This is a geological amber sample from Cuchía, analysed as part of the study. [Credit: M. Murillo-Barroso and Alvaro Fernandez Flores]
Posted on 09/02/2018 2:13:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Amber and other unusual materials such as jade, obsidian and rock crystal have attracted interest as raw materials for the manufacture of decorative items since Late Prehistory and, indeed, amber retains a high value in present-day jewellery.
'Baltic' amber from Scandinavia is often cited as a key material circulating in prehistoric Europe, but in a new study published today in PLOS ONE researchers have found that amber from Sicily was travelling around the Western Mediterranean as early as the 4th Millennium BC - at least 2,000 years before the arrival of any Baltic amber in Iberia...
"Interestingly, the first amber objects recovered in Sicily and identified as being made from the local amber there (known as simetite) also date from the 4th Millennium BC, however, there is no other evidence indicating direct contact between Sicily and Iberia at this time... It is plausible that Sicilian amber reached Iberia through exchanges with North Africa. This amber appears at southern Iberian sites and its distribution is similar to that of ivory objects, suggesting that both materials reached the Iberian Peninsula following the same or similar channels."
Senior author Professor Marcos Martinón-Torres, of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge adds, "It is only from the Late Bronze Age that we see Baltic amber at a large number of Iberian sites and it is likely that it arrived via the Mediterranean, rather than through direct trade with Scandinavia."
"What's peculiar is that this amber appears as associated with iron, silver and ceramics pointing to Mediterranean connections. This suggests that amber from the North may have moved South across Central Europe before being shipped to the West by Mediterranean sailors, challenging previous suggestions of direct trade between Scandinavia and Iberia."
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
This is a geological amber sample from Cuchía, analysed as part of the study. [Credit: M. Murillo-Barroso and Alvaro Fernandez Flores]
Purty.
And like jade, it's still hanging on as a gemstone today.
More BS from acedamnia=
AMBER FLOATS1
I haven’t seen Amber at the bar in ages.
And where are her lamps?
:origin()/pre00/8500/th/pre/f/2010/047/c/c/ambalamps_by_amberlamps.jpg)
But not all wood floats!
Last I heard she was doing time for illegal entry into Western Europe with no passport...
Another article, same dig, same amber samples, different paper, different picture:
These are geological amber samples. Credit: Murillo-Barroso et al., 2018
She was there, but the only bars she pays attention to now are the ones on her phone. Wish she'd upgrade.
Just don’t approach her on a straight tequila night...re John Anderson.
Just don’t approach her on a straight tequila night...re John Anderson.
Just don’t approach her on a straight tequila night...re John Anderson.
worth repeating ;)
Shows Mediterranean currents flowing from Sicily along western coast of Italy, to southern France and to east/south coasts of Spain. weelll duhhhh.....whoda thunk it?
Very interesting, thanks for posting that. It makes sense.
So Europe has Sicilian amber and Baltic amber, but it doesn’t have amber waves of grain like the US does.
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![This is a geological amber sample from Cuchía, analysed as part of the study. [Credit: M. Murillo-Barroso and Alvaro Fernandez Flores]](https://media.eurekalert.org/multimedia_prod/pub/web/179206_web.jpg)
