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{{short description|Fossilized tree resin}}
{{otheruses}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:Amber2.jpg|thumb|An ant inside [[Baltic amber]]]]
[[File:Amber Bernstein many stones.jpg|thumb|right|Unpolished amber stones]]


'''Amber''' is [[fossil]]ized tree [[resin]]. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the [[Neolithic]] times,<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> and worked as a [[gemstone]] since antiquity.<ref name=Jersey>"Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia of New Jersey'', Rutgers University Press, {{ISBN|0813533252}}.</ref> Amber is used in [[jewelry]] and as a healing agent in [[Traditional medicine|folk medicine]].
[[Image:amber.pendants.800pix.050203.jpg|thumb|Amber pendants. The oval [[pendant]] is 52 by 32 mm (2 by 1.3 inches).]]


There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as [[Inclusion (mineral)|inclusions]].<ref name="NYT-20161208">{{cite news |last=St. Fleur |first=Nicholas |title=That Thing With Feathers Trapped in Amber? It Was a Dinosaur Tail |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/science/dinosaur-feathers-amber.html |date=8 December 2016 |work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208224540/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/science/dinosaur-feathers-amber.html |archive-date=8 December 2016}}</ref> Amber occurring in coal seams is also called '''resinite''', and the term ''ambrite'' is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams.<ref>Poinar GO, Poinar R. (1995) ''The quest for life in amber''. Basic Books, {{ISBN|0-201-48928-7}}, p. 133</ref>
'''Amber''' is [[fossil]] tree [[resin]], which is appreciated for its color and beauty. Good quality amber is used for the manufacture of ornamental objects and jewellery. Although not [[mineralization|mineralized]], it is often classified as a [[gemstone]].


==Etymology==
A common misconception is that amber is made of tree sap; it is not. Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant.
The English word ''amber'' derives from [[Arabic]] {{lang|ar-Latn|ʿanbar}} {{lang|ar|عنبر|rtl=yes}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=amber |encyclopedia=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/amber |date=18 September 2022 |editor-last=Harper |editor-first=Douglas}}</ref> via [[Medieval Latin|Middle Latin]] ''ambar'' and [[Middle French]] ''ambre''. The word referred to what is now known as ''[[ambergris]]'' (''ambre gris'' or "gray amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the [[sperm whale]]. The word, in its sense of "ambergris," was adopted in [[Middle English]] in the 14th century.<ref>{{Citation |title=Middle English Compendium |date=2024-03-10 |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED3030 |publisher=University of Michigan}}</ref>


In the [[Romance languages]], the sense of the word was extended to [[Baltic amber]] (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=austin |date=2018-04-17 |title=Amber History |url=https://amberinternational.net/amber-history/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Amber International |language=en-US}}</ref> At first called white or yellow amber (''ambre jaune''), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word.<ref name=":1" />{{better source needed|date=August 2020}}
Most of the world's amber is in the range of 30–90 million years old. Because it used to be soft and sticky tree resin, amber can sometimes contain insects and even small vertebrates.


The two substances ("yellow amber" and "gray amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. Ambergris is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is too dense to float, though less dense than stone.<ref>see: Abu Zaid al Hassan from Siraf & Sulaiman the Merchant (851), ''Silsilat-al-Tawarikh (travels in Asia)''.{{clarify|date=September 2013}}<!--"see" this for what? what is this substantiating?--></ref>
Semi-fossilized resin or sub-fossil amber is known as [[copal]].


The classical names for amber, [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:ἤλεκτρον#Ancient Greek|ἤλεκτρον]]}} (''ēlektron'') and one of* its [[Latin]] names, ''electrum,'' are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ (''ēlektōr'') meaning "beaming Sun".<ref name=King1>
Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange that is associated with the color "amber", amber itself can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other more uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after.
[[Homeric Greek|Homeric]] ([[Iliad]] 6.513, 19.398). The feminine {{lang|grc|ἠλεκτρίς}} being later used as a name of the [[Moon]].
{{Cite book|last = King|first = Rev. C.W.|title = The Natural History of Gems or Decorative Stones|publisher = Cambridge (UK)|year = 1867|page = 315|url = http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/king-gems-decorative-stones/page_315|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929090553/http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/king-gems-decorative-stones/page_315|archive-date = 29 September 2007}}</ref><ref>The derivation of the modern term "[[electricity|electric]]" from the Greek word for amber dates to the 1600 ([[Neo-Latin|Latin]] ''electricus'' "amber-like", in ''De Magnete'' by [[William Gilbert (astronomer)|William Gilbert]]). {{Cite book|last = Heilbron|first = J.L.|title = Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics|publisher = University of California Press|year = 1979|page = 169|isbn = 978-0-520-03478-5|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UlTLRUn1sy8C&pg=PA169}}.
The word "[[electron]]" (for the fundamental particle) was coined in 1891 by the Irish physicist [[George Johnstone Stoney|George Stoney]] whilst analyzing elementary charges for the first time. {{cite web|url = http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/amber.htm|author = Aber, Susie Ward|publisher = Emporia State University|title = Welcome to the World of Amber|access-date = 11 May 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070428124042/http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/amber.htm|archive-date = 28 April 2007|url-status = dead}}.</ref> According to myth, when [[Phaethon|Phaëton]] son of [[Helios]] (the Sun) was killed, his mourning sisters became [[Populus|poplar]] trees, and their tears became ''elektron'', amber.<ref>Michael R. Collings, ''Gemlore: An Introduction to Precious and Semi-Precious Stones'', 2009, p. 20</ref> The word ''elektron'' gave rise to the words ''electric, electricity'', and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of [[static electricity]].<ref name="electric">[https://www.etymonline.com/word/electric "Electric." ''Online Etymological Dictionary.''] Retrieved 6 September 2018.</ref> (*In Latin the name ''succinum'' was unambiguously used for amber while ''electrum'' was also used for an alloy of gold and silver).<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Electrum and Amber (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Electrum.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>


===Varietal names===
A lot of the most highly-prized amber is transparent, but cloudy amber and opaque amber is also very common. Opaque amber contains numerous minute bubbles. This kind of amber is known as "bastard amber", even though it is in fact a true amber.
A number of regional and varietal names have been applied to ambers over the centuries, including '''Allingite''', '''Beckerite''', '''Gedanite''', '''Kochenite''', '''Krantzite''', and '''Stantienite'''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mindat.org/min-188.html |title=Amber |publisher=Mindat.org |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref>


==History==
==Origin of the term==
[[Theophrastus]] discussed amber in the 4th century BCE, as did [[Pytheas]] ({{circa|330 BCE}}), whose work "On the Ocean" is lost, but was referenced by Pliny, according to whose ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'':<ref name="pliny37-11">''Natural History'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D37%3Achapter%3D11 37.11] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924171950/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D37%3Achapter%3D11 |date=24 September 2015 }}.</ref>
[[Image:Gouttes-drops-resine-2.jpg|thumb|right|Wood [[resin]], the ancient source of amber]]
{{blockquote|Pytheas says that the [[Gutones]], a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the Ocean called Mentonomon, their territory extending a distance of six thousand stadia; that, at one day's sail from this territory, is the Isle of [[Abalus]], upon the shores of which, amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form; as, also, that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbors, the [[Teutones]].}}
The English word ''amber'' stems from the old Arabic word ''anbargris'' or ''[[ambergris]]'' and refers to an oily, perfumed substance secreted by the [[sperm whale]]. Middle English ambre > Old French ambre > Medieval Latin ambra (or ambar). It floats on water and is washed up on the beaches. Due to a confusion of terms (see: [http://www.geocities.com/pieterderideaux/abu_zaid.html Abu Zaid al Hassan from Siraf & Sulaiman the Merchant (851), Silsilat-al-Tawarikh (travels in Asia)], it became to be the name for [[fossil]] [[resin]], which is also found on beaches, and which is lighter than stone, but not light enough to float.


[[File:Amber Fisher.jpg|thumb|Fishing for amber on the coast of Baltic Sea. Winter storms throw out amber nuggets. Close to Gdańsk, Poland.]]
The presence of insects in amber was noticed by the [[Pliny the Elder]] in his [[Naturalis Historia]] and led him to the (correct) theory that at some point, amber had to be in a liquid state to cover the bodies of insects. Hence he gave it the expressive name of ''succinum'' or ''gum-stone'', a name that is still in use today to describe [[succinic acid]] as well as ''succinite'', a term given to a particular type of amber by [[James Dwight Dana]] (see below under Baltic Amber).
Earlier Pliny says that Pytheas refers to a large island—three days' sail from the [[Scythia]]n coast and called [[Baltia|Balcia]] by [[Xenophon of Lampsacus]] (author of a fanciful travel book in Greek)—as ''Basilia''—a name generally equated with ''Abalus''.<ref>''Natural History'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137;query=chapter%3D%23172;layout=;loc=4.26 IV.27.13] or IV.13.95 in the Loeb edition.</ref> Given the presence of amber, the island could have been [[Heligoland]], [[Zealand]], the shores of [[Gdańsk Bay]], the [[Sambia Peninsula]] or the [[Curonian Lagoon]], which were historically the richest sources of amber in northern Europe.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} It is assumed{{by whom|date=March 2018}} that there were well-established trade routes for amber connecting the Baltic with the Mediterranean (known as the "[[Amber Road]]"). Pliny states explicitly that the Germans exported amber to [[Pannonia]], from where the [[Adriatic Veneti|Veneti]] distributed it onwards.


The ancient Italic peoples of southern Italy used to work amber; the National Archaeological Museum of Siritide (Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Siritide) at [[Policoro]] in the [[province of Matera]] ([[Basilicata]]) displays important surviving examples. It has been suggested that amber used in antiquity, as at [[Mycenae]] and in the prehistory of the Mediterranean, came from deposits in [[Sicily]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beck |first=Curt W. |date=1966-09-01 |title=Analysis and Provenience of Minoan and Mycenaean Amber, I |url=https://grbs.library.duke.edu/index.php/grbs/article/view/11401/4147 |journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=191–211 |via=}}</ref>
The Greek name for amber was '' ηλεκτρον '' (''Electron'') and was connected to the Sun God, one of whose titles was ''Elector'' or the ''Awakener''.<ref name=King1>{{cite book | last = King | first = Rev. C.W. | title = The Natural History of Gems or Decorative Stones | publisher = Cambridge (UK) | year = 1867}} [http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/king-gems-decorative-stones/page_315 Amber Chapter, Online version] </ref> It is discussed by [[Theophrastus]], possibly the first ever mention of the material, and in the 4th century BC.
The modern term ''[[electron]]'' was coined in 1891 by the Irish physicist [[George Johnstone Stoney|George Stoney]], using the Greek word for amber (and which was then translated as electr''um'') because of its electrostatic properties and whilst analyzing elementary charge for the first time. The ending ''-on'', common for all subatomic particles, was used in analogy to the word ''[[ion]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/amber.htm | author = Susie Ward Aber | publisher = Emporia State University | title = Welcome to the World of Amber | accessdate = 2007-05-11}} </ref><ref> [http://www.patent-invent.com/electricity/inventions/electron.html Origin of word Electron] </ref>


[[File:Gouttes-drops-resine-2.jpg|thumb|upright|Wood [[resin]], the source of amber]]
Heating amber will soften it and eventually it will burn, which is why in [[Germanic languages]] the word for amber is a literal translation of ''burn-Stone'' (In German it is ''Bernstein'', in Dutch it is ''barnsteen'' etc.). Heated above 200°C, amber suffers decomposition, yielding an "oil of amber", and leaving a black residue which is known as "amber colophony", or "amber pitch"; when dissolved in oil of [[turpentine]] or in [[linseed oil]] this forms "amber varnish" or "amber lac".
Pliny also cites the opinion of [[Nicias]] ({{circa}} 470–413 BCE), according to whom amber{{blockquote|is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun; and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the Ocean, and thrown up upon the shores of Germany.}} Besides the fanciful explanations according to which amber is "produced by the Sun", Pliny cites opinions that are well aware of its origin in tree resin, citing the native Latin name of ''succinum'' (''sūcinum'', from ''sucus'' "juice").<ref>Compare [[succinic acid]] as well as ''succinite'', a term given to a particular type of amber by [[James Dwight Dana]]</ref> In Book 37, section XI of ''Natural History'', Pliny wrote:


{{blockquote|
Amber from the [[Baltic Sea]] has been extensively traded since antiquity and in the main land, from where amber was traded 2000 years ago, the natives called it ''glaes'' (referring to its see-through similarity to [[glass]]).
Amber is produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging to the pine genus, like gum from the cherry, and resin from the ordinary pine. It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened [...] Our forefathers, too, were of opinion that it is the juice of a tree, and for this reason gave it the name of "succinum" and one great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus, is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and that it burns, when ignited, with the odour and appearance of torch-pine wood.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pliny the Elder |author-link=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History |page=Book 37.XI }}</ref>
}}


He also states that amber is also found in Egypt and India, and he even refers to the [[Electrostatics|electrostatic]] properties of amber, by saying that "in Syria the women make the [[spindle whorl|whorl]]s of their spindles of this substance, and give it the name of ''harpax'' [from ἁρπάζω, "to drag"] from the circumstance that it attracts leaves towards it, chaff, and the light fringe of tissues".
The [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] term for amber is ''Gintaras'' and [[Latvian language|Latvian]] ''Dzintars''. They and the [[Russian language|Russian]] term ''Янтарь'', ''yantar'') are thought to originate from [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] ''jainitar'' (sea-resin).


