AMBER...
Not just another old fossil.
Presentation by Stephanie Martin, KW Gem and Mineral Club, November 2009
Photos by Andre Mongeon unless otherwise noted
'Amber, the freezing gold, that is not hot and is not cold
Has caught within its dreaming arms,
the insects and the flowers charms.
Time has kept as still as death, holding instant,
every breath.
Now from out our fading past,
a scene which can forever last'
-Garry Platt-
What is Amber?
•
Amber is fossilized resin (not sap) from ancient trees, largely coniferous.
•
The oldest amber known is approx 320 million years old, but on average
most harvested today is usually in the 40 myo range.
•
As the resin is subjected over time to sustained heat and pressure, it
becomes polymerized. This is followed by the gradual release of the
aromatic terpenes from the aging resins and becomes true amber. In the
intermediate stage it is known as copal.
•
The average hardness of amber is 2.5 and is generally represented by the
formula C10 H16O. It has low specific gravity.
It floats in salt water but sinks in fresh water.
•
Most commonly amber is coloured in the yellow-orange-brown hues,
however it can also be whitish (bony amber), almost black, dark red,
green, and a certain variety can appear blue. Amber often has inclusions
of organic material or insects.
•
There are 5 main classifications of amber determined by the chemical
bases and stages of the resins. Class I is the most common and includes
the commercial ambers such as Baltic amber and Dominican amber.
wikipedia
VARIETIES
Baltic- yellow- amber-orange brown
Red from Burma
Blue from the Dominican Republic
Amber has been used since Neolithic times. It has been used for
jewellery, ornaments, incense, religious and burial artifacts, medicinal
use, varnish, and even flavouring.
Display items photographed and used with permission, from The Amber Room, Kingston, ON
Etymology and Folklore
•
“Amber” was mistakenly cross-referenced from the French ambergris,
a whale by-product that washed up on beaches.
•
The ancient Greek word for amber is elektron, which translates into
“originating from the sun.”(Later translated as electrum = gold). The
Greeks were the first to describe the unusual electrostatic properties
of amber. If amber is rubbed briskly with a cloth, it produces enough
electrostatic charge to pick up a piece of paper. Hence this is the root
of our modern word electricity.
•
Ancient Rome – Latin word for amber was Langurium or
Lyncurium: from lincurio meaning 'urine of lynx' - formerly believed
to be condensed urine of Lynx & also associated with Liguria, a region
of Italy where amber was supposed to be found.
•
Turkey - “Oltu Stone” Turkish fable has it that mouthpieces for
smoking made from it prevents infection when pipes are shared. To
this day it is used in the manufacture of smoking and glassblowing
mouthpieces.
INCLUSIONS
Today amber is of
interest to scientists
who study the
inclusions.
Insects
EVEN FROGS AND BIRDS
Hint: fakes
Where is amber found?
MAIN LOCALITIES
•The Baltic sea- Poland, Kaliningrad Russia, Lithuania
•Dominican Republic
•Burma
•USA, Indonesia, Mexico, Columbia, UK and many other locations of minor output .
wikipedia
Each regional amber has it’s own characteristics.
Baltic Amber has a component of succinic acid (between 3 to 8%), and is a byproduct of the fossilization process specific to this amber. As a result scientists
have named this amber succinite. The resins were thought to be produced by
the genus pinites succinifer, but it has since been disproven, with the results
that the species may actually be of the araucarian family.
Dominican amber contains little to no succinic acid and has been named
retinite. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera (legume family) is the
source.
Dominican amber is usually much clearer than Baltic Amber. This enables
scientists to study the visible inclusions in them more readily and has allowed a
theoretical reconstruction of an ancient ecosystem.
In sunlight some Dominican amber can appear to be blue. This is due to
specific hydrocarbons from this amber being fluorescent in natural light, hence
our eye sees “blue” amber.
Dominican Amber is mined in dangerous open bell pit mines.
Dominican Amber
Blue amber worry beads
Leaf in amber
Mining
wikipedia
wikipedia
Termite in amber
DNA Myth – Fact or Fiction?
Have scientists been able to extract DNA from fossilized organisms in amber? What
about Dinosaur DNA from biting insects?
