BALTIC AMBER

Amber is fossilized tree resin, formed by the amber pines (Pinus succinifera) that 40 million years ago (UPPER EOCENE) stood in the region known as Finland, Scandinavia, Poland and the Baltic States. The golden sap of those prehistoric trees, was hardened by time and temperature to give us this beautiful gem of the sea....amber.

All insects and fragments of vegetation trapped within are also millions of years old - those are some of the most ancient examples of ants, moths, bees, caterpillars, or pollen grains. That is why amber is such a treasure for paleontologists, scientists who research prehistoric flora and fauna.

Baltic amber accounts for about 88% of word's amber harvest. Small amounts are also found in Romania, Sicily, Greenland, Mexico and Dominican Republic.

Simply thrown by the autumn storms on to a Baltic beaches, amber, light, aromatic and warm, has fascinated people's imaginations for thousands of years. From immemorial times coastal inhabitants search for amber treasure along Baltic beaches. Most of the Baltic amber, however, do not come from the sea, but are mined inland in the coastal area from Denmark to Lithuania.

Through history amber has had many names:
Greek electron - coming from the Sun or stone attracting light objects.
Lithuanian - gintaras-amulet,
German - bernstein or brennstein - stone which burns
Polish - bursztyn - taken from German

The English amber, French - ambre, or Spanish -- ambar are from the Arabian word anbar - cachalot. Arabs produced an expensive perfume called "ambre" from the cachalot stomach. Probably the balsamic scent of burning amber accounts for the name of the stone.

The oldest, 30 000 years old amber amulet was found close to Hanover (Germany). The oldest 3-D amber sculptures, animal figures about 10 cm in size, without doubt used in ritual, hunting ceremonies dated around 7000 B.C, (MESOZOIC ERA) were found on the southern part of Baltic Sea.

Baltic amber was found in Danish, Greece, Mykenos, Mesopotamia, Egypt and along the Amber trail, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.