The Romans traded for amber from the shores of the southern [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] at least as far back as the time of [[Nero]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land| last=Mikanowski|first=Jacob | publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=9781524748500 |location=New York | date=2022|page=4}}</ref>
[[Image:Insects in baltic amber.jpg|thumb|A [[mosquito]] and a [[fly]] in this [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] amber necklace are between 40 and 60 million years old]]


Amber has a long history of use in China, with the first written record from 200 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chen|first1=Dian|last2=Zeng|first2=Qingshuo|last3=Yuan|first3=Ye|last4=Cui|first4=Benxin|last5=Luo|first5=Wugan|date=November 2019|title=Baltic amber or Burmese amber: FTIR studies on amber artifacts of Eastern Han Dynasty unearthed from Nanyang|journal=Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy|language=en|volume=222|pages=117270|doi=10.1016/j.saa.2019.117270|pmid=31226615|bibcode=2019AcSpA.22217270C|s2cid=195261188}}</ref> Early in the 19th century, the first reports of amber found in North America came from discoveries in [[New Jersey]] along [[Crosswicks Creek]] near [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]], at [[Camden, New Jersey|Camden]], and near [[Woodbury, New Jersey|Woodbury]].<ref name="Jersey" />
==Chemistry of amber==
Amber is [[heterogeneous]] in composition, but consists of several [[resin]]ous bodies more or less soluble in [[ethanol|alcohol]], [[diethyl ether|ether]] and [[chloroform]], associated with an insoluble [[Bitumen|bituminous]] substance. Amber is a [[macromolecule]] by free [[radical polymerization]] of several precursors in the [[labdane]] family, communic acid, cummunol and biformene.<ref>''Assignment of vibrational spectra of labdatriene derivatives and ambers: A combined experimental and density functional theoretical study'' Manuel Villanueva-García, Antonio Martínez-Richa, and Juvencio Robles [[Arkivoc]] (EJ-1567C) pp 449-458 [http://www.arkat-usa.org/ark/journal/2005/I06_Juaristi/1567/EJ-1567C.asp Online Article]</ref> These labdanes are [[diterpene]]s (C<sub>20</sub>H<sub>32</sub>) and trienes which means that the organic skeleton has three [[alkene]] groups available for [[polymerization]]. As amber matures over the years, more polymerization will take place as well as [[isomerization]] reactions, [[Cross-link|crosslinking]] and cyclization. The average composition of amber leads to the general formula [[Carbon|C]]<sub>10</sub>[[Hydrogen|H]]<sub>16</sub>[[Oxygen|O]].


==Composition and formation==
Amber should be distinguished from copal. Molecular polymerisation caused by pressure and heat transforms the resin first into copal and then over time through the evaporation of turpenes it is transformed into amber.
Amber is [[Homogeneity and heterogeneity|heterogeneous]] in composition, but consists of several [[resin]]ous {{clarify span|text=bodies|reason=should this be replaced by "substances"?|date=March 2023}} more or less soluble in [[ethanol|alcohol]], [[diethyl ether|ether]] and [[chloroform]], associated with an insoluble [[Bitumen|bituminous]] substance. Amber is a [[macromolecule]] formed by free [[radical polymerization]]<ref name=Anderson2023>{{cite journal | last = Anderson | first = L.A. | year = 2023 | title = A chemical framework for the preservation of fossil vertebrate cells and soft tissues | journal = Earth-Science Reviews | volume = 240 | pages = 104367 | doi = 10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104367 | bibcode = 2023ESRv..24004367A | s2cid = 257326012 | doi-access = free }}</ref> of several precursors in the [[labdane]] family, for example, [[communic acid]], [[communol]], and [[biformene]].{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=792}}<ref>Manuel Villanueva-García, Antonio Martínez-Richa, and Juvencio Robles [http://www.arkat-usa.org/ark/journal/2005/I06_Juaristi/1567/EJ-1567C.asp Assignment of vibrational spectra of labdatriene derivatives and ambers: A combined experimental and density functional theoretical study] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060412074659/http://www.arkat-usa.org/ark/journal/2005/I06_Juaristi/1567/EJ-1567C.asp |date=12 April 2006 }} [[Arkivoc]] (EJ-1567C) pp. 449–458</ref> These labdanes are [[diterpene]]s (C<sub>20</sub>H<sub>32</sub>) and trienes, equipping the organic skeleton with three [[alkene]] groups for [[polymerization]]. As amber matures over the years, more polymerization takes place as well as [[isomerization]] reactions, [[Cross-link|crosslinking]] and [[Cyclic compound|cyclization]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moldoveanu |first=S.C. |title=Analytical pyrolysis of natural organic polymers |publisher=Elsevier |year=1998}}</ref><ref name=Anderson2023/>
Baltic amber is distinguished from the various other ambers from around the world, by the presence within it of succinic acid,{{Fact|date=April 2008}} hence Baltic amber is otherwise known as succinite.


{{Anchor|Oil of amber}}Most amber has a hardness between 2.0 and 2.5 on the [[Mohs scale of mineral hardness|Mohs scale]], a [[refractive index]] of 1.5–1.6, a [[Relative density|specific gravity]] between 1.06 and 1.10, and a melting point of 250–300&nbsp;°C.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Poinar | first1=George O. | last2=Poinar | first2=Hendrik N. | last3=Cano | first3=Raul J. | title=Ancient DNA | chapter=DNA from Amber Inclusions | publisher=Springer New York | location=New York, NY | year=1994 | isbn=978-0-387-94308-4 | doi=10.1007/978-1-4612-4318-2_6 | pages=92–103}}</ref> Heated above {{convert|200|C}}, amber decomposes, yielding an '''oil of amber''', and leaves a black residue which is known as "amber colophony", or "amber pitch"; when dissolved in oil of [[turpentine]] or in [[linseed oil]] this forms "amber varnish" or "amber lac".{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=792}}
== Amber in geology ==
The oldest amber originates from the [[Carboniferous|Upper Carboniferous]] period approximately 345 million years ago. The oldest known amber containing insects comes from the [[Cretaceous|Lower Cretaceous]], approximately 146 million years ago.


Molecular polymerization,<ref name=Anderson2023/> resulting from high pressures and temperatures produced by overlying sediment, transforms the resin first into [[copal]]. Sustained heat and pressure drives off [[terpene]]s and results in the formation of amber.<ref>{{Cite book | first=Patty C.|last=Rice|title=Amber: Golden Gem of the Ages. 4th Ed.|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4259-3849-9}}</ref> For this to happen, the resin must be resistant to decay. Many trees produce resin, but in the majority of cases this deposit is broken down by physical and biological processes. Exposure to sunlight, rain, microorganisms, and extreme temperatures tends to disintegrate the resin. For the resin to survive long enough to become amber, it must be resistant to such forces or be produced under conditions that exclude them.<ref>Poinar, George O. (1992) ''Life in amber''. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, p. 12, {{ISBN|0804720010}}</ref> Fossil resins from Europe fall into two categories, the Baltic ambers and another that resembles the ''[[Agathis]]'' group. Fossil resins from the Americas and Africa are closely related to the modern genus ''[[Hymenaea]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lambert |first1=JB |last2=Poinar |first2=GO Jr. |year=2002 |title=Amber: the organic gemstone |journal=Accounts of Chemical Research |volume=35 |issue=8 |pages=628–36 |doi=10.1021/ar0001970 |pmid=12186567}}</ref> while Baltic ambers are thought to be fossil resins from plants of the family [[Sciadopitys|Sciadopityaceae]] that once lived in north Europe.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wolfe|first=A. P.|author2=Tappert, R.|author3=Muehlenbachs, K.|author4=Boudreau, M.|author5=McKellar, R. C.|author6=Basinger, J. F.|author7=Garrett, A.|title=A new proposal concerning the botanical origin of Baltic amber|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|date=30 June 2009|volume=276|issue=1672|pages=3403–3412|doi=10.1098/rspb.2009.0806|pmid=19570786|pmc=2817186}}</ref>[[File:Baltic-amber-fossils-inclusions.jpg|thumb|Baltic amber with inclusions]]
Commercially most important are the deposits of Baltic and Dominican amber. They both are of tertiary age (40-50 Ma respectively 25-40 Ma).<ref>Lecture at the university of cologne http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/geography/243/ambdepos.html</ref>
The abnormal development of resin in living trees (''succinosis'') can result in the formation of amber.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sherborn |first1=Charles Davies |year=1892 |title=Natural Science: A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uCzPAAAAMAAJ&q=succinosis&pg=PA379}}</ref> Impurities are quite often present, especially when the resin has dropped onto the ground, so the material may be useless except for varnish-making. Such impure amber is called ''firniss''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Braswell-Tripp |first=Pearlie |title=Real Diamonds & Precious Stones of the Bible |publisher=Xlibris Corporation |year=2013 |isbn=9781479796441 |location=Bloomington |pages=70 |language=en}}</ref> Such [[Inclusion (mineral)|inclusion]] of other substances can cause the amber to have an unexpected color. [[Pyrite]]s may give a bluish color. ''Bony amber'' owes its cloudy opacity to numerous tiny bubbles inside the resin.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}} However, so-called ''black amber'' is really a kind of [[Jet (gemstone)|jet]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} In darkly clouded and even opaque amber, inclusions can be imaged using high-energy, high-contrast, high-resolution [[X-ray]]s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Amos |first=Jonathan |date=1 April 2008 |title=BBC News, " Secret 'dino bugs' revealed", 1 April 2008 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7324564.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828135744/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7324564.stm |archive-date=28 August 2010}}</ref>[[File:Bernstein Bitterfeld, Gedanit, Bruchstücke 5658.jpg|thumb|Amber from Bitterfeld]]


==Extraction and processing==
[[Image:Fossil amber with abee.jpg|thumb|A bee and a leaf inside amber]]


=== Distribution and mining ===
Baltic amber or succinite (historically documented as Prussian amber) is found as irregular nodules in a marine glauconitic sand, known as ''blue earth,'' occurring in the Lower [[Oligocene]] strata of Samland in [[Prussia]] (Latin: [[Sambia]]), in historical sources also referred to as ''Glaesaria''. After 1945 this territory around [[Königsberg]] was turned into [[Kaliningrad Oblast]], [[Russia]], where it is now systematically mined.<ref>{{cite book | first=Jean | last=Langenheim | title=Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, and Ethnobotany | publisher=Timber Press Inc. | year=2003|id=ISBN 0-88192-574-8}}</ref> It appears, however, to have been partly derived from yet earlier [[Tertiary]] deposits ([[Eocene]]); and it occurs also as a derivative [[mineral]] in later formations, such as the drift. Relics of an abundant flora occur as inclusions trapped within the amber while the resin was yet fresh, suggesting relations with the flora of Eastern [[Asia]] and the southern part of [[North America]]. [[Heinrich Göppert]] named the common amber-yielding pine of the Baltic forests ''Pinites succiniter'', but as the wood, according to some authorities, does not seem to differ from that of the existing genus it has been also called ''Pinus succinifera''. It is improbable, however, that the production of amber was limited to a single species; and indeed a large number of conifers belonging to different genera are represented in the amber-flora.
[[File:Baltic-amber-deposit-Yantarny.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Open cast]] amber mine "Primorskoje" in Jantarny, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia]]


[[File:Amber miners2.jpg|thumb|Extracting Baltic amber from Holocene deposits, Gdańsk, Poland]]Amber is globally distributed in or around all continents,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klages |first=Johann P. |last2=Gerschel |first2=Henny |last3=Salzmann |first3=Ulrich |last4=Nehrke |first4=Gernot |last5=Müller |first5=Juliane |last6=Hillenbrand |first6=Claus-Dieter |last7=Bohaty |first7=Steven M. |last8=Bickert |first8=Torsten |date=2024-11-12 |title=First discovery of Antarctic amber |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/first-discovery-of-antarctic-amber/700244C13B3972F0048EAC029E34263E |journal=Antarctic Science |language=en |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1017/S0954102024000208 |issn=0954-1020}}</ref> mainly in rocks of [[Cretaceous]] age or younger. Historically, the coast west of [[Königsberg]] in [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] was the world's leading source of amber. The first mentions of amber deposits there date back to the 12th century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tantsura |first=Michael |date=2016-07-27 |title=The History of Russian Amber, Part 1: The Beginning |url=https://leta.st/en/blog/2016/07/history-of-russian-amber-1/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315013751/https://leta.st/blog/2016/07/history-of-Russian-amber-1/ |archive-date=2018-03-15 |access-date= |website=Leta |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Juodkrantė#History|Juodkrantė]] in [[Lithuania]] was established in the mid-19th century as a mining town of amber. About 90% of the world's extractable amber is still located in that area, which was transferred to the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] of the [[USSR]] in 1946, becoming the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]].<ref>{{cite web|url = http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/amber.htm|publisher = Gurukul.ucc.american.edu|title = Amber Trade and the Environment in the Kaliningrad Oblast|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706182814/http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/amber.htm |archive-date=6 July 2012 }}</ref>
Dominican amber is considered retinite, since it has no succinic acid. There are three main sites in the Dominican Republic: La Cordillera Septentrional, in the north, Bayaguana and Sabana, in the east. In the northern area, the amber-bearing unit is formed of clastic rocks, sandstone accumulated in a deltaic or even deep-water environment. The oldest, and hardest of this amber comes from the mountain region north of Santiago area, from the mines at La Cumbre, La Toca, Palo Quemado, La Bucara, and Los Cacaos mining sites in the Cordillera Septentrional not far from Santiago. Amber in these mountains is tightly embedded in a lignite layer of sandstone.


