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Wonderful and unique - what makes Polish amber different and why is it so popular?
Commemorative souvenirs and VIP gifts, interior decor, sacred icons, and relics, author's jewelry, and household utensils - all that is not made from Ukrainian fossil resin on yantar.ua. The age of the oldest gemstone products is calculated in thousands of years, and yet they have not lost their warm, truly sunny glow, charming texture, and rich iridescence of tone. But what makes our stones so high-quality, attractive, and durable? This article will tell you their secrets!
From ancient myths to academic expertise - how amber appeared
The origin of shimmering gems has long excited the imagination of researchers. Greek and Roman thinkers Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Herodotus and Claudius Galen, Arabs Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Abu Bakr ar-Razi, medieval physicians - the forerunner of pharmacology, discussed it in their treatises. Along with proto-scientific theories, there were also folklore ones: dozens of legends and fairy tales were written about golden stones, where they were described as the tears of an underwater mistress who lost her lover, the blood of a brave young man who dared to ride on a divine chariot, a heavenly treasure stolen by people, or the nectar of magical flowers Such errors were widespread until the Enlightenment (XVI-XVIII centuries), and in some places, they are passed on from mouth to mouth to this day.
However, over time, amber was subjected to more and more perfect and thorough evaluation. Here are some creative hypotheses:
- Georg Agricola (1494-1555, German mineralogist and philosopher) considered the radiant gems to be bitumen (a viscous petroleum compound) that was released from cracks in the seabed and solidified under the influence of salty waves. Then the tides rolled these particles, turning them into cabochons (round stones resembling pebbles) and throwing them ashore;
- His views were shared by the Dutchman Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680, engaged in physics, natural sciences, mathematics and linguistics) and Andreas Aurifaber (1513-1559) - an encyclopedist from Prussia, author of the world's first monograph on amber, which collected all available moment information about precious stones;
- Andrea Cesalpino (1519-1603, a physician and naturalist from Italy) claimed that sparkling nuggets are resin that drips into lakes and streams with special impurities;
- Franz Hartmann (a German naturalist who lived in the 18th century) believed that amber, as well as petrified wood, only visually resemble organic substances - in fact, they belong to the so-called vein rocks that formed at the site of eruptions of hot magma ;
- The German Heinrich Ludelf (1655-1712) claimed that luminous cabochons are formed when rock oil (a solid mixture of magnesium sulfate and salts washed out of rocks by rain) and sulfuric acid end up in the ocean and react with urea, a product of fish life and plankton;
- The original doctrine was put forward by Georges-Louis de Buffon (1707-1788, French biologist and writer). According to her, precious stones are the crystallized honey of prehistoric bees!
However, already in 1757 and 1761, the works of Mykhailo Vasylovich Lomonosov (a Russian erudite scientist) were published, where the plant nature of the amber stone was arranged. The properties of gems given in the manuscript served as irrefutable evidence: for example, the almost identical consistency of cabochons and the gum of modern spruces and cedars, the pleasant resinous aroma they emit when burned or crushed, and inclusions (inclusions) inside intact fragments - they hid intact decomposition of leaves, insects, grains of other minerals.
Gradually, well-argued theses gained general support. And in the XX-XXI centuries. they were confirmed by the latest experiments of the International Non-governmental Mineralogical Association (International Mineralogical Association), conducted using radiological, magnetic tomographic, spectral and ultrasonic analysis. Now, amber in the strict sense of the word is recognized only as the hardened resin of huge pines Pinus succinifera and some other conifers that grew 100-23 million years BC. is.
Then the climate was much warmer and more humid, similar to the equatorial one, and the giant trees released inexhaustible streams of golden juice. Upon contact with oxygen and loose clay-sandy soil, it oxidized, becoming covered with a brownish-brown coating, and clumped together, and the springs that sufficiently penetrated the undergrowth carried them to the sea.
This is how the colossal Palmniken deposit was formed, covering most of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, Estonia, Lithuania, southern Latvia, western Belarus, and right-bank Ukraine. To celebrate the unique strength and beauty of the local gems, they were called succinites.
However, the actual geography of the areas where precious stones were found is much wider. It is characterized as the amber Baltic-Dnieper province, which, in addition to the regions listed above, includes Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Romania and Transcaucasia. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that about 2.5 million years ago, the last ice age of the Cenozoic era came - titanic masses of ice moved across Europe, almost reaching the Mediterranean Sea. They literally lumped and crumpled everything in their path, seizing layers of earth and gems hiding in them. Due to this process, as well as due to melting and circulation of waters, Baltic cabochons were scattered around the world - from the Far East and Siberia to Portugal and Finland. Such deposits are called secondary or quaternary - in reference to the geological period that contributed to their formation.
In addition, fossil resin is found on other continents - from North America to Australia. But its quality is much worse - for example, African copals can be pressed with a fingernail, Burmese burmite is dull and fragile, and Canadian cedarite ambrite is very polluted and interesting only to archaeologists.
You decide which amber is better - the information provided here will allow you to make a balanced and sober choice. And our online store will be happy to help you purchase unique, hand-made products according to a special project - from rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets to figurines, panels and lamps. They will give you positive emotions, cheerfulness and inspiration, please your family and friends, delight guests, enliven the home environment, protect you from despair, boredom and troubles!