The number one of the great mysteries and the treasures of the world. And one of the largest in the deposit, the stuff is right here in the baltic sea. So we are in the clinic, rod region, trying to learn all the we can about this multi color the and want to meet cool is a geologist and painting intelligence. Amber is important to his work and hes the perfect person to give us some perspective. The 3rd one is to you. I see sounds of amber. Lets get right to it. Scientists disagree as to what exactly it is. Is it a stone . Is it a gym . Is it resin . What is amber . Exactly. The just need to start. Yes, im a good question. From a d, a logical point of view, you cant cool amber and mineral a minimal levine or a stone . Its an organic substance. Good. Fossilized resin or if this cup, im a small from a chemical point of view. Its an am office frame pull about its composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Its literally like most organic substances on us. They can also contain impurities, like sofa and other elements, means a lot is amber. Its fossilized present. During the fossilized resin from ancient plants was wondering if you have the ancient greeks new with them, but i dont get a garbage in small of these red in front plants. You agree to, as it does when he wrote about these, these, these 2 have some baltic drive that lived in the 1st century id said they collected fossilized residents, which contained remnants of plants. So full bath was back in ancient greece. And in the 18th century, calling this and the great, and if i use them and also for good us, almost similar tediously, get them into them, but it wont get, i can nature comes from plants to push the number is only found in the leningrad region. Theres literally, its just that theres a loss here. Ill tell you why a little later. And it can be found in many places around the world is mostly in the northern hemisphere. In 3rd, dominican amber is very famous as well as em, but from the move in his bottom i to to ask, theres also a lot of amber in the far north. You started in the polar regions for moving the tamia peninsula on suck. Eileen, near lake bank of steven them poolside as em. But when youre up in 3 places, i mean you can. And around cutting drugs, poland ukraines roof no region dependent, gemini, sex, any know the december is old, roughly the same age, but its very important to you said that the member throughout the world is a difference of geological ages, still stuck in some places. There is geologically young member and now those at smaller ancient. But many geologists may consider sucks unite to be true and sex with different types of them. But i have different names here, thought she was, this is called sucks. And i to, i mean, it exists here in leningrad, just enrolled in a gland in germany. Full arrest found in various parts of the world, so called amber like residence. Yeah. They differ in their physical and chemical properties. Theyre less dense lesson biscuits and really used to make jewelry clothes last, whats good about all around . You know, a sexy nicely. What is that . Its actively used in jewelry making me an interesting question is how amber foamed and when that happens to still stuck up. But as i will see me, scientists have different ways of measuring the age of um, amber. So what is the oldest known sample that we have available to us . Oh, no. Okay, yes maam. And you before it started cuz he said, well of course, its not as old as our planet tool. As we know from the oldest rocks. This is 4500000000 years old planet was formed around 4 to 6000000 years ago as well as the moon and the planet system, pointing up my system, of course. And there is a very young compared to the smaller amber, like the piece in my hand. That is around 37000000 years old. Its its, its geologically young. But theres more ancient them. But i used, for example, in burma, who am i am uh oh, its about a 100000000 years old. From the cretaceous period, houses from the polio gene period where theres amber gold, cocoa. Its very young, 30, a few 1000 years old. You can find it in japan and southeast asia. And in the southern hemisphere, you can find cocoa in ogden to, you know, if you wouldnt mind, its just a few 1000 years old. But how do we know the age . If we look at this deposit, what its a marine deposit from its ancient, see if it was its the same age as december. Is it possible that you can find a book in them but to a lesser degree, most pleasant, they will form see, but not the baltic sea. Yeah. The book takes that youve geologically, your insurance. Its 10 to 12000 years old. Um yeah, because it was formed in iglesia lake. It was when the baltic sea is now. This came from a melting garcia. Its about 20000 years ago. But before that this land was dry hunter. And under these calm, re, in Shallow Water conditions, i thought of the sealed clay and some deposits foamed what we see here, a sort of condemned to 2 to 3 meters. And the rest of it was a different kind of deposit gold with blue, suitable blue ground bed watching and amber is highly concentrated, press sized suite in this blue us and the origin, the sole amber reserves can be found in blue with us. Why is that . Why do we find am but here on the coast border, because this blue s extends out about 10 meters from the sea bottom, no thought with lips then. Then well see, wash it down to the end. There is lighter than water, its light. So it ends up on the b triple there, and we collected more yes, in most of the day. So about the age of amber, youve talked about that, but how long does it take for the resident to actually become amber itself, which flows. And of course, thats very complicated because these a ring deposits titled and performed on land comes from trees. So there are many hypotheses about this. One of the theories is that the was a shelley water see here, and ive also left them there where theres land. A river flowed 37000000 years ago just. It was cold enough to spend the forests growing throughout all of this area that produced this resident. The resident fell into the river and here the same way were was it smells weird fluid in to a goose and all that. And, but from the river, accumulated in this marine settlement for set the basis of the chemical physical transformation of arisen into m. There is complex and its still not completely clear how because its not known how long it spends