What is amber? Where and how much are it mined, and why is it so appreciated?

Amber is a legendary stone. The ancient Greeks, who, incidentally, were the first to guess about the true nature of amber, composed a legend about the son of the sun god, who asked his father for permission to ride in the sky.

Not immediately Phoebus, the lord of the heavenly movement, allowed Phaethon to take the reins of the solar chariot in his hands. The father's fears were not in vain: the weak young man could not cope with the restive horses. Rushing too close to the ground, the sun burned out the forests, evaporated rivers, killed people. Greece, green until that day, turned into a rocky peninsula, a desert formed in Africa, and the people who survived there turned black from the heat.

Thunderer Zeus was forced to intervene. The unlucky driver, killed by a lightning strike, fell into the river. The mother and sisters of Phaethon, in grief, the youth bending over the last font, turned into trees, but they did not stop crying. Their tears, falling into the water, became amber and were carried away by the water into the sea. That is why, until now, amber is found precisely on the sea shores ...

A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it ...

The most interesting thing is that the factual legend about Phaeton is not so wrong. Greece was once truly a wooded area. In Africa, on the site of the Sahara Desert, rivers flowed and dense tropical thickets rustled.

Amber really looks like the tears of trees - only the ancient conifers "cried" not for a millennium or two, as the legend might imagine, but for tens of millions of years. Moreover, in different regions of the Earth - which makes it possible to estimate the undiscovered reserves of amber in sedimentary rocks in billions of tons.

There is a lot of amber on Earth! But of what kind?

Theoretically, the amber extracted should be counted in thousands of tons, since the coniferous vegetation of the planet spent, according to modern estimates, 102 million years for its "production". The actual extraction of amber is estimated at a few hundred tons per year ...

This is partly because fossilized tree resin is an unstable substance and does not withstand high temperatures or pressures. In addition, the great depth of the amber-bearing strata can make the extraction of the sunstone so difficult that it will surpass gold in price.

So, it turns out that only those amber that nature took care to hide shallowly fall into the hands of people. The sea often helps out: amber is floating, its density is lower than that of water. Therefore, storms, eroding the seabed, bring amber to the surface, and winds, currents and waves carry the precious stone to the shore.

Why exactly "amber"?

In different languages, the name of the fossil tree resin sounds differently. The Germans call the jewel simply: bernstein - "combustible stone". Repeats German transcription and Ukrainian "burshtyn". Many European languages have adopted the Arabic term Anbar, which refers to amber. In the Greek language, the word "electron" has taken root - a descendant of the star Electra, shining for us with amber-warm light from the constellation Taurus.

The Russian "alatyr-stone" is a modification of the Greek term, which is difficult for foreign language speech. But the Latvian "dzintars" comes from the verb "ginti" - "to protect". Latvians made protective amulets and charms from amber, which was found in abundance in their domains.

Succinic acid is a truly precious constituent of amber

Succinic acid, of which the Baltic amber contains up to 8%, is an important substance for any living organism. Taking part in oxygen metabolism, succinic acid promotes cell growth.

Doctors of antiquity used natural amber in a variety of formulations for almost all diseases. They brushed their teeth with ground amber. Diluted with honey, it has been used to treat stomach ailments. In the Middle Ages, amber was used as an external cosmetic and wound healing agent.

Nowadays, the practice of extracting curative succinic acid from amber is recognized as ineffective. Today it is synthesized in the required quantities without the use of fossilized pine resin.

Not only in the Baltic

Nine tenths of the world's amber jewelry mining is carried out on the Baltic coast. But this does not mean that only the Baltic States and the adjacent coasts of the North Sea are rich in sun stone.

A lot of amber is mined in the Dominican Republic. Like Baltic amber, Caribbean amber is mostly yellow, but it can be reddish, green, and even blue. In Ukraine, near Rovno, several tons of amber are mined a year, and the quality of the fossil gem is practically indistinguishable from Baltic amber.

One of the most ancient in the era of origin is Taimyr amber. Scientists estimate it to be 115 million years old! Only Lebanese amber is older: their age reaches 135 million years. The most ancient Baltic amber is not more than forty million years old.

The art of amber processing

Amber is easy to machine, adheres well, but does not tolerate changing operating conditions very well. Amber needs dry warm air - then it retains its priceless external qualities for a long time. Is it any wonder that the Egyptian pharaohs still valued amber as a semi-precious stone worthy to adorn the highest regalia of a monarch?

Set with gold amber found their place in the crowns of Roman emperors. Lenses were sometimes made of stones of sufficient size and good optical quality, which helped aristocrats with weak eyesight to see the world.

However, the art of amber processing reached its greatest flourishing in those countries where artisans discovered ways of gluing amber blanks. Thus, boxes and cabinets inlaid with multi-colored amber were born; walking sticks and staves assembled from polished amber strung on a steel axle, cups, tea utensils and even watches made of amber.

The history of Peter's Amber Cabinet is well known, how beautiful, just as fragile and capricious in storage. Soviet art critics did not dare to disassemble the decoration of the Amber Office for fear of irreparably damaging the delicate details.

Before the occupation, the walls, lined with amber mosaics, were pasted over with paper, cotton wool, and a cloth with a camouflage pattern. The measures taken, as you know, did not help to preserve the masterpiece of world significance ...

The history of amber can be traced back to the history of mankind. The Sunstone has lived next to us for as long as humanity itself exists. And it will not leave us until the end of time.

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