How old is amber? - The oldest amber and its history

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When we say amber, we usually mean Baltic amber, which was formed more than 40 million years ago. But there are many more ambers - understood as fossil resin. The oldest are about 200 million years old and come from the Alps. Some 100 million years younger are the Lebanese and Canadian amber deposits.

To date, more than 100 fossil resins have been studied and described, each derived from a different species of parent tree, formed at different times, under different conditions and in different environments. Although they differ in their physical and chemical characteristics, they are all called ambers because they are resins hardened under natural conditions. Each of them is beautiful and unique in its own way, but not all are suitable for processing. The best known - because they are useful for the purposes of making jewelry stones and creating works of art and decorative objects - are Baltic amber, Dominican amber, Mexican amber, Burmese amber and Chinese amber.

The oldest among them is Burmese amber, dated at around 100 million years, which has been prized and used as an artistic material since the Chinese Han Dynasty (around 200 BC). Ca. 50 million years ago, Fushun amber was formed - although it has been mined since the beginning of the 20th century, it is highly valued in China and used mainly to create sculptures and exclusive jewelry. In third place in this age ranking is our native Baltic amber, which is more than 40 million years old and has been mined by man since Neolithic times (about 10,000 BC). Dominican and Mexican amber deposits are estimated to be 25 million years old, while Sumatran amber is estimated to be 20 million years old.

It is worth knowing that not all resin is fossil resin, and therefore not all can be called amber. The demand for Baltic amber ornaments has led to the appearance on the market of many younger resins used to create imitations, which we call copals. The age limit separating fossil and copal resins is considered to be 1 million years. The age of resins that are practically useful in jewelry making is much longer than this limit and generally exceeds several million years.

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