Amber,
the golden gem of the centuries, has captured our hearts with its
beauty and radiance since
Paleolithic times (450,000 - 12,000 BC). Like the diamond (carbon), amber is the only other gemstone that comes from
organic matter (resin) and is the lightest gem in the world.
This golden sundrop of
fluoresced beauty, can also give us a three dimensional snapshot of life
20 million
to 231 million years ago! While still in resinous form, a flow of amber would
sometimes entrap and perfectly preserve prehistoric life from the Mesozoic to the
Cenozoic Eras.
There is no other gem that can quite match
the beauty and excitement of amber. We can synthetically duplicate diamonds and other gems
but we'll never duplicate fossilized amber unless, as in Jurassic Park, we genetically clone
extinct species!
[ Editors
Note: In 1996
we developed a microscopic video system to
study amber fossils and to test DSL capabilities for Bell Atlantic (Verizon). We also transmitted the first live microscopic video
examination of amber fossils over the Internet. Although part of this research is now finished, we'll continue to add
more images to the fossil database under the new name of Amberfossils.com. This
collection is privately owned and is used as a educational resource
for our schools.
To view
other educational sites we have produced please visit "A Last Salute" and "The
Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly)" at
http://www.espd.com]