Pieces of amber torn from the seafloor are cast up by the waves and collected by hand, dredging, or diving. Elsewhere, amber is mined, both in open works and underground galleries. Then nodules of ''blue earth'' have to be removed and an opaque crust must be cleaned off, which can be done in revolving barrels containing sand and water. Erosion removes this crust from sea-worn amber.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}} [[Dominican amber]] is mined through [[bell pit]]ting, which is dangerous because of the risk of tunnel collapse.<ref>Wichard, Wilfred and Weitschat, Wolfgang (2004) Im Bernsteinwald. – Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim, {{ISBN|3-8067-2551-9}}</ref>
There is also amber in the south-eastern Bayaguana/Sabana area. It is softer, sometimes brittle and suffers oxidation after being taken from the mines, therefore less expensive. There is also copal found with only an age of 15-17 million years. In the eastern area, the amber is found in a sediment formation of organic-rich laminated sand, sandy clay, intercalated lignite as well as some solated beds of gravel and calcarenite.


An important source of amber is [[Kachin State]] in northern [[Myanmar]], which has been a major source of amber in China for at least 1,800 years. Contemporary mining of this deposit has attracted attention for unsafe working conditions and its role in funding [[Internal conflict in Myanmar|internal conflict in the country]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hunt|first=Katie|date=20 September 2020|title='Blood amber' may be a portal into dinosaur times, but the fossils are an ethical minefield for palaeontologists|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/19/world/blood-amber-myanmar-fossils-scn/index.html|access-date=2020-09-20|website=CNN}}</ref> Amber from the [[Rivne Oblast]] of Ukraine, referred to as [[Rivne amber]], is mined illegally by organised crime groups, who deforest the surrounding areas and pump water into the sediments to extract the amber, causing severe environmental deterioration.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-01-31|title=The Dramatic Impact of Illegal Amber Mining in Ukraine's Wild West|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/01/illegal-amber-mining-ukraine/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001204244/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/01/illegal-amber-mining-ukraine/|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 October 2019|access-date=2020-09-22|website=National Geographic News|language=en}}</ref>
Both Baltic and Dominican amber are rich sources of fossils and give much information about life in the ancient forests. <ref>Howard Stableford, BBC, Radio 4: amber http://db.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/amber.shtml</ref>


===Treatment===
Amber from the Middle [[Cretaceous]] is known from [[Ellsworth County, Kansas]]. This approximately 100 million year old amber has inclusions of [[bacteria]] and [[amoebae]]. They are morphologically very close to [[Leptothrix]], and the modern genera [[Pontigulasia]] and [[Nebela]]. Morphological stasis is considered to be confirmed.<ref> http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/museum/171online/PB171BMWPG1.html Benjamin M. Waggoner, ''Bacteria and protists from Middle Cretaceous amber of Ellsworth County, Kansas'', from: PaleoBios, Volume 17, Number 1, Pages 20-26, July 13, 1996</ref>
The Vienna amber factories, which use pale amber to manufacture pipes and other smoking tools, turn it on a [[lathe]] and polish it with whitening and water or with [[rotten stone]] and oil. The final luster is given by polishing with flannel.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}}


When gradually heated in an oil bath, amber "becomes soft and flexible. Two pieces of amber may be united by smearing the surfaces with linseed oil, heating them, and then pressing them together while hot. Cloudy amber may be clarified in an oil bath, as the oil fills the numerous pores that cause the turbidity. Small fragments, formerly thrown away or used only for varnish are now used on a large scale in the formation of "ambroid" or "pressed amber".{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}} The pieces are carefully heated with exclusion of air and then compressed into a uniform mass by intense hydraulic pressure, the softened amber being forced through holes in a metal plate. The product is extensively used for the production of cheap jewelry and articles for smoking. This pressed amber yields brilliant interference colors in polarized light."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Project Gutenberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oil4DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT2383 |title=The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia |date = January 2021|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan}}</ref>
== Amber inclusions ==
[[Image:Spider in amber (1).jpg|thumb|A spider trapped in amber]]
[[Image:Ant in amber.jpg|thumb|[[Ant]] trapped in amber.]]
The resin contains, in addition to the beautifully preserved plant-structures, remains of insects, spiders, annelids, frogs,<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17168489/ Scientist: Frog could be 25 million years old]</ref> crustaceans and other small organisms which were trapped by the sticky surface and became enveloped while the exudation was fluid. In most cases the organic structure has disappeared, leaving only a cavity, with perhaps a trace of [[chitin]]. Even hair and feathers have occasionally been represented among the enclosures. Fragments of wood frequently occur, with the tissues well-preserved by impregnation with the resin; while leaves, flowers and fruits are occasionally found in marvelous perfection. Sometimes the amber retains the form of drops and stalactites, just as it exuded from the ducts and receptacles of the injured trees. It is thought that, in addition to exuding onto the surface of the tree, amber resin also originally flowed into hollow cavities or cracks within trees, thereby leading to the development of large lumps of amber of irregular form.<ref>[http://www.gplatt.demon.co.uk/whatis.htm What is amber?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>


Amber has often been imitated by other resins like [[copal]] and [[kauri gum]], as well as by [[celluloid]] and even glass. Baltic amber is sometimes colored artificially but also called "true amber".{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}}
The abnormal development of resin has been called ''succinosis''. Impurities are quite often present, especially when the resin dropped on to the ground, so that the material may be useless except for varnish-making, whence the impure amber is called ''firniss''. Enclosures of [[pyrites]] may give a bluish color to amber. The so-called ''black amber'' is only a kind of [[Jet (lignite)|jet]]. ''Bony amber'' owes its cloudy opacity to minute bubbles in the interior of the resin.


== Appearance ==
Not all amber is translucent, becoming transparent when the surfaces are polished, thus revealing inclusions. The technique of inspecting darkly clouded and even opaque amber for inclusions, through bombarding it with high-energy, high-contrast, high-resolution [[x-ray]]s, is being developed at the [[European Synchrotron Radiation Facility]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7324564.stm BBC News, " Secret 'dino bugs' revealed", 1 April 2008]</ref> Nearly 360 fossil invertebrates have been discovered from opaque amber found at [[Charentes]], France: primitive wasps, flies, ants and spiders, particularly those measuring just a few millimeters. Three-dimensional images of the trapped organisms are built up through [[microtomography]], showing detail on the scales of [[micrometre]]s. An enlarged plastic three-dimensional model can be obtained of an organism that has remained embedded in the amber, suggesting alternative means of cataloguing new species trapped in amber.
[[File:Colours of Baltic Amber.jpg|thumb|Unique colors of Baltic amber. Polished stones.]]


Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even [[blue amber]], which is rare and highly sought after.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/amber/amber-gemstone-information-and-education.php|title=Amber: Natural Organic Amber Gemstone & Jewelry Information; GemSelect|website=www.gemselect.com|access-date=2017-08-28|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828193355/https://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/amber/amber-gemstone-information-and-education.php|archive-date=28 August 2017}}</ref>
==Amber locations==
===Baltic amber===
[[Image:Lithuanian traditional headdress.jpg|thumb|Lithuanian girls in the national dress, which includes an amber necklace.]]
Baltic amber has a very wide distribution, extending over a large part of northern Europe and occurring as far east as the [[Urals]].


Yellow amber is a hard fossil resin from evergreen trees, and despite the name it can be translucent, yellow, orange, or brown colored. Known to the Iranians by the Pahlavi compound word kah-ruba (from ''kah'' "straw" plus ''rubay'' "attract, snatch", referring to its electrical properties<ref name="electric" />), which entered Arabic as kahraba' or kahraba (which later became the Arabic word for [[electricity]], كهرباء ''kahrabā{{'}}''), it too was called amber in Europe (Old French and Middle English ambre). Found along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, yellow amber reached the Middle East and western Europe via trade. Its coastal acquisition may have been one reason yellow amber came to be designated by the same term as ambergris. Moreover, like ambergris, the resin could be burned as an incense. The resin's most popular use was, however, for ornamentation—easily cut and polished, it could be transformed into beautiful jewelry. Much of the most highly prized amber is transparent, in contrast to the very common cloudy amber and opaque amber. Opaque amber contains numerous minute bubbles. This kind of amber is known as "bony amber".<ref>"Amber". (1999). In G. W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, Oleg Grabar (eds.) ''Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World'', Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|0674511735}}.</ref>
Baltic amber yields on dry distillation succinic acid, the proportion varying from about 3% to 8%, and being greatest in the pale opaque or ''bony'' varieties. The aromatic and irritating fumes emitted by burning amber are mainly due to this acid. Baltic amber is distinguished by its yield of succinic acid, hence the name ''succinite'' proposed by Professor [[James Dwight Dana]], and now commonly used in scientific writings as a specific term for the Prussian amber. Succinite has a hardness between 2 and 3, which is rather greater than that of many other fossil resins. Its specific gravity varies from 1.05 to 1.10. An effective tool for Baltic amber analysis is [[IR spectroscopy]]. It enables the distinction between Baltic and non-Baltic amber varieties because of a specific [[carbonyl]] absorption and it can also detect the relative age of an amber sample. On the other hand, it has been suggested by scientists that succinic acid is no original component of amber, but a degradation product of abietic acid. [http://www.natmus.dk/cons/reports/2002/amber/amber.pdf (Rottlaender, 1970)]


[[File:Ambre bleu dominicain 21207.jpg|thumb|right|[[Blue amber]] from Dominican Republic]]
Although amber is found along the shores of a large part of the [[Baltic Sea]] and the [[North Sea]], the great amber-producing area for many centuries was the promontory of [[Sambia]] or Samland, the coast around [[Königsberg]] in [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]], since 1945 part of [[Russia]]. About 90% of the world's extractable amber is still located in the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] of Russia on the Baltic Sea.<ref>[http://science.enotes.com/how-products-encyclopedia/amber How Products Are Made: Amber]</ref> Pieces of amber torn from the seafloor are cast up by the waves, and collected at ebb-tide. Sometimes the searchers wade into the sea, furnished with nets at the end of long poles, which they drag in the seaweed containing entangled masses of amber; or they dredge from boats in shallow water and rake up amber from between the boulders. Divers have been employed to collect amber from the deeper waters. Systematic dredging on a large scale was at one time carried on in the [[Curonian Lagoon]] by Messrs Stantien and Becker, the great amber merchants of Königsberg. At the present time extensive mining operations are conducted in quest of amber. The ''pit amber'' was formerly dug in open works, but is now also worked by underground galleries. The nodules from the ''blue earth'' have to be freed from matrix and divested of their opaque crust, which can be done in revolving barrels containing sand and water. The sea-worn amber has lost its crust, but has often acquired a dull rough surface by rolling in sand.
Although all Dominican amber is fluorescent, the rarest Dominican amber is blue amber. It turns blue in natural sunlight and any other partially or wholly [[ultraviolet]] light source. In long-wave UV light it has a very strong reflection, almost white. Only about {{convert|100|kg|lbs|abbr=on}} is found per year, which makes it valuable and expensive.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Manuel A. Iturralde-Vennet |year=2001 |title=Geology of the Amber-Bearing Deposits of the Greater Antilles |journal=Caribbean Journal of Science |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=141–167 |url=http://academic.uprm.edu/publications/cjs/Vol37b/37_141-167.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511133007/http://academic.uprm.edu/publications/cjs/Vol37b/37_141-167.pdf |archive-date=11 May 2011 }}</ref>


Sometimes amber retains the form of drops and [[stalactite]]s, just as it exuded from the ducts and receptacles of the injured trees.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}} It is thought that, in addition to exuding onto the surface of the tree, amber resin also originally flowed into hollow cavities or cracks within trees, thereby leading to the development of large lumps of amber of irregular form.
Since the establishment of the [[Amber Road]], amber known as "Prussian gold" (which is now also referred to as "Lithuanian gold") has substantially contributed economically and culturally. Amber jewellery and amberware is offered to foreign [[tourist]]s in most [[souvenir]] shops as distinctive to [[Lithuania]] and its [[cultural heritage]]. The seaside town of [[Palanga]] has the [[Palanga Amber Museum]] dedicated to amber. Amber can also be found in [[Latvia]] as well as [[Denmark]], [[northern Germany]], and, since the takeover of Prussia in 1945, also in [[Poland]] and Russia.


