缅甸琥珀简史
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin
" e* `; C& [3 N$ `6 yState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
+ N' j. M/ T1 ]5 Samber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China . E7 X! O% J+ ^6 w/ G+ y4 M+ r0 i
From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
|1 t. d, u! I+ p, \6 H3 I) a% {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 X) u5 |+ f4 l. J, [8 x8 p) P
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
/ f3 G2 N# _: a! Wthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also / _2 _) o% N7 u4 ~( E3 Q/ v+ I
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
$ Z5 o/ V' i' t: p2 m. |7 ySemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
5 j: r/ p+ z3 F' |; n k& bred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. ) [3 W0 t6 z6 d [: `7 i6 u
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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) ~" I0 ?1 Z+ G2 H! C+ h
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
+ T s7 r8 r' x0 SValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 6 Q0 A+ k! [& l' P$ x; \
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
5 X3 d" m0 y+ a; F, T“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep.
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9 g$ j& M& z! m: t) p( FIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to . P' l# a) C* G2 x; a* A7 {8 o
India . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
S, ]3 x6 T; w, C( [3 I- |Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
5 O( q* c. W8 o" g* inorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name , a5 x! g5 q1 Q3 Q+ p, U
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in % ^. ?2 e1 `! i9 ^: {
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 ' C" G, r+ `% C" @
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
: S$ O, ?% C! ? d# Q4 v% x5 Qinternal 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 # t8 ^' _2 u" A( H+ ~$ a& ?
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District 6 p, Q5 ]3 x. x7 u
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
0 N1 ~+ y9 e- hHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 3 W) Y: ^( @5 r( E+ K
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
# f3 N* U b7 H1 k0 yBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits. 6 [! ? a. R- A, a
Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. 4 p4 O- l% U* s
- R; V: r; Y; p! B$ C, ]During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the % q. _* v" j- W# ?
Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
7 p* z; S. B' V0 mconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
$ Y7 G, G* [1 e5 s9 N @0 |up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
: @2 L$ x: A0 g' o6 ematerial. 7 j7 Q8 y. U4 G: M
9 H. E! e% U, C4 O- x% Q) n* bSince independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 5 q, z: p0 N2 H8 g; W
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
* a+ b8 m7 S! A: L/ W5 |: F) k2 Uaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese 7 K! G% C' u! Z+ H$ u/ @
name of the country.
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+ V7 t+ s$ c7 }& ESince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David % l4 y/ i$ B: U3 U( ^8 ?
Grimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part * s$ ]7 z# [! U2 ^2 l5 E) g
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 8 c# O4 f6 H4 E; U) s% E* N8 L' f
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold . E( X! k5 a& Q. L
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
/ [- t0 Z- r$ Tthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per
3 j$ {. Y w2 U% \" _+ g+ `year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
& R4 x% {7 d' _7 }History in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
: C, S7 R2 D0 O. [ s8 }7 U. tscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
! n( }, }$ [. ~$ O, Y$ ?scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a * }6 T6 I, m1 q* G1 D* P
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous " A* c5 b0 k. V0 c2 {
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 7 Y: e( b: z/ k) T7 ^
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber. 0 v6 D& C6 z2 o( l& B2 q
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in 0 a; `# W" _! c+ u, t/ Q4 e
burmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |