Chasing dinosaurs in Myanmar’s conflict-ridden north
MYITKYINA, Myanmar: ‘Amber hunters’ on a quest for a Jurassic Park-style discovery of dinosaur remains sift through mounds of the precious resin in Myanmar – a lucrative trade that captivates palaeontologists but also fuels a decades-long conflict in the far north.
The morning amber market on the outskirts of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, throngs with traders using torches and magnifying glasses to scrutinise pieces of the honey-coloured fossilised tree sap.
Some sell rough-edged uncut chunks. Others tout finished products: pendants, necklaces and bracelets made from carefully polished pieces.
The trading takes place just a few dozen kilometres from the fighting between Myanmar’s army and ethnic Kachin rebels battling for autonomy, land, identity – and natural resources that help finance both sides.
The jade and ruby industries dwarf the largely artisanal amber trade, but the resin can still fetch big sums for whoever controls the mines. In Myitkyina’s market there is money to be made, says trader Myo Swe.
His speciality is ‘inclusions’, sap that has trapped parts of plants, animals and even dinosaurs before hardening into amber – history suspended inside the resin.
Find the right buyer and he could pocket up to US$100,000 a piece in a shady industry that sees most amber smuggled across the border to China.
“Even if it just contains an ant or a mosquito – every piece is interesting,” the 40-year-old told AFP. “I value every one of them.” Amber, historically coveted as jewellery by nobility from China to ancient Greece, enjoyed a revival in popular culture thanks to the 1990s hit movie “Jurassic Park”, set in a theme park where dinosaurs have been cloned by extracting DNA from mosquitos preserved in the resin.
However, most amber heralds not from the Jurassic but from the later Cretaceous Period, up to 100 million years ago.
The best preserved “inclusions” offer today’s scientists and collectors a three-dimensional fossil, with some creatures even frozen mid-movement.
There are amber deposits found all over the world but, for palaeontology, the mines of Kachin are ‘irreplaceable’, explains 36-year-old Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing.