缅甸琥珀简史
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（注意我标注的红色文字）6 H& s5 H/ H" k7 T" ]
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Burmite or Burmese amber has been known since the distance past. This amber is from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin ; _: w. i: m }) W; C; ]9 i) o# ?
State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources ' b* z D9 _" O [) j6 a
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
; S+ e3 P- Y& ] b$ ~From there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was " a2 J5 e- z; Q
highly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring
5 Y: E; v* F( [# Q$ ^; i& Q0 u0 U+ \to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
& Z b* w E* H- gthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also # U2 f* Z. ~, S* i9 k
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
, J4 w4 e/ i$ K1 kSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to ) W) i P+ ]! n# m- T
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde. % M( b* T, T' o5 c
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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) ; j( c4 u; ~( w
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng)
) c* K5 T( t3 Y# QValley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow
3 }" ~. I1 L+ m5 C! d' W0 {pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the 2 D# r- ]) t8 [- g
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. d) j9 H; e* h% t
. t* Y m1 O/ B4 A1 wIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
0 W( q9 x( w$ B- p+ f. _+ C, R5 G$ kIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to , S7 U) K, ?6 P% j- _+ k8 U
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
0 T9 V' d8 f |9 Q; Knorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
0 ?8 d/ I( a9 O1 vburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in
' G" h2 a, G& \) [5 l1893.
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the
z7 N, R. E3 U- I oSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also
0 G6 v, C" X' c, iinternal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947.
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. v/ j& L8 Q$ `8 X2 y6 gCockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly
7 K' \: M4 A0 z2 \% T- tUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
& ?* Z; m$ o4 e4 ?" G* _2 G# Z4 T$ xfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
5 y1 c3 L* h2 @, K! c; B, c$ WHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson : C3 O7 C% j+ e% \, I+ E7 c
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as * j/ E3 d8 k R, ]0 r
Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
( Q; R/ _2 {8 u) M+ D# o' v: YChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. - F0 q5 x8 x: L! ]8 Y. u
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
+ Y4 \; w9 x8 C6 t$ S4 p; M6 U/ z, iJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
$ _$ H U/ Z" Y/ Qconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
0 x- b2 |1 T* U, F/ q$ kup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war * _. j5 _0 H8 E: X: S- A
material. 3 G# X$ [( M1 O- R' x6 m \
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin
' _2 k2 p. s" sIndependence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
0 G" j5 ]$ j! H0 }access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese $ n+ M' S+ Z0 s! j
name of the country. 8 z R# } V0 x5 }5 A
7 b! z& }. q/ LSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
1 n p8 P; X# t9 b* iGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part : C+ F9 D8 a" X" l9 u) ~, Q8 c" T
because the deposits are no longer mined and the supply is generally not available.”
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' Q7 V2 Y# D& q: U" G* ?8 B: y' KLeeward Capital Corp., a Canadian Mining company began exploration in 1996 in northern Kachin State for gold and 1 w0 z3 _& U% a( l2 D, q1 e
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
" c. L2 n! A) x8 \# @0 d, Mprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening " P- D# p( P+ a( R& Q' N6 q0 r3 m
the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per - s( D% u% G, l; k8 @' s
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
0 }6 d2 M# ]3 Z7 f* E6 Q) IHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a 7 [7 M2 x% H) Y2 m2 G
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
+ a. X& _7 f# zscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a a* v |. B( o: Z H% [+ Q v: Q
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
/ x- R, b) f0 v# s" |age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from
( O; t7 @8 T4 M: Z, t. A* Zwhich commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
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) ~; [8 S2 h& @, R8 H* DSince scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in
) P4 L$ o9 K/ z3 p- S# tburmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |
狗仔卡
发表于 2011-1-14 04:20:54
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