Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The amber is of significant palaeontological interest due to the diversity of flora and fauna contained as inclusions, particularly arthropods including insects and arachnids but also birds, lizards, snakes, frogs and fragmentary dinosaur remains. The amber has been known and commercially exploited since the first century AD, and has been known to science since the mid-nineteenth century. Research on the deposit has attracted controversy due to its alleged role in funding internal conflict in Myanmar and hazardous working conditions in the mines where it is collected.
Geological context of Burmese amber in northern Myanmar
A Puzosia (Bhimaites) species juvenile shell in Burmese amber
Fossil of the tailed stem-group spider Chimerarachne in Burmese amber
Miners digging and sorting Burmese amber at Noije Bum in the Hukawng Valley, undated photograph
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects. Amber is used in jewelry and has been used as a healing agent in folk medicine.
An ant inside Baltic amber
Unpolished amber stones
Fishing for amber on the coast of Baltic Sea. Winter storms throw out amber nuggets. Close to Gdańsk, Poland.
Wood resin, the source of amber