Y& b- L0 y) K
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. - J- h2 C" T% }# i
9 r" a" V0 X: @4 C/ {The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez 6 Q- r1 d& z, \/ d0 A( {6 k+ g
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to - H7 I1 m3 Z, M
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. / ?9 z- I6 `+ l# K
* n# K5 f+ n8 U- }. m& ]% S! J- rIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
9 Q7 E, \+ c4 s V4 I. X5 y& S; v/ \and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) + I( X/ w/ I5 A6 n1 [$ T( T r
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
- N* q' Z- ?8 q2 a, o/ \! R- kpits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the 9 d" P0 b$ K2 O) ^2 R- z
“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 9 n# x0 P7 h6 {- C1 F- k" z
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
% B) Y% U& K8 U4 V# I: H& d7 p9 jMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
. O+ ]6 |1 m+ L+ f7 W1 ~/ Xnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name 3 ?4 q5 K- s, c$ a$ |
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in 7 Q' e/ _" K; A! Z$ K$ J
1893.
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3 |. x1 r3 E. O4 j/ c; yIn the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the 9 y. g1 g+ O# q& c* H
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also : ?" a5 W: C; `5 ~5 i
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
* b: L5 \) k6 V# Q2 n4 U$ TUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
3 w" S; F- y$ D- ^; n& Vfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
) d9 Y5 s6 h0 L7 J' M- GHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
5 g, p; `! A% _& ^, W0 H- Y(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
! q8 y, H, x ~. ^Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
& ?* T3 \; ~; ^8 a: {Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period.
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% c5 l* E/ f3 Z9 `: p# fDuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the & s; P' v* A, y4 v2 ~' L o
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
I% Z9 [: W, ?2 _. S4 Q1 P6 qconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
% ?+ ?, A% x& Lup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin * E0 T8 Z% I" J1 x, Y
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited 1 `' y' X- U" L- Z5 x2 `
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese 6 b1 L4 V9 p! Z/ A- f
name of the country.
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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
! P# m5 M4 w- c8 F! _8 U. f5 y& GGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
2 k7 k- e4 |+ S4 j8 Lbecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” , ~) r- q: f; T! f+ [% e* d
3 a7 z x, \- j, MLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and - G- n+ w2 ]; F" X3 R
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 9 \$ l6 X9 N1 M6 V9 @
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
+ P3 E* f7 E8 S% {% `2 rthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per : ]4 q& ?" G: t* Y7 O$ _
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural 2 \, N# F8 x# }
History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a / q1 v' |8 b7 I. b$ y
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
' @4 M% g- H% g2 A! ^- d; }& t/ ~scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a 4 F- o# b: \* c: ^. n3 ~
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
* K. W0 \( U% c9 G, T" o4 u- Jage. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
* A; n+ g C1 \( w7 Y8 D. Ywhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. . N+ b( U% v- k+ X
! H8 s* Y7 |& W" _Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
1 T7 \1 E- {" F, A4 Q8 c4 _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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