in the soil is blue. Or if it fell directly into the river, or if it lay in the ground and was then washed into it. Because model number like cotton or remember if the coco thats being dug up is very brittle, like a typical resin truck. Its not sticky with but very brittle. It just keep the sucks and it has a very Interesting Properties, but its very hard with a high melting point. Almost they can be found in different colors. And so want to use that tool connected to its origin because we still dont understand what kind of tree produce them. But for example, japanese em, but was produced by the goodman s trees. But what exactly was collins by the way . Done snow cool for in the country, the main Scientific Research points those times raise. Because we find pine twigs in the embassy to spend the japanese umbrella pine. Thats also a kind of forestry, but still grows today. Just its also, its not really clear, but i think was a will eventually show us there comes up on your, your dooms, the book of it. What about this place itself . I know youve already mentioned that there are other places around the world where amber is available and you can find it. But is it often said that here in the baltic its the best quality, amber. Why . The baltic white here . A little thing about. Well, 37000000 years ago that was a completely different conditions. Now its cold like that, but then there was sub tropical conditions. Just it was quite warm. Well do it why . The continents were in about the same place as now. But with and talk like it, we had a continental drift until the ticket was connected to us strangely. Ill see if there was no end top takes component current. As of friday there was no ice cap on the arctic. And dr. Go here and there wasnt a temperance climate here. How do we know it was warm, sick of sex . And if there is the positive accumulated fossils from life forms that like teeth is coming that dont live in the baltics anymore. So this deposit is gold. Is emily a crime does . What does it mean that put on there are a lot of accumulated was if you search, you will find some what start to look good or no. First, find that the noise to show us the history event and alber, which of the key to living animal during the waste is in the baltic. Now lets look proctor and we didnt really have see a country is or muscles is really a completely different dynamos. Live here on the see mid look start to continue on with also little c h. And you can see yeah right here. Ok. So how does it gets here . I mean that we know that for a paleontologist like yourself. Amber is a very rich material for you to find history and to learn about our past. And what has been the coolest thing that youve been able to find. So youre just using, well, actually its not only fossils. We find a number bearing deposits. But in the amber itself, there are fossil inclusions, because thats very interesting because if the fossil loses, its structure are continually inclusions, because of the tiniest details like insect has include from apollyon to logical point of view. Thats a treasure trove. Whats the truth of new knowledge about the ancient and before is that existed here 37000000 years ago to collide what i would speak to myself, but about the ref finds you can come across and use it for examples to lizards have been found in both the kind of goes camel spiders that live in warm regions via you know, the majority of animals, we find the number of all for about the small animals that fell into it rather than trap. They couldnt get out and just remained to them. But it was, but its rare to find the big around them. It was because big around the most camera escaped from the resident. We very rarely find fleas because fleas on them all of our sites and they can jump very quickly. You know, so long ago, had was found from a memo. Weve never come across the premium will, for example, in dominican amber, which is more ancient. And boy, there was a famous dinosaur, will find you the hand of a small bird like dinah. So what i have to ask a lot of people have seen the movie Jurassic Park and are fascinated by the idea. In fact, when i telling people about amber, this is the 1st thing they ask me, is this something that scientists are working on to be able to extract the dna and maybe revived dinosaurs or something along those lines . The biggest thing thats a good question. This is actually if you look at the inclusions in the book, you can see find details, and smartgate, those dont work, but it turns out the defense, its a poly merick substance. Yeah, theres a diffusion takes place. What we see is the animal itself. Its a sort of animal print like a 3, the shadow of the animal itself. For the reason this practically no biological content, the reason the all to buy a new clay a gas, it has a quite complicated structure, the decomposes quite quickly, and its over about 500 years or so. They conducted some experiments. They took residence, todays residence, they bought insects and its just very different. So if im trying to sequence the dna, about 5 years went by, was the when no results showing that we could completely recreate dna item. And that was only after 5 years. And were talking millions of years. Unfortunately, amber is a poor trap for such old gun extractions when it comes to dna. Also, jurassic tough may be a great and beautiful fairy tale, but unfortunately, it is just a fairy tale. What about the clarity . If you have very Different Levels of color, sometimes its a milky sometimes if even blue is one of the rare colors, what gives amber . Its a specific color. And why is there such a wide range of things as milky and whats the transparent amber . It can be light blue or a greenish color. Oh, this depends on the embers chemical composition. Lets see if there are many aspects to consider. It depends on the kinds of impurity this was the amount of fracturing remo, fracturing the less transparent when there are a few of fractures, it can be highly transparent and wished when there are a lot of fractions, its more opaque and a solution, but most highly value them, but there is milky em, but because its stronger, think its the most commonly used in jewelry making. Theres also a roof and amber which is very fragile, but thats all connected to its physical chemical properties. But the chemical formular itself is always about the same, but do not cover search and see 14. 00, h, 16. 