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
. D8 W8 H% r$ e* q) s' ~# }6 C4 h. K7 IState the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources
2 p$ Q4 j- F- x+ Qamber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
+ J" C: h- V& H- `* z& HFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
7 | ~6 q0 m C+ Jhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring . ^, |) Z/ ^; s# P) V
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
6 Y0 y. E' H5 A' h; q, lthousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also ' }$ \ q; t3 }4 \3 _# _
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. - A, U# u j4 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 : C/ Q& ^* Y" V+ Y
Semedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to + g1 t/ L8 E7 ]% j: u
red amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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. ]3 X6 G; N0 vIn the 19th Century, there were a series of reports about the location and mining of Burmese amber By Brester (1835)
0 f3 ~- ?- q! R7 F; z4 v* a% Qand Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) 1 B- u, ~. A, J+ o
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow & k% j& d9 [! Q! Z
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the . |% m1 ]$ q+ E4 y1 y7 \
“Hookhoom” Valley. Some pits, he observed were up to forth feet deep. : H0 O0 m9 v( F1 ?& A% A- t7 u
1 v- E8 Z5 i) B1 v8 r1 UIn 1885, the British invaded and conquered Upper Burma deposing and sent into exile the Burmese Royal Family to
/ g* M3 M( D" j& h7 A! R4 XIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to
* V: I: v: E' F8 x) x6 n4 rMandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of
5 @5 K+ x" F" k! `) }& Tnorthern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name ' i; |/ t$ j4 H; Z2 T/ d
burmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in 6 j; u( p F: v @% \! b5 n
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
1 x- c* [- r/ PSecond World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also 1 `* @7 W) O" p( A8 M
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
6 G/ c' l! j% y6 I- Z( t6 cUpper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District
( A9 }% z: {: n: Y7 gfrom 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the
8 i4 A: b9 l8 u8 gHukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 3 Y9 Z% W9 ~& ?! r& u
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
: P" w$ K! l6 B1 b1 |Baltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
' }& @, \- I+ S( {Chibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. o' c! u2 P( Z
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During the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
6 u. }$ f" c% N3 `* ?" e9 ^Japanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the
2 h9 g, c) f# ^- a Sconstruction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected
7 a+ d! q: ]7 Y: X3 y) bup with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
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* {3 P; \( b- p6 H8 c7 ]) b" @Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 8 W) ^1 \1 b# K# @& R% P7 \
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited ( S" N' M4 f6 Q9 }7 r
access to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese 4 ^" e+ t+ d, k0 D
name of the country. 9 b- e/ ^0 ?" q
. x9 [! F; k) ?- s) y# KSince the beginning of the Second World War until recently there was been a sixty year hiatus in production. Dr. David
& s3 [3 j) ~7 T, u/ VGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part * T+ {2 i+ s5 r
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
' G7 X9 r3 r; g3 U# f" Kplatinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold
& z5 Z: {$ Q# Z, T5 e4 sprice, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
2 v4 ^# A6 g, {! f) F! fthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per 9 J0 a) Y: E4 D: t& ?9 ^' S+ `
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
4 Q$ Z* f0 e* K/ L6 G$ Y1 P7 lHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a % x' ~8 n% Y4 w2 l
scientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a
) F2 a- E& N6 lscientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a 1 [/ V* p, ?4 g- w
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous
9 W" S- F" t1 ~8 I8 c) Q9 N' |age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from 7 K; N+ N7 |0 T& y2 z$ W
which commercial deposits of amber can be mined. Leeward remains the sole exporter of this rare and precious amber.
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Since scientific study of burmite began, there have been numerous scientific papers on the unique biota found in - A! ^! E- u) B
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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