==Classification==
===Dominican amber===
Amber can be classified into several forms. Most fundamentally, there are two types of plant resin with the potential for fossilization. [[Terpenoid]]s, produced by [[conifer]]s and [[Flowering plant|angiosperms]], consist of ring structures formed of [[isoprene]] (C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>8</sub>) units.<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> [[Phenol formaldehyde resin|Phenolic resins]] are today only produced by angiosperms, and tend to serve functional uses. The extinct [[Medullosales|medullosan]]s produced a third type of resin, which is often found as amber within their veins.<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> The composition of resins is highly variable; each species produces a unique blend of chemicals which can be identified by the use of [[pyrolysis]]–[[gas chromatography]]–[[mass spectrometry]].<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> The overall chemical and structural composition is used to divide ambers into five classes.<ref name=Anderson1992ii>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/0146-6380(92)90051-X|title=The nature and fate of natural resins in the geosphere—II. Identification, classification and nomenclature of resinites|year=1992|last1=Anderson|first1=K|last2=Winans|first2=R|last3=Botto|first3=R|journal=Organic Geochemistry|volume=18|issue=6|pages=829–841|bibcode=1992OrGeo..18..829A |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1258329}}</ref><ref name=Anderson1992iii/> There is also a separate classification of amber gemstones, according to the way of production.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
[[Image:blue amber masbaha.jpg|thumb|left|A rare set of Arab [[worry beads]] ([[masbaha]]) made of Dominican [[blue amber]].]]
Dominican amber differentiates itself from [[Baltic amber]] by being mostly transparent and often containing a higher number of [[fossil]] inclusions. This has enabled the detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem of a long-vanished tropical forest.<ref name = Poinar/> Resin from the extinct species ''[[Hymenaea protera]]'' is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics. It is not "[[succinite]]" but "[[retinite]]". <ref>Grimaldi, D. A.: Amber - Window to the Past. - American Museum of Natural History, New York 1996</ref>In contrast to much Baltic amber, Dominican amber found on the world market is natural amber the way it comes from the mines, and has not been enhanced or received any chemical or physical change. The age of Dominican amber is around 40 million years. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0CE2DD123BF936A1575AC0A964958260 |title= 40-Million-Year-Old Extinct Bee Yields Oldest Genetic Material |accessdate=2008-04-15 |last=Browne|first=Malcolm W.|year=1992|work=New York Times}}</ref>


===Class I===
Although all Dominican amber is fluorescent, the rarest Dominican amber is [[blue amber]]. It turns blue in natural sunlight and any other partially or wholly [[ultraviolet]] light source. In long-wave UV light it has a very strong reflection, almost white. Only about 100 kilos of this fossilized tree is found per year, which makes it valuable and expensive.<ref>Manuel A. Iturralde-Vennet 2001. Geology of the Amber-Bearing Deposits of the Greater Antilles. Caribbean Journal of Science, Vol. 00, No. 0, 141-167, 2001</ref>
This class is by far the most abundant. It comprises labdatriene carboxylic acids such as communic or [[ozic acid]]s.<ref name=Anderson1992ii/> It is further split into three sub-classes. Classes Ia and Ib utilize regular labdanoid diterpenes (e.g. communic acid, communol, biformenes), while Ic uses ''enantio'' labdanoids (ozic acid, ozol, ''enantio'' biformenes).<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1021/bk-1995-0617.ch006|title=Amber, Resinite, and Fossil Resins|year=1996|last1=Anderson|first1=Ken B.|volume=617|pages=105–129|chapter=New Evidence Concerning the Structure, Composition, and Maturation of Class I (Polylabdanoid) Resinites|series=ACS Symposium Series|isbn=978-0-8412-3336-2}}</ref>


'''Class Ia''' includes ''Succinite'' (= 'normal' Baltic amber) and ''Glessite''.<ref name=Anderson1992iii/> They have a communic acid base, and they also include much succinic acid.<ref name=Anderson1992ii/> [[Baltic amber]] yields on dry distillation succinic acid, the proportion varying from about 3% to 8%, and being greatest in the pale opaque or ''bony'' varieties. The aromatic and irritating fumes emitted by burning amber are mainly from this acid. Baltic amber is distinguished by its yield of [[succinic acid]], hence the name ''succinite''. Succinite has a hardness between 2 and 3, which is greater than many other fossil resins. Its specific gravity varies from 1.05 to 1.10.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=792}} It can be distinguished from other ambers via [[infrared spectroscopy]] through a specific [[Carbonyl group|carbonyl]] absorption peak. Infrared spectroscopy can detect the relative age of an amber sample. Succinic acid may not be an original component of amber but rather a degradation product of [[abietic acid]].<ref name="Rottlaender1970">{{cite web|url=http://www.natmus.dk/cons/reports/2002/amber/amber.pdf |title=Degradation and inhibitive conservation of Baltic amber in museum collections |year=2007 |author=Shashoua, Yvonne |work=Department of Conservation, The National Museum of Denmark |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511212102/http://www.natmus.dk/cons/reports/2002/amber/amber.pdf |archive-date=11 May 2011 }}</ref>
[[Image:Dragon dominican blue amber.jpg|Dragon carved from Dominican blue amber|left|thumb]]


'''Class Ib''' ambers are based on communic acid; however, they lack succinic acid.<ref name="Anderson1992ii" />
Dominican amber, and especially Dominican blue amber, is mined through bell pitting, which is highly dangerous for workers due to the risk of the excavation walls collapsing on them. <ref>Wilfred Wichard und Wolfgang Weitschat: Im Bernsteinwald. - Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim, 2004, ISBN 3-8067-2551-9</ref> [[Bell pit]]ting is basically a foxhole dug with whatever tools are available. Machetes do the start, some shovels, picks and hammers may participate eventually. The pit itself goes as deep as possible or safe, sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal, but never level. It snakes into hill sides, drops away, joins up with others, goes straight up and pops out elsewhere. Rarely are the pits large enough to stand in, and then only at the entrance. Miners crawl around on their knees using short-handled picks, shovels and machetes. The amber that is found is either directly sold as rough or raw pieces or cut and polished without any additional treatments or enhancements.<ref name=Poinar>George Poinar, Jr. and Roberta Poinar, 1999. ''The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World'', (Princeton University Press) ISBN 0691028885</ref>


'''Class Ic''' is mainly based on ''enantio''-labdatrienonic acids, such as ozic and zanzibaric acids.<ref name="Anderson1992ii" /> Its most familiar representative is Dominican amber,.<ref name="Grimaldi2009" /> which is mostly transparent and often contains a higher number of fossil inclusions. This has enabled the detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem of a long-vanished tropical forest.<ref>George Poinar, Jr. and Roberta Poinar, 1999. ''The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World'', (Princeton University Press) {{ISBN|0-691-02888-5}}</ref> Resin from the extinct species ''[[Hymenaea protera]]'' is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics. It is not "succinite" but "[[retinite]]".<ref>Grimaldi, D. A. (1996) Amber – Window to the Past. – American Museum of Natural History, New York, {{ISBN|0810919664}}</ref>
The most common use for Dominican amber is as ornaments and jewellery, while the more valuable enclosures and colorations become priced exhibition pieces both in private and public collections. <ref>Poinar, G. O.: Life in Amber. - Stanford University Press, Stanford 1992</ref>In [[Far East]], Blue Amber has been masterfully worked into artistic carvings. Others have used blue amber to make [[jewellery]] that can be especially attractive for its natural [[fluorescence]] under UV lights. In the [[Muslim]] world, Dominican amber and particularly blue amber [[bead]]s have found their way into another use as [[worry beads]], since Dominican amber can very easily be worked.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/196806/worry.beads.htm |title=''Worry Beads'' -- The use of Misbahas in modern times |accessdate=2008-04-15 |last=Da Cruz|first=Daniel|year=1968 |month=November/December|work=Saudi Aramco World}}</ref><ref>Leif Brost and Ake Dahlstrom. The Amber Book, Geoscience Press, Inc., Tucson , AZ, 1996 ISBN 0-945005-23-7</ref>


===Other locations===
===Class II===
These ambers are formed from resins with a sesquiterpenoid base, such as [[Cadinenes|cadinene]].<ref name=Anderson1992ii/>


===Class III===
Amber deposits are found around the world. Some are much older than the well known amber deposits in the Baltic countries and the Dominican Republic, others are much younger. Some amber is considered to be up to 345 million years old (Northumberland USA).
These ambers are [[polystyrene]]s.<ref name=Anderson1992ii/>


===Class IV===
A lesser known source of amber is in the Ukraine, within a marshy forested area on the Volyhn-Polesie border. Due to the shallow depth at which this amber is found it can be extracted with the simplest of tools, and has hence led to an economy of 'amber poaching' under cover of the forest. This Ukrainian amber has a wide range of colors, and was used in the restoration of 'amber room' in the Empress Catherines palace in St Petersberg (see below).
Class IV is something of a [[Wastebasket taxon|catch-all]]: its ambers are not polymerized, but mainly consist of [[cedrene]]-based sesquiterpenoids.<ref name=Anderson1992ii/>


===Class V===
[[Image:Sailboat from amber.jpg|thumb|Sailboat made entirely from amber in a gift shop]]
Class V resins are considered to be produced by a pine or pine relative. They comprise a mixture of diterpinoid resins and ''n''-alkyl compounds. Their main variety is ''[[Copaline|Highgate copalite]]''.<ref name=Anderson1992iii>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/0146-6380(93)90111-N|title=The nature and fate of natural resins in the geosphere—III. Re-evaluation of the structure and composition of Highgate Copalite and Glessite|year=1993|last1=Anderson|first1=K|last2=Botto|first2=R|journal=Organic Geochemistry|volume=20|page=1027|issue=7|bibcode=1993OrGeo..20.1027A |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1258331}}</ref>
Rolled pieces of amber, usually small but occasionally of very large size, may be picked up on the east coast of England, having probably been washed up from deposits under the North Sea. [[Cromer]] is the best-known locality, but it occurs also on other parts of the [[Norfolk]] coast, such as [[Great Yarmouth]], as well as [[Southwold]], [[Aldeburgh]] and [[Felixstowe]] in [[Suffolk]], and as far south as [[Walton-on-the-Naze]] in [[Essex, England|Essex]], whilst northwards it is not unknown in [[Yorkshire]]. On the other side of the North Sea, amber is found at various localities on the coast of the [[Netherlands]] and Denmark. On the shores of the Baltic it occurs not only on the German and Polish coast but in the south of [[Sweden]], in [[Bornholm]] and other islands, and in southern [[Finland]]. Some of the amber districts of the Baltic and North Sea were known in prehistoric times, and led to early trade with the south of Europe through the [[Amber Road]]. Amber was carried to [[Olbia]] on the [[Black Sea]], Massilia (today [[Marseille]]) on the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], and [[Adria]] at the head of the [[Adriatic]]; and from these centres it was distributed over the [[Ancient Greek]] world.


==Geological record==
Amber is found in Switzerland, Austria and France. Amber from the [[Swiss Alps]] is about 55 - 200 million years old, amber from Golling about 225 - 231 million years. The well-known Sicilian ''Amber'' (Simetit - copal) is just 10 - 20 million years old.
[[File:HALAMB48.JPG|thumb|upright|Typical amber specimen with a number of indistinct inclusions]]
The oldest amber recovered dates to the [[Carboniferous|late Carboniferous]] period ({{Ma|Upper carboniferous|round=-1}}).<ref name=Grimaldi2009>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.1179328|pmid=19797645|title=Pushing Back Amber Production|year=2009|last1=Grimaldi|first1=D.|journal=Science|volume=326|issue=5949|bibcode=2009Sci...326...51G|pages=51–2|s2cid=206522565}}</ref><ref name=Bray2009>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.1177539|title=Identification of Carboniferous (320 Million Years Old) Class Ic Amber|year=2009|last1=Bray|first1=P. S.|last2=Anderson|first2=K. B.|journal=Science|volume=326|issue=5949|pages=132–134|pmid=19797659|bibcode=2009Sci...326..132B|s2cid=128461248}}</ref> Its chemical composition makes it difficult to match the amber to its producers – it is most similar to the resins produced by flowering plants; however, the first flowering plants appeared in the Early Cretaceous, about 200 million years after the oldest amber known to date, and they were not common until the [[Late Cretaceous]]. Amber becomes abundant long after the Carboniferous, in the [[Early Cretaceous]],<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> when it is found in association with insects. The oldest amber with arthropod inclusions comes from the [[Late Triassic]] (late [[Carnian]] {{circa}} 230&nbsp;Ma) of Italy, where four microscopic (0.2–0.1&nbsp;mm) mites, ''[[Triasacarus]],'' ''[[Ampezzoa]], [[Minyacarus]]'' and ''[[Cheirolepidoptus]],'' and a poorly preserved [[nematocera]]n fly were found in millimetre-sized droplets of amber.<ref name="pnas2012">{{Cite journal|last1=Schmidt|first1=A. R.|last2=Jancke|first2=S.|last3=Lindquist|first3=E. E.|last4=Ragazzi|first4=E.|last5=Roghi|first5=G.|last6=Nascimbene|first6=P. C.|last7=Schmidt|first7=K.|last8=Wappler|first8=T.|last9=Grimaldi|first9=D. A.|year=2012|title=Arthropods in amber from the Triassic Period|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=37|pages=14796–801|doi=10.1073/pnas.1208464109|pmc=3443139|pmid=22927387|bibcode=2012PNAS..10914796S|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sidorchuk|first1=Ekaterina A.|last2=Schmidt|first2=Alexander R.|last3=Ragazzi|first3=Eugenio|last4=Roghi|first4=Guido|last5=Lindquist|first5=Evert E.|date=February 2015|title=Plant-feeding mite diversity in Triassic amber (Acari: Tetrapodili)|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772019.2013.867373|journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology|language=en|volume=13|issue=2|pages=129–151|doi=10.1080/14772019.2013.867373|bibcode=2015JSPal..13..129S |s2cid=85055941|issn=1477-2019}}</ref> The oldest amber with significant numbers of arthropod inclusions comes from Lebanon. This amber, referred to as [[Lebanese amber]], is roughly 125–135&nbsp;million years old, is considered of high scientific value, providing evidence of some of the oldest sampled ecosystems.<ref name="PoinarOthers2011a">Poinar, P.O., Jr., and R.K. Milki (2001) ''Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin.'' Oregon State University Press, Corvallis. {{ISBN|0-87071-533-X}}.</ref>


In Lebanon, more than 450 outcrops of Lower Cretaceous amber were discovered by Dany Azar,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Azar|first=Dany|title=Lebanese amber: a "Guinness Book of Records"|journal=Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis|year=2012|volume=111|pages=44–60}}</ref> a Lebanese paleontologist and entomologist. Among these outcrops, 20 have yielded biological inclusions comprising the oldest representatives of several recent families of terrestrial arthropods. Even older [[Jurassic]] amber has been found recently in Lebanon as well. Many remarkable insects and spiders were recently discovered in the amber of Jordan including the oldest [[zoraptera]]ns, [[Cleridae|clerid beetles]], [[Umenocoleidae|umenocoleid]] [[cockroach|roaches]], and achiliid [[planthopper]]s.<ref name="PoinarOthers2011a"/>
In Africa, copal is found in the coastal countries of East and West Africa, but especially on [[Madagascar]]. This so-called ''Madagascar'' Amber is only 1,000 - 10,000 years old and consists of the solidified resin of the amber pine. Nigeria also has amber, which is about 60 million years old.


