Editor comment: Cretaceous ant with additional insects. Burmite is the name given to natural amber found in the Hukawng Valley of Kachin State in
northern Burma (Myanmar). Amber has been mined here since at least the first century AD.
Burmite amber is known to be among the hardest and oldest amber found on earth. This special
amber dates to the time of the dinosaurs, the Cretaceous Era, nearly 100 million years ago.
Besides the wide range of extinct insects found, lizards, frogs, snakes, birds, and even parts of
dinosaurs have been discovered. In addition, because the area was a tropical rainforest near a
coastline, marine shells, crinoids, oysters, and coral have also been found preserved in Burmite
amber.
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