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"Amber hunters" looking for a dinosaur discovery at Jurassic Park sift through mounds of precious resin in Myanmar – a lucrative business that captivates paleontologists but also fuels a conflict several decades in the Far North.
The morning amber market on the outskirts of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, is filled with torches and magnifying glasses to scrutinize the pieces of the fossilized tree sap color honey
Some sell uncut pieces. Others sell finished products: pendants, necklaces and bracelets made from carefully polished pieces.
Trade takes place a few dozen kilometers from fighting between the Myanmar Army and Kachin rebels fighting for autonomy, land, identity and natural resources
Jade and ruby industries surpass the mostly artisanal amber trade, but resin can still bring large sums to those who control the mines.
In the Myitkyina market, there is money to win Myo Swe.
His specialty is "inclusions", sap that has trapped parts of plants, animals and even dinosaurs before hardening in amber – history hanging inside the resin.
$ 100,000 in a shady industry that smuggles most of the amber in China
"Even though it contains only one ant or mosquito, each piece is interesting, "AFP told AFP. "I value each one of them."
– Dinosaur Tales –
Amber, historically coveted as jewelry by the nobility of China to ancient Greece, experienced a revival in popular culture through the film successful 90's "Jurassic Park", Located in a theme park where dinosaurs were cloned by extracting DNA from the mosquitoes kept in the resin.
However, most amber announce not Jurassic but superior Cretaceous, 100 million years ago
the best preserved "inclusions" offer scientists and collectors of today A three-dimensional fossil, with some creatures even frozen at half-motion.
Amber deposits are found all over the world but, for paleontology, the Kachin mines are "irreplaceable". , says Lida Xing, 36, of China's University of Geosciences in Beijing
"The Kachin amber mining area is the only Cretaceous ambrel extraction site in the world that is still exploited in commercial mining, "he says. . "There is no better place than Myanmar."
Lida Xing enjoyed fame among his paleontologist colleagues in 2015 when he brought back a part of a 99-million-year-old feathered dinosaur tail from Myanmar. His discovery, however, was tinged with disappointment when he returned to try to find the source.
"They said that they did not know, they probably had already sold or broken it." This dinosaur could even have been complete with a "
" amber conflict "-
Amber lovers aside, the main challenge for traders and collectors is to work in a conflict zone [19659020AnupsurgeinfightingbetweenthearmyandtheKachinIndependenceArmy(KIA)hasleftmorethan100000displacedpeopleintheregioninrecentyears
The leaflets dropped by army helicopters last June even warned residents to leave the area. cooperating with him and he rebels, according to Human Rights Watch
Now, only the most bold amber hunters are trying to go there.
"We could hardly reach the mining area because it was very dangerous," says Lida Xing. . "We infiltrated when the situation was much lessened, but no scientist could come in after that."
"This is a serious problem because, for paleontology, you get a lot of useful information from geological and strata conditions – but we have not been able to do that." 19659025] Amber, jade, wood and gold are also "the main drivers" of the conflict in northern Myanmar. Responsibly, any company that markets Myanmar's amber "could cause or contribute to a range of harms, including conflict and human rights violations," she adds [19659026] Akbar Khan, an extreme fossil of 52 years. "Running a street stall in downtown Bangkok avoids the risks and ethical issues.
He makes frequent visits to Kachin and explains the adrenaline rush he gets in finding Dinosaur coins are walking in the clouds, in paradise, "he says:
" If people have a big diamond, so what? "The world is full of big diamonds … but the world doesn? is not full of amber dinosaurs. "
Pieces of polished amber, a honey-colored fossilized sap, for sale at a market in Danai, Kachin State [19659033]
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