[[File:Snailamber.jpg|thumb|upright|A snail and a few insects trapped within Burmese amber]]
In Asia amber can be found especially in [[Burma]] (former Burma / Myanmar) as Burmit. It is about 50 million years and the ''Lebanon amber'' 130 - 135 million years old. Amber of the Australian-oceanic area can be found in [[New Zealand]] and [[Borneo]] (''Sawak amber''). They are about 20 - 60, part 70 - 100 million years old.


[[Burmese amber]] from the [[Hukawng Valley]] in northern Myanmar is the only commercially exploited Cretaceous amber. [[Uranium–lead dating]] of [[zircon]] crystals associated with the deposit have given an estimated depositional age of approximately 99 million years ago. Over 1,300 species have been described from the amber, with over 300 in 2019 alone.
Amber is also found to a limited extent in the [[United States]], as in the green-sand of [[New Jersey]], but it has little economic value. Middle Cretaceous amber has also been found in [[Ellsworth County, Kansas]]. It has little value for jewelry makers, but is very valuable to biologists. The source of this amber is under a man-made lake.


Baltic amber is found as irregular [[Nodule (geology)|nodule]]s in marine [[Glauconite|glauconitic]] sand, known as ''blue earth'', occurring in Upper Eocene strata of [[Sambia Peninsula|Sambia]] in Prussia.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=792}} It appears to have been partly derived from older [[Eocene]] deposits and it occurs also as a derivative phase in later formations, such as [[Drift (geology)|glacial drift]]. Relics of an abundant flora occur as inclusions trapped within the amber while the resin was yet fresh, suggesting relations with the flora of eastern Asia and the southern part of North America. [[Heinrich Göppert]] named the common amber-yielding pine of the Baltic forests ''Pinites succiniter'', but as the wood does not seem to differ from that of the existing genus it has been also called ''Pinus succinifera''. It is improbable that the production of amber was limited to a single species; and indeed a large number of conifers belonging to different genera are represented in the amber-flora.{{sfn|Rudler|1911|p=793}}
A fluorescent amber occurs also in the southern state of Chiapas in [[Mexico]], and is used for eye-catching jewellery. In Central America, the Olmec civilization was mining amber around 3000 B.C. There are legends in Mexico that mention the use of amber in adorning, consuming and using it for stress reduction as a natural remedy.


===Paleontological significance===
Indonesia is also a rich source of amber with large fragments being unearthed in both Java and Bali.
{{Paleontology}}


Amber is a unique preservational mode, preserving otherwise unfossilizable parts of organisms; as such it is helpful in the reconstruction of ecosystems as well as organisms;<ref>[http://db.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/amber.shtml BBC – Radio 4 – Amber] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212064001/http://db.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/amber.shtml |date=12 February 2006 }}. Db.bbc.co.uk (16 February 2005). Retrieved on 23 April 2011.</ref> the chemical composition of the resin, however, is of limited utility in reconstructing the phylogenetic affinity of the resin producer.<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> Amber sometimes contains animals or plant matter that became caught in the resin as it was secreted. [[Insect]]s, [[spider]]s and even their webs, [[annelid]]s, [[frog]]s,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna17168489 |title=Scientist: Frog could be 25 million years old |work=NBC News |date=16 February 2007}}</ref> [[crustacean]]s, [[bacteria]] and [[amoebae]],<ref>{{Cite journal|url= http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/museum/171online/PB171BMWPG1.html|author= Waggoner, Benjamin M.|title= Bacteria and protists from Middle Cretaceous amber of Ellsworth County, Kansas|journal= PaleoBios|volume= 17|issue= 1|pages= 20–26|date= 13 July 1996|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070808104139/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/museum/171online/PB171BMWPG1.html|archive-date= 8 August 2007}}</ref> marine microfossils,<ref>{{Cite journal | last2 = Schmidt| last6 = Saint Martin| last8 = Breton| last9 = Néraudeau | first1 = V. | first2 = A.| last4 = Struwe| last5 = Perrichot | first3 = S. | first4 = S. | first5 = V.| last3 = Saint Martin| last1 = Girard | first6 = J. | first7 = D. | first8 = G. | first9 = D.| title = Evidence for marine microfossils from amber| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America| volume = 105| issue = 45| last7 = Grosheny| pages = 17426–17429| year = 2008| pmid = 18981417| pmc = 2582268 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0804980105|bibcode = 2008PNAS..10517426G | doi-access = free}}</ref> wood, flowers and fruit, hair, feathers<ref name="NYT-20161208" /> and other small organisms have been recovered in Cretaceous ambers (deposited c. {{Ma|130}}).<ref name="Grimaldi2009" /> There is even an [[ammonite]] ''[[Puzosia (Bhimaites)]]'' and marine [[gastropods]] found in [[Burmese amber]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dilcher|first1=David|last2=Wang|first2=Bo|last3=Zhang|first3=Haichun|last4=Xia|first4=Fangyuan|last5=Broly|first5=Pierre|last6=Kennedy|first6=Jim|last7=Ross|first7=Andrew|last8=Mu|first8=Lin|last9=Kelly|first9=Richard|date=2019-05-10|title=An ammonite trapped in Burmese amber|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|pages=11345–11350|doi=10.1073/pnas.1821292116|issn=0027-8424|pmid=31085633|volume=116|issue=23|pmc=6561253|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019PNAS..11611345Y }}</ref>
==Amber treatments==
[[Image:Amber hg.jpg|thumb|left|Amber, 12 cm diameter]]
The Vienna amber factories which use pale amber to manufacture pipes and other smoking tools, turn it on a [[Lathe (tool)|lathe]] and polish it with whitening and water or with [[rotten stone]] and oil. The final lustre is given by friction with flannel.


[[File:Fossil frog in amber.png|thumb|left|200px|Skeleton of the frog ''[[Electrorana]]'' preserved in mid-Cretaceous [[Burmese amber]].|alt=]]
When gradually heated in an oil-bath, amber becomes soft and flexible. Two pieces of amber may be united by smearing the surfaces with [[linseed oil]], heating them, and then pressing them together while hot. Cloudy amber may be clarified in an oil-bath, as the oil fills the numerous pores to which the turbidity is due. Small fragments, formerly thrown away or used only for varnish, are now used on a large scale in the formation of "ambroid" or "pressed amber". The pieces are carefully heated with exclusion of air and then compressed into a uniform mass by intense hydraulic pressure; the softened amber being forced through holes in a metal plate. The product is extensively used for the production of cheap jewellery and articles for smoking. This pressed amber yields brilliant interference colors in polarized light. Amber has often been imitated by other resins like [[copal]] and [[kauri]], as well as by [[celluloid]] and even [[glass]]. Baltic amber is sometimes colored artificially, but also called "true amber".


The preservation of prehistoric organisms in amber forms a key plot point in [[Michael Crichton]]'s 1990 novel ''[[Jurassic Park (novel)|Jurassic Park]]'' and the [[Jurassic Park (film)|1993 movie adaptation]] by [[Steven Spielberg]].<ref>{{cite book| title=The Making of Jurassic Park| author=Don Shay & Jody Duncan| year=1993| page=4}}</ref> In the story, scientists are able to extract the preserved blood of [[dinosaurs]] from prehistoric [[mosquitoes]] trapped in amber, from which they genetically clone living dinosaurs. Scientifically this is as yet impossible, since no amber with fossilized mosquitoes has ever yielded preserved blood.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-fossilized-blood-engorged-mosquito-is-found-for-the-first-time-ever-1749788/| title=A Fossilized Blood-Engorged Mosquito is Found for the First Time Ever| author=Joseph Stromberg| magazine=Smithsonian Magazine| date=2013-10-14| access-date=2018-07-07}}</ref> Amber is, however, conducive to preserving [[DNA]], since it dehydrates and thus stabilizes organisms trapped inside. One projection in 1999 estimated that DNA trapped in amber could last up to 100&nbsp;million years, far beyond most estimates of around 1&nbsp;million years in the most ideal conditions,<ref>{{cite news| title=Preservation of key biomolecules in the fossil record: Current knowledge and future challenges| author=J.L. Bada, X.S. Wang, H. Hamilton| publisher=Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Vol. 354| year=1999| pages=77–87}}</ref> although a later 2013 study was unable to extract DNA from insects trapped in much more recent [[Holocene]] [[copal]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=News Staff |title=Extracting Dinosaur DNA from Amber Fossils Impossible, Scientists Say |url=http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-dinosaur-dna-amber-01383.html |website=SciNews |access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref> In 1938, 12-year-old [[David Attenborough]] (brother of [[Richard Attenborough|Richard]] who played John Hammond in ''Jurassic Park'') was given a piece of amber containing prehistoric creatures from his adoptive sister; it would be the focus of his 2004 BBC documentary ''[[The Amber Time Machine]].''<ref>{{cite news |title=Jewel of the Earth |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3305_jewel.html |access-date=2 July 2021 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603022425/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3305_jewel.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
Often amber (particularly with insect inclusions) is counterfeited using a plastic resin. A simple test consists of touching the object with a heated pin and determining if the resultant odor is of [[wood resin]]. If not, the object is counterfeit, although a positive test may not be conclusive owing to a thin coat of real resin. Often counterfeits will have a too perfect pose and position of the trapped insect.


==Use==
==Amber art and ornament==
[[File:Altamira Ambre MHNT.PRE.2012.0.615.jpg|thumb|[[Solutrean]] amber from [[Cave of Altamira|Altamira]] in the [[Muséum de Toulouse]]]]
[[Image:Amber Bernstein many stones.jpg|thumb|right|Unpolished amber stones]]
Amber has been used since prehistory ([[Solutrean]]) in the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments, and also in [[Traditional medicine|folk medicine]].
Amber was much valued as an ornamental material in very early times. It has been found in [[Mycenae]]an tombs; it is known from lake-dwellings in [[Switzerland]], and it occurs with [[Neolithic]] remains in [[Denmark]], whilst in [[England]] it is found with interments of the [[bronze age]]. A cup turned in amber from a bronze-age [[tumulus|barrow]] at [[Hove]] is now in the [[Brighton|Brighton Museum]]. Beads of amber occur with [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] relics in the south of England. Amber was valued as an [[amulet]] and it is still believed to possess medicinal properties.


===Jewelry===
Amber is used for beads and ornaments, and for cigar-holders and the mouth-pieces of pipes. It is regarded by the [[Turkey|Turks]] as specially valuable, inasmuch as it is said to be incapable of transmitting infection as the pipe passes from mouth to mouth. The variety most valued in the East is the pale straw-colored, slightly cloudy amber. Some of the best qualities are sent to [[Vienna]] for the manufacture of smoking appliances.
[[File:amber.pendants.800pix.050203.jpg|thumb|upright|Pendants made of amber. The oval [[pendant]] is {{convert|52|by|32|mm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}}.]]
[[File:Halssnoer van barnstenen kralen.png|thumb|upright|Amber necklace from 2000 to 1000 BCE]]
Amber has been used as jewelry since the [[Stone Age]], from 13,000 years ago.<ref name=Grimaldi2009/> Amber ornaments have been found in Mycenaean tombs and elsewhere across Europe.<ref>[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8456512 Curt W. Beck, Anthony Harding and Helen Hughes-Brock, "Amber in the Mycenaean World" ''The Annual of the British School at Athens'', vol. 69 (November 1974), pp. 145–172. DOI:10.1017/S0068245400005505] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105124301/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8456512 |date=5 November 2013 }}</ref> To this day it is used in the manufacture of smoking and glassblowing mouthpieces.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pipesandtobaccos.com/pipesandtobaccos/info/insights/baldoview.htm |title=Interview with expert pipe maker, Baldo Baldi. Accessed 10-12-09 |publisher=Pipesandtobaccos.com |date=11 February 2000|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216124403/http://www.pipesandtobaccos.com/pipesandtobaccos/info/insights/baldoview.htm |archive-date=16 February 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://steinertindustries.com/osc/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=amber&osCsid=d8f7cf307cfb59b1356aa7e3abfaa59e |title=Maker of amber mouthpiece for glass blowing pipes. Accessed 10-12-09 |publisher=Steinertindustries.com |date=7 May 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716134239/http://steinertindustries.com/osc/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=amber&osCsid=d8f7cf307cfb59b1356aa7e3abfaa59e |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref> Amber's place in culture and tradition lends it a tourism value; [[Palanga Amber Museum]] is dedicated to the fossilized resin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schüler |first1=C. J. |title=Along the Amber Route: St. Petersburg to Venice |date=2022 |publisher=Sandstone Press |isbn=978-1-912240-92-0 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3j3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT71 |language=en |quote=With more than a quarter of a million pieces, this is thought to be the world's largest collection of amber}}</ref>