00 or 2 for that could be an inclusion of different elements. Just let me know if the junior, cuz you filament, for me. What about the physical characteristics . I mean member can float. Its not particularly dense. It actually burns, if you try and set it on fire, it can melts. What are some of the other characteristics of amber and why is it this way . Oh that isnt that what you know, the source machine city well, but has a lot of Interesting Properties in the summer and probably the most interesting it is. Its luminescence if we want to come here at night with an ultra violet light and turn it on and wed see how it glows in different colors of some new key, green transparent, luminous, light blue. Thats also caused by that old genic lattice that reacts to the ultra violet light, which she had what i have to ask. Im fascinated by her tattoos. I know that you love what you do and it shows in our conversation. But your tattoos, are they amber related as well . Or are these just random creatures that youve adorned yourself with . No level of fun question. Um we have some parental time, a probably on till logistics as i conduct research in various areas. Not only these em but bearing deposit seconds. My ph. D dissertation was im trying to but extinct maureen, offer pucks witness. Now to become a full professor. Im working on a paper thats also one ancient offer. Pods, immune system, oregon. So these are the kinds of species ive written about. Okay, so uh, yeah, so thats my style. I guess the year at the amber museum, including grad, they have one of the Worlds Largest collections of the precious stones. You do not creep on us is indeed exhibition curator here. And i bet sheets some stores to tell the email. Thanks for taking the time to meet us here. Um this is such a beautiful collection. I wanna ask, what has amber meant to teacher managing throughout the years . So she origin by chicago across the theres a lot to take in here because amber has great significance for me just came, we dont know exactly why it was considered magical, 4000 years ago. And thats what it seems that was magical. Is that where were at the beginning of the 80 period, the amber trade was making, it was connected with the romans who considered amber to be a magical stone because of a greek legend. The amber trade greatly affected the Economic Life of europe during that period, even though it started here. When the i asked he lived on this land estate later, amber became one of the most important materials traded between the hands, sciatic reed and the teutonic order. It is then a diplomatic gift, a gemstone, and the medicine for half before the majority of diseases. Since now it makes fantastic jewelry. And in principle, we can find amber throughout human history. So someone sure is chris put it. So either i know that there are a lot of legends surrounding amber. Uh, what is your favorite . Probably my favorite one describes the attitude of people in ancient rome towards amber, which has had an influence on many of us being able, its the story of a paste on your phone who suspected that he was the son of helio, the sun. God shall see us to drive his fathers chariot with its fiery horses, but couldnt cope with and was killed if the sub list and now according to the legend, amber is present and also the tears of the daughters of the sun, god shooting it. So this shows the attitude of the romans towards amber. Its the stone lights away in the after life. Well, theres a legend that started various violins were even coated with a powder of amber. What other uses are there for this stone . Youve always for this portion, or its been used for many Different Things to send or anything from Diplomatic Gifts to amber lenses for measuring the density of beer. And at some point, it was discovered that amber improve circulation, interstate, and can be used for blood transfusions. Grove, in the 17th century, or even earlier, many medicines contained amber. It was actually thought the amber was a cure for the plane. Although that may have been a legend started by amber catchers who spent a lot of time in water. So they had better hygiene and at the war with none, the less the spell doctors treating of the plague, to amber wisdom and put it in the beach masks. It was thought the amber or a unicorn horn, which was actually ivory and couldnt detect to poison any food or drinks to ship. Those things werent quite readily available. But they still thought it had these powers. There was a belief that amber powder or oils were very useful for treating diseases to me, but to find out which disease is exactly why youd have to collect prescriptions from all over europe. For example, theres one prescription from the pope, from the 13th century. This piece of property in school thing not split the so how does amber make its way from the mines in its natural state to jewelry and museum showcases, were able to get access to december coming up to a unique entity which handles the whole process. The like thank you very much for taking the time to bring us out here and see how this all goes down. So i have to ask, this deposit is about 50000000 years old. Uh, my understanding is to get something that all you have to go really, really deep. Maybe even down to the core or does the amber just kind of find its way up to the surface . Talk to me about that process. So there are some, do you have enough . Yes. A very valid question. Im. Were now located at the side of the biggest amber deposit on the planet with the to get to the layers with amber bearing clay. We have to move 50 to 60 meters. So waste or, you know, thats what most of our people work on. So we do 10 times more work removing ways to get to the blue earth. If the side has been in operation since the 1970 a month where theyd be extract it, 10000 tons of amber here. And theres got to be 100000 left voltage to so you and i surely wont live to see you over move. Can you read him thoughts . So talk to me about the whole process. So you dig, you find you process, talk to me, how do you find amber . A no much them. So whats the, well, any Mining Operation begins with geological exploration that the geologist search for the amber they could bore a whole new test and determine the con tours of the deposit. And its while you, instead of doing you after that would bring into miners. So you will already know approximately what depth will will find