Amber is a semi-precious gem that is formed over eons by natural
forces out of the resin of trees. Human fascination with amber
dates back to prehistoric times, when it was probably considered to
have magical powers and was used for adornment and trade. Amber
amulets and beads dating from 35,000 to 1,800 B.C. have been found,
and where they have been found (for example in graves hundreds of
miles from their chemically determined origins) has often helped to
establish ancient trade routes. The preservative qualities of plant
resins were well known by the ancients. The Egyptians used resins
to embalm their dead, and the Greeks used them to preserve their
wine. Amber often preserved fossils, frequently in a pristine
state, of all kinds of animal and plant organisms that made contact
with the sticky substance and became trapped in it. These fossils
include such fragile organisms as nematodes and mushrooms that
ordinarily are not preserved under normal processes of
fossilization, as well as larger organisms like scorpions and
lizards, and the fossils are preserved in their full
three-dimensional form, complete with minute details of scales,
mouth parts, antennae, and hairs. It has even been suggested that
viable DNA may persist in some amber-trapped organisms. This book
is a compendium of all that we know about life found in amber. It
surveys all life forms, from microbes to vertebrates and plants,
that have been reported from amber deposits throughout the world,
beginning with the earliest pieces dating from some 300 million
years ago. It also describes the formation of amber and the
location, geological history, and early exploration of the major
world amber deposits, including those stillbeing worked today. The
book also provides practical information on how to determine fake
amber containing present-day forms of life. It can serve as a
beginning for tracing the geological history of a particular group
of animals or plants or even reconstructing ancient
paleoenvironments, and because amber fossils are preserved so
completely, in a transparent medium, they can be intimately
compared with related living species. Finally, the book discusses
what amber fossils can tell us about evolution and speciation,
cellular preservation, and paleosymbiosis. The book is illustrated
with 37 color photographs, 154 black-and-white photographs and
drawings, and 8 maps.
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