In 1992 a California team indicated they had extracted DNA from a type of bee in
Dominican Amber. This was followed by a few other reports of similar success.
However this has not been repeated after numerous attempts, casting doubt on the
original findings. The previous results were rejected as the result of contamination.
Reasons why this is largely science fiction:
DNA degrades quickly
Even if it does not, enzymes from inside the dead organism destroy internal tissues
and DNA
 The probability of finding a total sequence of intact DNA without damage or missing
parts is astronomical
The amount of effort to map the genome would take scientists years
The finding of DNA from a dead organism and then finding viable DNA from
something it fed on are beyond the realm of possibility, at least at this stage in time
Even if this were possible, they would have to find amber that was old enough –
Dominican or Baltic amber is not – and then find a viable insect that may have fed on
a dinosaur, etc.
Myth busted.
Archeological discoveries trace the route of the “Amber Road”
From the Baltic sea to the middle east and beyond, a trade route
that existed before Roman times.
wikipedia
•
Baltic Amber accounts for 80% or more of commercial amber. It is
mined all along the Baltic Sea coast, but the Russian city of
Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) is the most prominent producer.
Many methods are used to recover the amber including dredging and
power pumping. This has had a negative effect on the Baltic ecology.
•
The Baltic Sea has complex flows and does not refresh in the way of a
typical open body of water. There are layers of salt water and fresh
water that displace at intervals. These currents are disturbed and this
is causing ecological damage, in addition to the physical scarring of
the dredging.
•
Baltic amber has been important historically. In Europe it was called
the “Gold of the North”. The ancient trade route known as the Amber
Road was instrumental in the economy and politics of this part of the
world from pre-Roman times and throughout the middle ages. Amber
craftsmen founded their first worker’s guild in 1480 AD.
The Amber Room
History with a Mystery
The Amber Room prior to WW II
wikipedia
The Amber Room was commissioned by Freidrich Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1701. It was
created by craftsmen who worked in Vienna. At that time amber was worth 12 times
the price of gold and it nearly bankrupted him.
In 1716 it was given as a gift by Freidrich II to Czar Peter of Russia as he had greatly
admired it on a recent visit. It was hoped the gift would cement a military alliance
against Sweden. The room was moved unfinished to Russia, where it was moved, and
moved again, augmented by Russian craftsmen and finally completed under Catherine
the Great in 1770. It contained a total of 6 tons of amber. This became a permanent
fixture at her summer palace and was often called “the eighth wonder of the world”.
In WW2 during the German invasion it was confiscated and sent to Königsburg palace
where the panels were being temporarily stored for safe-keeping. It was rumored that
the panels were then again sent on their way to another hiding spot, but they
disappeared on the way.
The mystery continues. Was it destroyed in a bombing raid on Königsburg? Were the
panels sunk on a ship in the Baltic? Thrown in the river? Hidden in an underground
Nazi stash? All theories have been investigated. Interestingly, a piece of the stone
mosaics from the room have recently turned up, from a family of a Nazi soldier who
accompanied the team assigned to move the panels. A tease or the last remnants?
In 1979 there was a bold movement to recreate the amber room while there were still
craftsmen capable to do the work.
Working from pictures, the amber room was completed in 2003 and is now on display
at the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Close-up of detailed amber in the reconstructed Amber Room
(some made from pressed amber)
Wikipedia
Treatments
Linseed oil, heating usually to improve clarity
FAKES
Inclusions -space carved out then filled in real amber
-often modern insects in perfect “poses”, vertebrates are RARE
-coloured amber – green, red
“AMBROID” –reconstituted or pressed amber (with or without
inclusions) (detected with polarized light)
Plastic, Celluloid, Glass
COPAL
Resin that is not completely fossilized
Genuine material but not amber
New Zealand Kauri gum
Canadian Amber, eh?
Yes, there is Canadian Amber!
 Main known deposit is at Cedar Lake, along the Saskatchewan River,
Manitoba, also some at Grassy Lake, Alberta
 It is retinite as opposed to succinite
 It is of upper cretaceous age, making it important for paleontology
 A mosquito was found in Canadian Amber making it one of the few that are
known from a time when dinosaurs still existed
Fin