VIRTUAL AMBER MUSEUM

Amber from the North- and Baltic Sea

The best-known fossil resin in Europe is the Baltic Amber (called succinite; finding areas North Sea/Baltic Sea coasts. Most researchers are of the opinion that a pine tree can be held responsible for Baltic Amber. Until the middle of the 19th century amber was collected exclusively at the beaches. The so-called sea amber has only a thin crust. The sea with its constant movement makes the stones smooth, therefore they are often free of cracks and crevices.

A sea amber can also be covered with barnacles, this one comes from Büsum (see photo).

The largest and original deposit of Baltic amber is located between Gdansk (Poland) and the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. It is not quite clear whether everything originated here or whether it was deposited here by the rearrangement of the ice ages. However, many researchers suspect that the resin originates from the forests of Scandinavia, which partly grew in the area of the present Baltic Sea. The resin swimming in the water is supposed to have been transported by the ancient river Eridanus southwards and deposited at the estuary deltas around the Gdansk Bay. It is assumed that later glacial shifts distributed large amounts of amber towards the North Sea and the closer areas (to East England, Denmark, South Sweden, North Germany, North Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine).

Literature:

Ulf Erichson / Wolfgang Weitschat, Baltischer Bernstein, 2008 Deutsches Bernsteinmuseum Ribnitz-Damgarten

Foto Banner: Malgorzata Twardo