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
$ F3 U, K* @. ^2 |1 X8 z2 \State the northenmost state in the union of Myanmar formally known as Burma . According to ancient Chinese sources 7 H, T/ H; _1 ~0 `
amber from the Hukawng Valley was mined as early as the first century AD and shipped to Yannan Province in China .
9 P, p5 f0 K j. _2 h$ Y# [- d, qFrom there, burmite may have found its way along the Silk Road as far west as the Roman Empire , where amber was
. y3 ^/ q1 u1 ]! z( H& F1 Xhighly prized. It is said that that a good piece of amber was worth the price of a slave. The oldest written record referring 0 ?% `0 m/ C$ P, b
to Burmese amber was in the Annals of the Han Dynasty (205-265 AD). Thus, burmite has been known for about two
8 O1 c, ?) C/ }thousand years. Much of the exquisitely carved Chinese amber has its origin in the Hukwang Valley . Amber was also ^4 Y) X2 s6 @9 i N% t
used and is still used in Chinese medicine. % Y# m% A' G% [. @+ ?6 Q# o4 [) K
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The first mention of burmite in the western world by a European was by a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Father Alvarez
3 F( N# s" h% {, p! w9 Z m, b/ zSemedo in 1655. He noted that red amber from Yunnan Province in China . In 1738, there is another brief reference to
7 ]( {/ h: P5 |5 c1 E" o. }4 zred amber from Yunnan Province by Du Halde.
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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) % H* T; S# k$ r9 V
and Pemberton (1837). Captain S. F. Hannan was the first westerner to visit the amber mines in the Hukong (Hukawng) % |. [& U8 b6 d" k
Valley. He described the primitive mining method utilized by the miners to recover amber consisting of digging shallow 5 l5 C4 f8 h7 W
pits with sharpened bamboo and wooden shovels. Description of the amber mines was given by Griffith in 1848 from the
" S% ]1 j% x# H“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
* e( Y# @/ w0 M4 W3 K7 {( YIndia . Burma became an annex of India . With the arrival of the British the main trading route in amber went south to 1 N& J( e, Q( Q9 O5 q# Y3 _9 L
Mandalay rather than to China . The Geological Survey of India sent Dr. Fritz Noetling to evaluate the resources of $ s- ^0 W* a# j/ b+ I7 z2 h
northern Burma in 1892. Amber recovered from the Hukwang Valley was examined by Otto Helm who gave the name
2 e* h! m* J" l; p+ b( h: lburmite to the amber from that area. Noetling also noted the presence of insects in amber thought to be from the area in ! H0 t8 Q. I: C
1893. 0 x' [& @$ [+ J( r7 `8 g
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In the first half of the twentieth century, scientific study and production continues until 1939. With the advent of the : w) \& S3 K, P0 ]) {' F# a( Q
Second World War, both the production and study languished until the 1990’s. This was due not only to the war but also " M' W# H9 I( z/ ^2 m* I6 a% _
internal turmoil within Burma following its independence from Britain in 1947. . F/ n. X+ v3 v( X$ P
5 N4 C; F0 T. R" x# ^Cockerell (1917) published the first scientific paper on insect inclusions in burmite. He considered burmite to be possibly " J9 W3 y9 Y; F6 A
Upper Cretaceous in age. The Indian Geological Survey published yearly production figures from the Myitkyina District " u+ Q9 ?. m+ ~
from 1898 until 1940. During this period a total of approximately 82,656 kilograms of amber were produced from the - i3 j: T; A% E8 t$ i; D! g
Hukawng Valley . Scientific papers during this period include work by Stuart (1922), Cocherell (1922), Williamson 8 E6 R" E q, ]- x* O
(1932), and Chibber (1934). These authors concluded that the age of burmite was Eocene or about the same age as
" ]) M, F4 b+ P b3 L. ^" l( u) i6 m# F0 VBaltic amber. This interpretation was based on a single observation of limestone debris dug from one of the amber pits.
2 V4 d# T# P m+ h; Y5 V7 u; l u QChibber (1934) contains the most detailed report of the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley during this period. , u: S5 A" [, y1 c+ @
; y3 G' }' s9 ^# ADuring the Second World War there was much fighting in the Hukwang Valley between the advancing allies and the
! S+ l0 U1 \& a5 ~2 u* bJapanese Army culminating in the fierce battle for Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in 1944. The war also saw the ; ^5 e1 E) Z4 @8 Z8 e+ a) a b# N
construction of the Ledo Road through the Hukwang Valley from Ledo in India to Mytiknina to Lashio where it connected : }# a: q# c0 E: e4 R
up with the Burma Road to China . This road provided a back door to supply China with desperately needed war
) D8 S( D; N! j$ Imaterial.
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Since independence, Burma has been racked by internal insurgencies including fighting between the Kachin 0 V0 ?7 n6 k9 i( n) O
Independence Army (KIA) and the government. It was not until the 1990’s that a peace treaty was signed and limited
, S# K. w' n, |- Eaccess to the amber mine was possible. In 1989, the county was renamed Myanmar , which was the original Burmese 4 A. A, M4 O4 {' Q6 L& E
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
( C& P4 W( S, [1 u, A3 S0 `- WGrimaldi comments in his book on amber published in 1996, “Today, burmite has almost legendary appeal, in part
% R, r% F2 v0 W% C7 |% |) i! ` Ibecause 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 ! L/ x0 ^( { a* w8 D6 t$ c" {5 T
platinum. With the collapse of the junior mining market due to the Bre-X Scandal in Indonesia and the drop in the gold 5 _3 Y/ r2 J) h5 v; e3 i& n
price, this exploration ceased due to the lack of funding. In 1999, Leeward began to evaluate the possibility of reopening
2 R( |/ B6 z; T2 m# Pthe amber mines in the Hukwang Valley . Limited production was achieved in 2000, and is currently about 500 kg per # M( n) \- o) b) e5 G6 u& R
year. The initial 100 kg gathered in the first two years was sent to Dr. Grimaldi at the American Museum of Natural
' x- e+ k9 O: D+ [! p8 NHistory in New York for scientific study. In 2000, Zherikjin and Ross of the Natural History Museum , London published a
: b" b' d: L) D* ?9 m* gscientific paper on burmite in which they determined a Cretaceous age for burmite. Grimaldi et al (2002) published a ) W' o4 ^; O) C, f3 J) F9 ]! E
scientific paper confirming the age of burmite as Cretaceous. Also in 2002, Cruichshank and U Ko Ko published a , z" _( s% ~2 |( G4 C
description of the amber mines in the Hukwang Valley giving the amber a an Albian or uppermost Lower Cretaceous 0 _ b6 ~2 i- K7 @) a# D
age. This dates burmite as at between 100,000,000 and 110,000,000 years old. Burmite is thus the oldest locality from % J8 y, O( S5 P( C3 o' v
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
( m8 J( V" a- u& y7 ~ Xburmite. This book illustrates the diversity of animal and plant life preserved in this ancient amber. |