Spanning from Alaska to Madagascar, amber is found in lots of places across the globe. At present there are nearly 200 known amber deposits throughout the world and new ones are discovered every year.
According to science, all fossil resin, which is more than a few million years old, should be called amber, but just to be more accurate a place name is given: for example, Borneo Amber, New Jersey Amber, Dominican or Baltic Amber.
The largest deposits, however, are traced in Europe’s Baltic region, and Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Every region serves as a representation of a varying era of our Earth’s geology. The youngest form of amber is perhaps the Dominican amber that has a history of around 16 million to 25 million. Burmese or Myanmar amber can be traced back to 100 million years, and it is probably the oldest amber known to man.
Baltic amber is mainly found in the Baltic region, which includes countries like Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Sweden, Germany and Denmark.It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 tons of amber in the world, and about 80% of it is Baltic amber.Baltic amber is unique because it contains high levels of succinic acid, which is believed to have anti-inflammatory and healing properties. It dates back to more than 40 million years and like Dominican amber, it contains a range of flies, ants, insects, and tiny lizards. Here, in Baltic region, amber only comes up on shore when winds are strong enough to bring the amber pieces up from the seabed. Looking up in clumps of seaweed for pieces of amber, usually brings luck as amber commonly gets caught up in seaweed and flotsam.United States has a couple of places where amber is commonly found, such as New Jersey or Arkansas. Though Arkansas has the biggest deposits of amber, most sites are closed to the public and you will need to get permission to go try finding it.
Ancient sites where forests were present are generally good areas to search for amber. Yet scientists argue that amber is often not found in the same place it originated. This is because the resin-producing trees fell at some point in time, and the resin-coated logs were carried away by rivers or tides to deltas and coastal regions. Besides beaches, riverbanks are also natural environments where you can find amber.
Amber has a certain mystic, unearthly beauty to it, no wonder why people would want to find it. It’s as exciting as finding gold!