Great South Gems & Minerals

• Amber, Copal, Rough •
(Colombia, South America)

• Amber, Copal, Rough •
(Colombia, South America)

fossilized tree resin - Baltic amber - Amber Copal

Amber is a fossilized tree resin. Copal is a term applied to amber of relatively young age. Baltic amber and that coming from the Dominican Republic is known to be in the 30 to 50 million years old range. Material coming from Colombia, South America is much younger that the Baltic and Dominican material. Amber from Colombia, South America is between 500,000 to about three million years old. These specimens from Madagascar are much younger, being in the range of 1,000 and 10,000 years old.

The oldest amber originates from the Upper Carboniferous period approximately 345 million years ago. The oldest known amber containing insects, according to Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopedia, comes from the Lower Cretaceous, approximately 146 million years ago. Amber/Copal is known for containing trapped insects, tree bark and other plant material, including leaves.

See Baltic amber at: www.greatsouth.net/fossils/p-F1113.html.
See Colombian amber at: www.greatsouth.net/copalpage.html.
Amber has been used by man for thousands of years in making jewelry, ornamentations and other handicrafts.

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