How Old Is An Amber Stone

Amber is made up of fossilized tree resin. It is millions of years old. As such, it is a time capsule containing souvenirs from the early history of life on our planet. Ancient beads and carvings testify to the beauty that even prehistoric man found in this organic gem.

Amber is the gem that glows like honey or sun-drops. Most scientists agree that it would be unlikely to find something so ancient. Most amber is 25 to 50 million years old.

The color of amber gem varies from yellow to dark brown to almost black. Amber is very rarely found in green and blue-gray colors. The color of amber denotes the area from where it has originated. Also one can judge the age of the amber from its colour.

The amber gem was used by Paleolithic man in Austria (45000 - 12000 B.C.). In the Mesolithic age, the nomadic hunters (12000 - 4000 B.C.) used amber to hunt animals. They carved phases of the moon, hunting seasons and the animals that they hunted on amber.

The Neolithic man (4000-1900 B.C.) started using amber as decorative articles and jewels. The rich people of these societies usually owned amber jewelry and used to gift it to their friends and relatives.

Later, towards the end of the eighth century B.C. the Greeks started using amber for inlay work in gold and ivory. Romans used amber gemstone in the first century B.C to first century A.D, where they made rings and vessels out of amber.

Ancient Greeks called amber 'Elektron' - meaning 'made out of the sun'. One ancient account explains that 'amber is the juice of the setting sun that congeals in the sea, which is why it can be found on beaches.

The amber stone was mined in the mountains of Lebanon by Aftim Acra, who has a collection of amber pieces containing 700 insects, including termites, moths, caterpillars, spiders, pseudo-scorpions, and midges. More than 1,000 extinct species of insects have been identified in amber.

The Baltic States and the Dominican Republic are the two main sources of amber in the market today. Amber from the Baltic is older and more valuable but amber from the Dominican Republic is more likely to have insect inclusions, which are prized by collectors.

The largest mine in the Baltic region is in Russia, west of Kaliningrad. Baltic amber is found in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Russia, and occasionally washed up on the shores of the Baltic Sea as far away as Denmark, Norway, and England. Myanmar (Burma), Lebanon, Mexico, Sicily, Germany, Canada, and Romania are other sources of amber.