===Historical medicinal uses===
The [[Amber Room]] was a collection of chamber wall panels commissioned in 1701 for the king of [[Prussia]], then given to Tsar [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]]. The room was hidden in place from invading [[Nazism|Nazi]] forces in 1941, who upon finding it in the Catherine Palace, disassembled it and moved it to [[Königsberg]]. What happened to the room beyond this point is unclear, but it may have been destroyed when the Russians burned the German fortification where it was stored. It is presumed lost. It was re-created in 2003.<ref> [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3025833.stm BBC report on Amber Room] </ref>
Amber has long been used in folk medicine for its purported healing properties.<ref name="test">{{cite journal|url=http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/16796/Pediatric%20Gastroenterology%20resources/Teething%20facts%20and%20%20fictions.pdf|title=Teething: Facts and Fiction|author=Lisa Markman|journal=Pediatr. Rev.|year=2009|volume=30|pages=e59–e64|doi=10.1542/pir.30-8-e59|issue=8|pmid=19648257|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510010735/http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/16796/Pediatric%20Gastroenterology%20resources/Teething%20facts%20and%20%20fictions.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2013|citeseerx=10.1.1.695.5675|s2cid=29522788 }}</ref> Amber and extracts were used from the time of [[Hippocrates]] in ancient [[Greece]] for a wide variety of treatments through the Middle Ages and up until the early twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Riddle|first=John M.|date=1973|title=AMBER in ancient Pharmacy: The Transmission of Information About a Single Drug: A Case Study|journal=Pharmacy in History|volume=15|issue=1|pages=3–17}}</ref> [[Traditional Chinese medicine]] uses amber to "tranquilize the mind".<ref name="ZhuChen2019">{{cite journal |last1=Zhu|first1=Zhenhua |last2=Chen|first2=Chenkai |last3=Zhu|first3=Yue |last4=Shang|first4=Erxin |last5=Zhao|first5=Ming |last6=Guo|first6=Sheng |last7=Guo|first7=Jianming |last8=Qian|first8=Dawei |last9=Tang|first9=Zhishu |last10=Yan|first10=Hui |last11=Duan|first11=Jinao |title=Exploratory Cortex Metabolic Profiling Revealed the Sedative Effect of Amber in Pentylenetetrazole-Induced Epilepsy-Like Mice |journal=Molecules |volume=24|issue=3|year=2019|page=460 |issn=1420-3049 |doi=10.3390/molecules24030460|pmid=30696059 |pmc=6384605|doi-access=free }}</ref>


Amber necklaces are a traditional European remedy for [[Baby colic|colic]] or [[Teething|teething pain]] with purported analgesic properties of succinic acid, although there is no evidence that this is an effective remedy or delivery method.<ref name="test"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/teething-tooth-care/Pages/Amber-Teething-Necklaces.aspx|title=Teething Necklaces and Beads: A Caution for Parents|website=HealthyChildren.org|access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/amber-waves-of-woo/|title=Amber Waves of Woo|date=2014-04-11|website=Science-Based Medicine|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref> The [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] and the [[Food and Drug Administration|FDA]] have warned strongly against their use, as they present both a choking and a strangulation hazard.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm628900.htm|title=Safety Communications - FDA Warns Against Use of Teething Necklaces, Bracelets, and Other Jewelry Marketed for Relieving Teething Pain or Providing Sensory Stimulation: FDA Safety Communication|last=Health|first=Center for Devices and Radiological|website=www.fda.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref>
[[Image:Bernsteinzimmer01.jpg|thumb|The [[Amber Room]] was reconstructed from the [[Kaliningrad]] amber.]]


===Scent of amber and amber perfumery===
Amber has also been used to create the "frog" part of a Violin bow. It was commissioned by Gennady Filimonov and made by the late American Master Bowmaker [[Keith Peck]]
<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.stringsmagazine.com/instruments/Back_Issues/ST65/AmberBow65.html | title=Mastering New Materials: Commissioning an Amber Bow, no.65 | publisher=Strings magazine | author=Jessamyn Reeves-Brown | date=November 1997 | accessdate=2007-04-09}}</ref>


In [[ancient China]], it was customary to burn amber during large festivities. If amber is heated under the right conditions, oil of amber is produced, and in past times this was combined carefully with [[nitric acid]] to create "artificial musk" – a resin with a peculiar [[musk]]y odor.<ref name="Amber">{{cite web|url=http://www.aphrodisiacs-info.com/amber.html|title=Amber as an aphrodisiac|website=Aphrodisiacs-info.com|access-date=19 September 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117090500/http://www.aphrodisiacs-info.com/amber.html|archive-date=17 January 2013}}.</ref> Although when burned, amber does give off a characteristic "pinewood" fragrance, modern products, such as [[perfume]], do not normally use actual amber because fossilized amber produces very little scent. In perfumery, scents referred to as "amber" are often created and patented<ref>Thermer, Ernst T. "Saturated indane derivatives and processes for producing same" {{US patent|3703479}}, {{US patent|3681464}}, issue date 1972</ref><ref>Perfume compositions and perfume articles containing one isomer of an octahydrotetramethyl acetonaphthone, John B. Hall, Rumson; James Milton Sanders, Eatontown {{US patent|3929677}}, Publication Date: 30 December 1975</ref> to emulate the opulent golden warmth of the fossil.<ref>[http://sorceryofscent.blogspot.com/2008/07/amber-perfumery-myth.html Sorcery of Scent: Amber: A perfume myth] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114155516/http://sorceryofscent.blogspot.com/2008/07/amber-perfumery-myth.html |date=14 January 2010 }}. Sorceryofscent.blogspot.com (30 July 2008). Retrieved on 23 April 2011.</ref>
[[Image:K.Peck amber bow.jpeg|right|thumb|The Amber Frog [[Bow (music)|bow]] by Keith Peck made in 1996/97 commissioned by Gennady Filimonov.]]


The scent of amber was originally derived from emulating the scent of [[ambergris]] and/or the plant resin [[labdanum]], but since sperm whales are endangered, the scent of amber is now largely derived from labdanum.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://teresacasimiro.com.sapo.pt/Bibliographic_References/21.pdf|title=Characterization of the Portuguese-Grown Cistus ladanifer Essential Oil|author1=Gomes, Paula B. |author2=Mata, Vera G. |author3=Rodrigues, A. E. |journal=Journal of Essential Oil Research|year=2005|doi=10.1080/10412905.2005.9698864|volume=17|issue=2|pages=160–165|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324060544/http://teresacasimiro.com.sapo.pt/Bibliographic_References/21.pdf|archive-date=24 March 2012|citeseerx=10.1.1.694.8772|s2cid=96688538}}</ref> The term "amber" is loosely used to describe a scent that is warm, musky, rich and honey-like, and also somewhat earthy. [[Benzoin (resin)|Benzoin]] is usually part of the recipe. [[Vanilla]] and [[clove]]s are sometimes used to enhance the aroma. "Amber" perfumes may be created using combinations of labdanum, benzoin resin, copal (a type of tree resin used in incense manufacture), vanilla, [[Agathis|Dammara resin]] and/or synthetic materials.<ref name="Amber" />
== See also ==

* [[List of types of amber]]
In Arab Muslim tradition, popular scents include amber, [[jasmine]], [[musk]] and oud ([[agarwood]]).<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MImdEAAAQBAJ&dq=musk+oud+arab+culture&pg=PT75 | title=QATAR (EN ANGLAIS) 2023/2024 Petit Futé | isbn=9782305096186 | last1=Auzias | first1=Dominique | last2=Labourdette | first2=Jean-Paul | date=23 November 2022 | publisher=Petit Futé }}</ref>
* [[List of minerals]]

== Imitation substances ==

Young resins used as imitations:<ref>{{Harvnb|Matushevskaya|2013|pp=11–13}}</ref>
* Kauri resin from ''[[Agathis australis]]'' trees in New Zealand.
* The [[copal]]s ([[subfossil]] resins). The African and American ([[Colombia]]) copals from ''[[Fabaceae|Leguminosae]]'' trees family (genus ''[[Hymenaea]]''). [[Dominican amber|Amber of the Dominican]] or Mexican type ([[#Class I|Class I]] of fossil resins). Copals from Manilia ([[Indonesia]]) and from New Zealand from trees of the genus ''[[Agathis]]'' (family [[Araucariaceae]])
* Other fossil resins: [[burmite]] in [[Burma]], [[rumenite]] in [[Romania]], and simetite in [[Sicily]].
* Other natural resins — [[cellulose]] or [[chitin]], etc.

Plastics used as imitations:<ref>{{Harvnb|Matushevskaya|2013|pp=13–19}}</ref>
* [[Stained glass]] (inorganic material) and other [[Ceramic|ceramic materials]]
* [[Celluloid]]
* [[Nitrocellulose|Cellulose nitrate]] (first obtained in 1833<ref name="Wagner-Wysiecka 2013 30">{{Harvnb|Wagner-Wysiecka|2013|p=30}}</ref>) — a product of treatment of cellulose with nitration mixture.<ref name="Bogdasarov 2013 38">{{Harvnb|Bogdasarov|Bogdasarov|2013|p=38}}</ref>
* Acetylcellulose (not in the use at present)
* [[Galalith]] or "artificial horn" (condensation product of casein and [[formaldehyde]]), other trade names: Alladinite, Erinoid, Lactoid.<ref name="Wagner-Wysiecka 2013 30"/>
* [[Casein]] — a conjugated protein forming from the casein precursor – caseinogen.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bogdasarov|Bogdasarov|2013|p=37}}</ref>
* Resolane (phenolic resins or phenoplasts, not in the use at present)
* [[Bakelite]] resine (resol, phenolic resins), product from [[Africa]] are known under the misleading name "African amber".
* [[Urea|Carbamide]] resins — [[Melamine resin|melamine]], formaldehyde and urea-formaldehyde resins.<ref name="Bogdasarov 2013 38"/>
* Epoxy [[Phenol formaldehyde resin|novolac]] (phenolic resins), unofficial name "antique amber", not in the use at present
* [[Polyesters]] (Polish amber imitation) with [[styrene]]. For example, unsaturated polyester resins (polymals) are produced by Chemical Industrial Works "[[Organika]]" in [[Sarzyna]], [[Poland]]; estomal are produced by [[Laminopol]] firm. Polybern or sticked amber is artificial resins the curled chips are obtained, whereas in the case of amber – small scraps. "African amber" (polyester, synacryl is then probably other name of the same resine) are produced by Reichhold firm; Styresol trade mark or alkid resin (used in Russia, Reichhold, Inc. patent, 1948.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wagner-Wysiecka|2013|p=31}}</ref>
* [[Polyethylene]]
* [[Epoxy resin]]s
* [[Polystyrene]] and polystyrene-like polymers ([[vinyl polymer]]s).<ref name="Wagner-Wysiecka 2013 32">{{Harvnb|Wagner-Wysiecka|2013|p=32}}</ref>
* The [[Acrylic resin|resins of acrylic type]] ([[vinyl polymer]]s<ref name="Wagner-Wysiecka 2013 32"/>), especially [[Poly(methyl methacrylate)|polymethyl methacrylate PMMA]] (trade mark Plexiglass, metaplex).

