缅甸琥珀简史
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: A% Z6 v5 A' SBurmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin : d. h. }2 |% h# R. K) s7 b/ E
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
0 C+ w# y% a9 [( f" w: c- ?amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
; n5 S. P2 y! kFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was : i* I4 ?6 ]1 n: ?
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
9 m# R; d* i: }5 D+ K( Cto Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two 7 ~' ]$ B6 b* a
thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also 0 O9 n5 f6 B, }$ r- S/ `
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. 4 d) p, U9 N" i5 N& A
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
/ s( P% o! s# |9 |Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
# D2 J4 W$ w' v2 N& ^red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. ) S3 v0 F" v3 a3 p
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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) ( m- c0 @4 g( ]" I2 k. ^. N: k
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) 8 p9 ]9 I( P% w( ~$ M' I
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
4 C. T4 o+ C2 m7 Npits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
5 V* J4 `( m! K# B+ j/ N“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 . P: E, J8 h& L5 s" k K
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 0 f6 Q5 ~& j( X% [
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of 8 k2 m6 ]( W: o" x
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name - e* ?$ d) G: a% q" J, H U
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
6 a" ~+ J; F+ j* t; ?! [1893.
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the ^0 ~- i5 W! q& `" k# J3 k
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also * z" G5 c8 d" J0 J, w; S1 K* k* C
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. 5 D( R/ w; O* n( Y+ e8 f& q: ~% B
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Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
8 O/ f' l+ O, d* eUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District ; a% t% B! I- A3 ?' f4 F- l9 C" a `
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
+ r) D1 b, O( F' |2 MHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson
. g: b( J( J: |(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as / p! t2 x' o# R! z/ h
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. " G$ L# Q7 @* h
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. # h' q# _2 @& `/ j1 _& C( Z
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the 8 `3 P8 F4 |, P: D1 u6 q
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
3 }' P4 U; w( g! A6 \- Aconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
: \4 s. @2 C8 g l/ t; \+ aup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war ! a+ A# G# T) P4 B% g% H+ u
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
. \: M, m' R4 o2 H- tIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
4 c$ x. @2 o/ ~0 t9 D4 Aaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese ; }% @3 k" K* D1 a/ x0 J9 t
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
5 @4 G8 |7 l: a" ^Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
& u5 _8 H- L- v) abecause the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.” # D! w, x L" K! u
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Leeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 5 Q6 ^' q% |& u) f' D$ F" B. m! F' u9 u+ \
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold ' X- P- o! y$ o1 ]
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening - F3 N5 l X: v9 W2 g
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per $ ^# p: \8 x" r4 |+ u
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
/ ~8 f1 G8 |) V" {( THistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
2 q/ Z9 `* k* D' \scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
7 d* }( ~2 F3 N) Pscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a
) o; W( v: Y4 H0 P2 L' }description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 3 v, [3 x8 }: q( [. }
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from D ^7 E2 E2 S# l$ ]( F7 ~8 w, |
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. " f2 I9 q( k$ W* |+ A3 m0 e9 t- o
# b" |$ i& |( v* b5 O8 [Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 6 I9 H& C( a# b4 I9 k
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |