Baltic amber is among the most prized trade items for millennia. The European amber trade starts in Sicily, with exports to other Mediterranean regions. From the North Sea and the Baltic, amber finds its way to the Iberian peninsula by c. 4000 BCE.
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As supplies of Sicilian amber (simetite) run low, the southern trade fizzles and amber from the Baltic Sea (succinite) appears in Mediterranean ports. The Amber Roads are among the first trade routes. Accessible waterways south include the Oder, Neman and Vistula Rivers.
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The largest, original deposit of Baltic amber is between Gdansk, Poland and the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. From northern Lithuania on the Baltic coast, traders define routes through to Italy and the Mediterranean. The roads later extend north to begin at St Petersburg.
Amber is also found in the North Sea, identified with that of the Baltic, an enormous Carboniferous forest buried beneath the waves and silt. From the Baltic, amber "drifts" to the North Sea. Sea amber tends to be smooth due to repetitive wave action.
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Until the middle of the 19th century amber is collected at the beaches and by dredging shallow waters with hand-held nets on poles. In this way it's still often collected today. Early evidence of Baltic amber in the Mediterranean comes from a cave find dating to 3634 BCE.
According to the Smithsonian, in Neolithic times salt from central Europe is traded for amber and other goods from the north. The amber is further sold to Mediterranean traders. Sophisticated Neolithic trade systems pass through settled regions.
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Another favorite item of Neolithic trade is obsidian, the volcanic glass, with a network in East Turkey focused on a workshop settlement near Lake Van. Long-distance obsidian trade appears in the Levant c.14,000 - 6500 BCE.
Evidence of copper (c. 8700 BCE) and gold metallurgy; trade in linen (c. 30,000 BCE) and surplus food; and use of dyes such as woad (Cave of l'Audoste, France c. 8800 BCE) are recorded. Trade networks open paths to previously inaccessible regions.
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The oldest known trackway or constructed footpath in northern Europe is Sweet Track in England, built to cross marshland. Tree ring analysis of the wood dates it to 3807 BCE. Over land and waterways, early trade routes promote interaction with other cultures and customs.
Amber is fossilized resin, achieving a stable state through chemical changes while buried in earth. Amber is found throughout the world with the most significant deposits along the shores of the Baltic Sea in sands 40,000,000 to 60,000,000 years old.
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The resin comes from an ordinary pine or fruit tree. Liquid and viscous when it emerges from the trunk, the resin hardens when exposed to air. Insects, tiny artifacts or air bubbles become entrenched in the translucent sap and preserved as it solidifies.
After two to ten million years, the resin is ready. Translucent Baltic amber is golden to deep orange red. Other shades are pale gold, yellow and green. Blue amber is found in the Dominican Republic, while Canadian amber is dark to bright red.
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Later Romans are fascinated by the golden glass-like nuggets and chunks of the Baltic stone. It's Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE who first identifies amber as a type of resin, due to the fragrant pine scent when it's burned as incense.
According to the Pliny, in his Natural History (77 - 79 CE):
"Pytheas says that the Gutones, a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the Ocean called Mentonomon ... one day's sail from this territory is the Isle of Abalus [Baltia], upon the shores of which, amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form; as, also, that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbors, the Teutones."
Also according to Pliny, Sophocles believes amber is produced in the countries beyond India. He asserts they are tears shed for the defunct hero Meleager by weeping birds called meleagrides.
Amber is connected to the Aesti, a Baltic-Germanic group in today's Lithuania and Poland. Writings from Roman historian Tacitus (Germania 98 CE) describe them. Roman statesman Cassiodorus, in the name of Theodoric the Great (r. 475–526) sends them a letter.
Amber symbolizes the power of the Sun. It's given as offering to the Greek Apollo. Beads of Baltic Amber are found in the tomb of Tutankhamen (d. 1324 BCE). The formation of the oldest amber recovered dates to the late Carboniferous period (320 million years ago).
The Greeks call amber "ḗlektron" due to its ability to attract light objects such as lint and feathers when briskly rubbed. Friction causes static electricity as a negative charge builds in the amber.
Based on the Greek term, Romans name a silver-gold alloy electrum. It's used to make the first coins in history. An excellent conductor of electricity, electrum has applications today in nanotechnology.
During the long reign of the Hohenzollerns (c. 1061 - 1918), amber belongs to the Prussian royal family. It is illegal to collect or even pick up a piece of amber on the shore.
From 18th century St. Petersburg comes the mystery of the Amber Room. A chamber of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors, it's built for Catherine the Great and considered an Eighth Wonder of the World. During WWII it's dismantled, and disappears.
In ancient China, amber is burned for ceremonial purposes. In folk medicine and spiritual use, amber draws disease from the body and aligns the right and left sides of the brain. The energy of amber refreshes the nervous system and turns sluggish energy to focused vitality.