==See also==
* [[Ammolite]]
* [[Ammolite]]
* [[Illyrian amber jewellery]]
* [[Copal]]
* [[Dominican amber]]
* [[List of types of amber]]
* [[Spirit of amber]]
* [[Petrified wood]]
* [[Oil of amber]]
* [[Pearl]]
* [[Poly(methyl methacrylate)#Acrylate resin casting|Poly(methyl methacrylate)]]
* [[Amber Road]]
* [[Amber Room]]
* [[Precious coral]]
* [[Baltic amber]]


== References ==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


{{refbegin}}
{{Refbegin}}
*{{EB1911 |last=Rudler |first=Frederick William |wstitle=Amber (resin)|display=Amber |volume=1 |pages=792–794}}
*{{1911}}
{{Refend}}
*{{1911EB|Amber (resin)}}

{{refend}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last1=Bogdasarov |first1=Albert |last2=Bogdasarov |first2=Maksim |year=2013 |chapter=Forgery and simulations from amber |trans-chapter=Подделки и имитация янтаря |editor1-last=Kostjashova |editor1-first=Z. V. |title=Янтарь и его имитации |script-title=ru:Материалы международной научно-практической конференции 27 июня 2013 года |trans-title=Amber and its imitations |chapter-url=http://www.ambermuseum.ru/home/materials/read?id=548f584d138c69fc0a0002a9 |language=ru |location=[[Kaliningrad]] |publisher=[[Kaliningrad Amber Museum]], Ministry of Culture (Kaliningrad region, Russia) |pages=113 |isbn=978-5-903920-26-6 |access-date=9 July 2016 |archive-date=16 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216162639/https://www.ambermuseum.ru/home/materials/read%3Fid%3D548f584d138c69fc0a0002a9 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last1=Matushevskaya |first1=Aniela |year=2013 |chapter=Natural and artificial resins – chosen aspects of structure and properties |editor1-last=Kostjashova |editor1-first=Z. V. |title=Янтарь и его имитации |script-title=ru:Материалы международной научно-практической конференции 27 июня 2013 года |trans-title=Amber and its imitations |chapter-url=http://www.ambermuseum.ru/home/materials/read?id=548f584d138c69fc0a0002a9 |language=ru |location=[[Kaliningrad]] |publisher=[[Kaliningrad Amber Museum]], Ministry of Culture (Kaliningrad region, Russia) |pages=113 |isbn=978-5-903920-26-6 |access-date=9 July 2016 |archive-date=16 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216162639/https://www.ambermuseum.ru/home/materials/read%3Fid%3D548f584d138c69fc0a0002a9 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last1=Wagner-Wysiecka |first1=Eva |year=2013 |chapter=Amber imitations through the eyes of a chemist |trans-chapter=Имитация янтаря глазами химика |editor1-last=Kostjashova |editor1-first=Z. V. |title=Янтарь и его имитации |script-title=ru:Материалы международной научно-практической конференции 27 июня 2013 года |trans-title=Amber and its imitations |chapter-url=http://www.ambermuseum.ru/home/materials/read?id=548f584d138c69fc0a0002a9 |language=ru |location=[[Kaliningrad]] |publisher=[[Kaliningrad Amber Museum]], Ministry of Culture (Kaliningrad region, Russia) |pages=113 |isbn=978-5-903920-26-6 |access-date=9 July 2016 |archive-date=16 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216162639/https://www.ambermuseum.ru/home/materials/read%3Fid%3D548f584d138c69fc0a0002a9 |url-status=dead }}


==External links==
==External links==
{{commonscat|Amber}}
{{Commons and category|Amber|Amber}}
*[http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/amber Farlang many full text historical references on Amber] [[Theophrastus]], [[George Frederick Kunz]], and special on [[Baltic amber]].
* [http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/amber.htm The World of Amber] Professor Aber's amber page, Earth Science Department of Emporia State University
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050731084240/http://fossilinsects.net/lib.htm IPS Publications on amber inclusions] International Paleoentomological Society: Scientific Articles on amber and its inclusions
*[http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/amber Farlang many full text historical references on Amber] [[Theophrastus]], [[George Frederick Kunz]], and special on [[Baltic amber]].
* [http://www.webmineral.com/data/Amber.shtml Webmineral on Amber] Physical properties and mineralogical information
* [http://fossilinsects.net/lib.htm IPS Publications on amber inclusions] International Paleoentomological Society: Scientific Articles on amber and its inclusions
* [http://www.webmineral.com/data/Amber.shtml Webmineral on Amber] Physical properties and mineralogical information
* [http://www.mindat.org/min-188.html Mindat Amber] Image and locality information on amber
* [http://www.mindat.org/min-188.html Mindat Amber] Image and locality information on amber
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0CE2DD123BF936A1575AC0A964958260 NY Times] 40 million year old extinct bee in Dominican amber
* [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DD123BF936A1575AC0A964958260 NY Times] 40&nbsp;million year old extinct bee in Dominican amber


{{Jewellery Materials}}
{{Jewellery|state=expanded}}
{{Prehistoric technology}}
{{Gemstone}}


{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Arabic words and phrases]]

[[Category:Amber| ]]
[[Category:Fossil resins]]
[[Category:Fossil resins]]
[[Category:Gemstones]]
[[Category:Amorphous solids]]
[[Category:Amorphous solids]]
[[Category:Traditional medicine]]

{{Link FA|de}}
[[ar:كهرمان]]
[[ast:Ámbar]]
[[be:Бурштын]]
[[bs:Ćilibar]]
[[ca:Ambre]]
[[cs:Jantar]]
[[cy:Ambr]]
[[da:Rav]]
[[de:Bernstein]]
[[et:Merevaik]]
[[el:Κεχριμπάρι]]
[[es:Ámbar]]
[[eo:Sukceno]]
[[fa:کهربا]]
[[fr:Ambre]]
[[gl:Ámbar]]
[[ko:호박 (화석)]]
[[io:Sucino]]
[[is:Raf]]
[[it:Ambra (resina)]]
[[he:ענבר]]
[[ku:Karîban]]
[[la:Succinum]]
[[lv:Dzintars]]
[[lt:Gintaras]]
[[hu:Borostyán (ásvány)]]
[[nl:Barnsteen]]
[[ja:コハク]]
[[no:Rav]]
[[nds:Barnsteen]]
[[pl:Bursztyn]]
[[pt:Âmbar]]
[[ro:Chihlimbar]]
[[ru:Янтарь]]
[[simple:Amber]]
[[sk:Jantár]]
[[sl:Jantar]]
[[sr:Ћилибар]]
[[sh:Jantar]]
[[fi:Meripihka]]
[[sv:Bärnsten]]
[[ta:அம்பர்]]
[[th:อำพัน]]
[[vi:Hổ phách]]
[[tr:Kehribar]]
[[uk:Бурштин (смола)]]
[[zh:琥珀]]

Latest revision as of 01:03, 6 January 2025

An ant inside Baltic amber
Unpolished amber stones

Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times,[1] and worked as a gemstone since antiquity.[2] Amber is used in jewelry and as a healing agent in folk medicine.

There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions.[3] Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite, and the term ambrite is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams.[4]

Etymology

[edit]

The English word amber derives from Arabic ʿanbar عنبر[5] via Middle Latin ambar and Middle French ambre. The word referred to what is now known as ambergris (ambre gris or "gray amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the sperm whale. The word, in its sense of "ambergris," was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century.[6]

In the Romance languages, the sense of the word was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century.[7] At first called white or yellow amber (ambre jaune), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word.[5][better source needed]

The two substances ("yellow amber" and "gray amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. Ambergris is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is too dense to float, though less dense than stone.[8]

The classical names for amber, Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron) and one of* its Latin names, electrum, are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr) meaning "beaming Sun".[9][10] According to myth, when Phaëton son of Helios (the Sun) was killed, his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron, amber.[11] The word elektron gave rise to the words electric, electricity, and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity.[12] (*In Latin the name succinum was unambiguously used for amber while electrum was also used for an alloy of gold and silver).[13]

Varietal names

[edit]

A number of regional and varietal names have been applied to ambers over the centuries, including Allingite, Beckerite, Gedanite, Kochenite, Krantzite, and Stantienite.[14]

History

[edit]

Theophrastus discussed amber in the 4th century BCE, as did Pytheas (c. 330 BCE), whose work "On the Ocean" is lost, but was referenced by Pliny, according to whose Natural History:[15]

Pytheas says that the Gutones, a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the Ocean called Mentonomon, their territory extending a distance of six thousand stadia; that, at one day's sail from this territory, is the Isle of Abalus, upon the shores of which, amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form; as, also, that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbors, the Teutones.

Fishing for amber on the coast of Baltic Sea. Winter storms throw out amber nuggets. Close to Gdańsk, Poland.

Earlier Pliny says that Pytheas refers to a large island—three days' sail from the Scythian coast and called Balcia by Xenophon of Lampsacus (author of a fanciful travel book in Greek)—as Basilia—a name generally equated with Abalus.[16] Given the presence of amber, the island could have been Heligoland, Zealand, the shores of Gdańsk Bay, the Sambia Peninsula or the Curonian Lagoon, which were historically the richest sources of amber in northern Europe.[citation needed] It is assumed[by whom?] that there were well-established trade routes for amber connecting the Baltic with the Mediterranean (known as the "Amber Road"). Pliny states explicitly that the Germans exported amber to Pannonia, from where the Veneti distributed it onwards.

The ancient Italic peoples of southern Italy used to work amber; the National Archaeological Museum of Siritide (Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Siritide) at Policoro in the province of Matera (Basilicata) displays important surviving examples. It has been suggested that amber used in antiquity, as at Mycenae and in the prehistory of the Mediterranean, came from deposits in Sicily.[17]

Wood resin, the source of amber

Pliny also cites the opinion of Nicias (c. 470–413 BCE), according to whom amber

is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun; and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the Ocean, and thrown up upon the shores of Germany.

Besides the fanciful explanations according to which amber is "produced by the Sun", Pliny cites opinions that are well aware of its origin in tree resin, citing the native Latin name of succinum (sūcinum, from sucus "juice").[18] In Book 37, section XI of Natural History, Pliny wrote:

Amber is produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging to the pine genus, like gum from the cherry, and resin from the ordinary pine. It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened [...] Our forefathers, too, were of opinion that it is the juice of a tree, and for this reason gave it the name of "succinum" and one great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus, is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and that it burns, when ignited, with the odour and appearance of torch-pine wood.[19]

He also states that amber is also found in Egypt and India, and he even refers to the electrostatic properties of amber, by saying that "in Syria the women make the whorls of their spindles of this substance, and give it the name of harpax [from ἁρπάζω, "to drag"] from the circumstance that it attracts leaves towards it, chaff, and the light fringe of tissues".

The Romans traded for amber from the shores of the southern Baltic at least as far back as the time of Nero.[20]

Amber has a long history of use in China, with the first written record from 200 BCE.[21] Early in the 19th century, the first reports of amber found in North America came from discoveries in New Jersey along Crosswicks Creek near Trenton, at Camden, and near Woodbury.[2]

Composition and formation

[edit]

Amber is heterogeneous in composition, but consists of several resinous bodies[clarify] more or less soluble in alcohol, ether and chloroform, associated with an insoluble bituminous substance. Amber is a macromolecule formed by free radical polymerization[22] of several precursors in the labdane family, for example, communic acid, communol, and biformene.[23][24] These labdanes are diterpenes (C20H32) and trienes, equipping the organic skeleton with three alkene groups for polymerization. As amber matures over the years, more polymerization takes place as well as isomerization reactions, crosslinking and cyclization.[25][22]

Most amber has a hardness between 2.0 and 2.5 on the Mohs scale, a refractive index of 1.5–1.6, a specific gravity between 1.06 and 1.10, and a melting point of 250–300 °C.[26] Heated above 200 °C (392 °F), amber decomposes, yielding an oil of amber, and leaves a black residue which is known as "amber colophony", or "amber pitch"; when dissolved in oil of turpentine or in linseed oil this forms "amber varnish" or "amber lac".[23]

Molecular polymerization,[22] resulting from high pressures and temperatures produced by overlying sediment, transforms the resin first into copal. Sustained heat and pressure drives off terpenes and results in the formation of amber.[27] For this to happen, the resin must be resistant to decay. Many trees produce resin, but in the majority of cases this deposit is broken down by physical and biological processes. Exposure to sunlight, rain, microorganisms, and extreme temperatures tends to disintegrate the resin. For the resin to survive long enough to become amber, it must be resistant to such forces or be produced under conditions that exclude them.[28] Fossil resins from Europe fall into two categories, the Baltic ambers and another that resembles the Agathis group. Fossil resins from the Americas and Africa are closely related to the modern genus Hymenaea,[29] while Baltic ambers are thought to be fossil resins from plants of the family Sciadopityaceae that once lived in north Europe.[30]

Baltic amber with inclusions

The abnormal development of resin in living trees (succinosis) can result in the formation of amber.[31] Impurities are quite often present, especially when the resin has dropped onto the ground, so the material may be useless except for varnish-making. Such impure amber is called firniss.[32] Such inclusion of other substances can cause the amber to have an unexpected color. Pyrites may give a bluish color. Bony amber owes its cloudy opacity to numerous tiny bubbles inside the resin.[33] However, so-called black amber is really a kind of jet.[citation needed] In darkly clouded and even opaque amber, inclusions can be imaged using high-energy, high-contrast, high-resolution X-rays.[34]

Amber from Bitterfeld

Extraction and processing

[edit]

Distribution and mining

[edit]
Open cast amber mine "Primorskoje" in Jantarny, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia
Extracting Baltic amber from Holocene deposits, Gdańsk, Poland

Amber is globally distributed in or around all continents,[35] mainly in rocks of Cretaceous age or younger. Historically, the coast west of Königsberg in Prussia was the world's leading source of amber. The first mentions of amber deposits there date back to the 12th century.[36] Juodkrantė in Lithuania was established in the mid-19th century as a mining town of amber. About 90% of the world's extractable amber is still located in that area, which was transferred to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the USSR in 1946, becoming the Kaliningrad Oblast.[37]

Pieces of amber torn from the seafloor are cast up by the waves and collected by hand, dredging, or diving. Elsewhere, amber is mined, both in open works and underground galleries. Then nodules of blue earth have to be removed and an opaque crust must be cleaned off, which can be done in revolving barrels containing sand and water. Erosion removes this crust from sea-worn amber.[33] Dominican amber is mined through bell pitting, which is dangerous because of the risk of tunnel collapse.[38]

An important source of amber is Kachin State in northern Myanmar, which has been a major source of amber in China for at least 1,800 years. Contemporary mining of this deposit has attracted attention for unsafe working conditions and its role in funding internal conflict in the country.[39] Amber from the Rivne Oblast of Ukraine, referred to as Rivne amber, is mined illegally by organised crime groups, who deforest the surrounding areas and pump water into the sediments to extract the amber, causing severe environmental deterioration.[40]

Treatment

[edit]

The Vienna amber factories, which use pale amber to manufacture pipes and other smoking tools, turn it on a lathe and polish it with whitening and water or with rotten stone and oil. The final luster is given by polishing with flannel.[33]

When gradually heated in an oil bath, amber "becomes soft and flexible. Two pieces of amber may be united by smearing the surfaces with linseed oil, heating them, and then pressing them together while hot. Cloudy amber may be clarified in an oil bath, as the oil fills the numerous pores that cause the turbidity. Small fragments, formerly thrown away or used only for varnish are now used on a large scale in the formation of "ambroid" or "pressed amber".[33] The pieces are carefully heated with exclusion of air and then compressed into a uniform mass by intense hydraulic pressure, the softened amber being forced through holes in a metal plate. The product is extensively used for the production of cheap jewelry and articles for smoking. This pressed amber yields brilliant interference colors in polarized light."[41]

Amber has often been imitated by other resins like copal and kauri gum, as well as by celluloid and even glass. Baltic amber is sometimes colored artificially but also called "true amber".[33]

Appearance

[edit]
Unique colors of Baltic amber. Polished stones.

Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after.[42]

Yellow amber is a hard fossil resin from evergreen trees, and despite the name it can be translucent, yellow, orange, or brown colored. Known to the Iranians by the Pahlavi compound word kah-ruba (from kah "straw" plus rubay "attract, snatch", referring to its electrical properties[12]), which entered Arabic as kahraba' or kahraba (which later became the Arabic word for electricity, كهرباء kahrabā'), it too was called amber in Europe (Old French and Middle English ambre). Found along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, yellow amber reached the Middle East and western Europe via trade. Its coastal acquisition may have been one reason yellow amber came to be designated by the same term as ambergris. Moreover, like ambergris, the resin could be burned as an incense. The resin's most popular use was, however, for ornamentation—easily cut and polished, it could be transformed into beautiful jewelry. Much of the most highly prized amber is transparent, in contrast to the very common cloudy amber and opaque amber. Opaque amber contains numerous minute bubbles. This kind of amber is known as "bony amber".[43]

Blue amber from Dominican Republic

Although all Dominican amber is fluorescent, the rarest Dominican amber is blue amber. It turns blue in natural sunlight and any other partially or wholly ultraviolet light source. In long-wave UV light it has a very strong reflection, almost white. Only about 100 kg (220 lb) is found per year, which makes it valuable and expensive.[44]

Sometimes amber retains the form of drops and stalactites, just as it exuded from the ducts and receptacles of the injured trees.[33] It is thought that, in addition to exuding onto the surface of the tree, amber resin also originally flowed into hollow cavities or cracks within trees, thereby leading to the development of large lumps of amber of irregular form.

Classification

[edit]

Amber can be classified into several forms. Most fundamentally, there are two types of plant resin with the potential for fossilization. Terpenoids, produced by conifers and angiosperms, consist of ring structures formed of isoprene (C5H8) units.[1] Phenolic resins are today only produced by angiosperms, and tend to serve functional uses. The extinct medullosans produced a third type of resin, which is often found as amber within their veins.[1] The composition of resins is highly variable; each species produces a unique blend of chemicals which can be identified by the use of pyrolysisgas chromatographymass spectrometry.[1] The overall chemical and structural composition is used to divide ambers into five classes.[45][46] There is also a separate classification of amber gemstones, according to the way of production.[citation needed]

Class I

[edit]

This class is by far the most abundant. It comprises labdatriene carboxylic acids such as communic or ozic acids.[45] It is further split into three sub-classes. Classes Ia and Ib utilize regular labdanoid diterpenes (e.g. communic acid, communol, biformenes), while Ic uses enantio labdanoids (ozic acid, ozol, enantio biformenes).[47]

Class Ia includes Succinite (= 'normal' Baltic amber) and Glessite.[46] They have a communic acid base, and they also include much succinic acid.[45] Baltic amber yields on dry distillation succinic acid, the proportion varying from about 3% to 8%, and being greatest in the pale opaque or bony varieties. The aromatic and irritating fumes emitted by burning amber are mainly from this acid. Baltic amber is distinguished by its yield of succinic acid, hence the name succinite. Succinite has a hardness between 2 and 3, which is greater than many other fossil resins. Its specific gravity varies from 1.05 to 1.10.[23] It can be distinguished from other ambers via infrared spectroscopy through a specific carbonyl absorption peak. Infrared spectroscopy can detect the relative age of an amber sample. Succinic acid may not be an original component of amber but rather a degradation product of abietic acid.[48]

Class Ib ambers are based on communic acid; however, they lack succinic acid.[45]

Class Ic is mainly based on enantio-labdatrienonic acids, such as ozic and zanzibaric acids.[45] Its most familiar representative is Dominican amber,.[1] which is mostly transparent and often contains a higher number of fossil inclusions. This has enabled the detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem of a long-vanished tropical forest.[49] Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics. It is not "succinite" but "retinite".[50]

Class II

[edit]

These ambers are formed from resins with a sesquiterpenoid base, such as cadinene.[45]

Class III

[edit]

These ambers are polystyrenes.[45]

Class IV

[edit]

Class IV is something of a catch-all: its ambers are not polymerized, but mainly consist of cedrene-based sesquiterpenoids.[45]

Class V

[edit]

Class V resins are considered to be produced by a pine or pine relative. They comprise a mixture of diterpinoid resins and n-alkyl compounds. Their main variety is Highgate copalite.[46]

Geological record

[edit]
Typical amber specimen with a number of indistinct inclusions

The oldest amber recovered dates to the late Carboniferous period (320 million years ago).[1][51] Its chemical composition makes it difficult to match the amber to its producers – it is most similar to the resins produced by flowering plants; however, the first flowering plants appeared in the Early Cretaceous, about 200 million years after the oldest amber known to date, and they were not common until the Late Cretaceous. Amber becomes abundant long after the Carboniferous, in the Early Cretaceous,[1] when it is found in association with insects. The oldest amber with arthropod inclusions comes from the Late Triassic (late Carnian c. 230 Ma) of Italy, where four microscopic (0.2–0.1 mm) mites, Triasacarus, Ampezzoa, Minyacarus and Cheirolepidoptus, and a poorly preserved nematoceran fly were found in millimetre-sized droplets of amber.[52][53] The oldest amber with significant numbers of arthropod inclusions comes from Lebanon. This amber, referred to as Lebanese amber, is roughly 125–135 million years old, is considered of high scientific value, providing evidence of some of the oldest sampled ecosystems.[54]

In Lebanon, more than 450 outcrops of Lower Cretaceous amber were discovered by Dany Azar,[55] a Lebanese paleontologist and entomologist. Among these outcrops, 20 have yielded biological inclusions comprising the oldest representatives of several recent families of terrestrial arthropods. Even older Jurassic amber has been found recently in Lebanon as well. Many remarkable insects and spiders were recently discovered in the amber of Jordan including the oldest zorapterans, clerid beetles, umenocoleid roaches, and achiliid planthoppers.[54]

A snail and a few insects trapped within Burmese amber

Burmese amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar is the only commercially exploited Cretaceous amber. Uranium–lead dating of zircon crystals associated with the deposit have given an estimated depositional age of approximately 99 million years ago. Over 1,300 species have been described from the amber, with over 300 in 2019 alone.

Baltic amber is found as irregular nodules in marine glauconitic sand, known as blue earth, occurring in Upper Eocene strata of Sambia in Prussia.[23] It appears to have been partly derived from older Eocene deposits and it occurs also as a derivative phase in later formations, such as glacial drift. Relics of an abundant flora occur as inclusions trapped within the amber while the resin was yet fresh, suggesting relations with the flora of eastern Asia and the southern part of North America. Heinrich Göppert named the common amber-yielding pine of the Baltic forests Pinites succiniter, but as the wood does not seem to differ from that of the existing genus it has been also called Pinus succinifera. It is improbable that the production of amber was limited to a single species; and indeed a large number of conifers belonging to different genera are represented in the amber-flora.[33]

Paleontological significance

[edit]

Amber is a unique preservational mode, preserving otherwise unfossilizable parts of organisms; as such it is helpful in the reconstruction of ecosystems as well as organisms;[56] the chemical composition of the resin, however, is of limited utility in reconstructing the phylogenetic affinity of the resin producer.[1] Amber sometimes contains animals or plant matter that became caught in the resin as it was secreted. Insects, spiders and even their webs, annelids, frogs,[57] crustaceans, bacteria and amoebae,[58] marine microfossils,[59] wood, flowers and fruit, hair, feathers[3] and other small organisms have been recovered in Cretaceous ambers (deposited c. 130 million years ago).[1] There is even an ammonite Puzosia (Bhimaites) and marine gastropods found in Burmese amber.[60]

Skeleton of the frog Electrorana preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

The preservation of prehistoric organisms in amber forms a key plot point in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park and the 1993 movie adaptation by Steven Spielberg.[61] In the story, scientists are able to extract the preserved blood of dinosaurs from prehistoric mosquitoes trapped in amber, from which they genetically clone living dinosaurs. Scientifically this is as yet impossible, since no amber with fossilized mosquitoes has ever yielded preserved blood.[62] Amber is, however, conducive to preserving DNA, since it dehydrates and thus stabilizes organisms trapped inside. One projection in 1999 estimated that DNA trapped in amber could last up to 100 million years, far beyond most estimates of around 1 million years in the most ideal conditions,[63] although a later 2013 study was unable to extract DNA from insects trapped in much more recent Holocene copal.[64] In 1938, 12-year-old David Attenborough (brother of Richard who played John Hammond in Jurassic Park) was given a piece of amber containing prehistoric creatures from his adoptive sister; it would be the focus of his 2004 BBC documentary The Amber Time Machine.[65]

Use

[edit]
Solutrean amber from Altamira in the Muséum de Toulouse

Amber has been used since prehistory (Solutrean) in the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments, and also in folk medicine.

Jewelry

[edit]
Pendants made of amber. The oval pendant is 52 by 32 mm (2 by 1+14 in).
Amber necklace from 2000 to 1000 BCE

Amber has been used as jewelry since the Stone Age, from 13,000 years ago.[1] Amber ornaments have been found in Mycenaean tombs and elsewhere across Europe.[66] To this day it is used in the manufacture of smoking and glassblowing mouthpieces.[67][68] Amber's place in culture and tradition lends it a tourism value; Palanga Amber Museum is dedicated to the fossilized resin.[69]

Historical medicinal uses

[edit]

Amber has long been used in folk medicine for its purported healing properties.[70] Amber and extracts were used from the time of Hippocrates in ancient Greece for a wide variety of treatments through the Middle Ages and up until the early twentieth century.[71] Traditional Chinese medicine uses amber to "tranquilize the mind".[72]

Amber necklaces are a traditional European remedy for colic or teething pain with purported analgesic properties of succinic acid, although there is no evidence that this is an effective remedy or delivery method.[70][73][74] The American Academy of Pediatrics and the FDA have warned strongly against their use, as they present both a choking and a strangulation hazard.[73][75]

Scent of amber and amber perfumery

[edit]

In ancient China, it was customary to burn amber during large festivities. If amber is heated under the right conditions, oil of amber is produced, and in past times this was combined carefully with nitric acid to create "artificial musk" – a resin with a peculiar musky odor.[76] Although when burned, amber does give off a characteristic "pinewood" fragrance, modern products, such as perfume, do not normally use actual amber because fossilized amber produces very little scent. In perfumery, scents referred to as "amber" are often created and patented[77][78] to emulate the opulent golden warmth of the fossil.[79]

The scent of amber was originally derived from emulating the scent of ambergris and/or the plant resin labdanum, but since sperm whales are endangered, the scent of amber is now largely derived from labdanum.[80] The term "amber" is loosely used to describe a scent that is warm, musky, rich and honey-like, and also somewhat earthy. Benzoin is usually part of the recipe. Vanilla and cloves are sometimes used to enhance the aroma. "Amber" perfumes may be created using combinations of labdanum, benzoin resin, copal (a type of tree resin used in incense manufacture), vanilla, Dammara resin and/or synthetic materials.[76]

In Arab Muslim tradition, popular scents include amber, jasmine, musk and oud (agarwood).[81]

Imitation substances

[edit]

Young resins used as imitations:[82]

Plastics used as imitations:[83]

  • Stained glass (inorganic material) and other ceramic materials
  • Celluloid
  • Cellulose nitrate (first obtained in 1833[84]) — a product of treatment of cellulose with nitration mixture.[85]
  • Acetylcellulose (not in the use at present)
  • Galalith or "artificial horn" (condensation product of casein and formaldehyde), other trade names: Alladinite, Erinoid, Lactoid.[84]
  • Casein — a conjugated protein forming from the casein precursor – caseinogen.[86]
  • Resolane (phenolic resins or phenoplasts, not in the use at present)
  • Bakelite resine (resol, phenolic resins), product from Africa are known under the misleading name "African amber".
  • Carbamide resins — melamine, formaldehyde and urea-formaldehyde resins.[85]
  • Epoxy novolac (phenolic resins), unofficial name "antique amber", not in the use at present
  • Polyesters (Polish amber imitation) with styrene. For example, unsaturated polyester resins (polymals) are produced by Chemical Industrial Works "Organika" in Sarzyna, Poland; estomal are produced by Laminopol firm. Polybern or sticked amber is artificial resins the curled chips are obtained, whereas in the case of amber – small scraps. "African amber" (polyester, synacryl is then probably other name of the same resine) are produced by Reichhold firm; Styresol trade mark or alkid resin (used in Russia, Reichhold, Inc. patent, 1948.[87]
  • Polyethylene
  • Epoxy resins
  • Polystyrene and polystyrene-like polymers (vinyl polymers).[88]
  • The resins of acrylic type (vinyl polymers[88]), especially polymethyl methacrylate PMMA (trade mark Plexiglass, metaplex).

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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Bibliography

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