[000 00 00;00] the the number one of the great mysteries and the treasures of the world. And one of the largest deposits of stuff is right here in the baltic sea. So we are in the clinic, rod region, trying to learn all the we can about this multi goal was to meet cool is a geologist and painting intelligence. Amber is important to his work and hes the perfect person to give us some perspective. The 3rd one is here. Um i see sounds a member. Lets get right to it. Scientists disagree as to what exactly it is. Is it a stone . Is it a gym . Is it resin . What is amber . Exactly. The just need to be a part. Yes. And somebody was a good question from a dia, logical point of view, you cant cool amber, a mineral, a minimal whole levine or a stone. Its an organic substance, good, fossilized, resin or if this got by most smoking like chemical point of view, its an im office frame, paloma, its composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Its literally like most organic substances on us. They can also contain impurities, like sofa and other elements, means that water is amber. Its fossilized resident for 2 of the fossilized greg information plants. I was wondering if i still have the ancient greeks new with them, but i dont get a call origin smaller and is origin from plants even you agree to as it does when he wrote about these these, these 2 have some bolted drive that lived in the 1st century 80 said they collected fossilized resident, which contained remnants of plants so for, for that was back in ancient greece. And during the 18th century, calling this and the great me, if i use them. And also for almost similar tediously determined that and that is all get i can nature and comes from plants to push the number is only found in the leningrad region. Its just that theres a lot. Yeah. Is it any, ill tell you why a little later. And it can be found in many places around the world, mostly in the northern hemisphere. Dominican number is very famous as well as them, but from them its moving as boma. Theres also a lot of amber in the far north in the polar regions move in the time you have a tendency left on cell cutting, near lake bank of serial and both fridays. Um, but when youre up in 3 places, i mean you can and around the coming drugs, poland, ukraines rough in the region dependent gemini section. A move in december is old roughly the same age, but its very important that the m bus throughout the world is a difference of geological ages through the stuff. In some places, there is geologically young, amber and now those at smaller ancient. But many geologists may consider sucks unite to be true and excellent. Different types of em, but i have different names here. This is called sucks, and i to name it exists here in leningrad, just enrolled now and in germany. Full arrest found in various parts of the world of gold, amber like residence. Yeah. They differ in their physical and chemical properties. Theyre less dense lesson biscuits and really used to make jewelry clothes. Last, whats good about all around . You know, a sex, and i say well, is that its actively used in jewelry making me an interesting question is how amber foamed. And when that happens, im just going to still talk about as i will see. Mm hm. Scientists have for ways of measuring the age of um, amber. So what is the oldest known sample that we have available to us . Oh, no. Okay. Yes maam. And you think were started cuz he said, well of course its not as old as our planet or as we know from the oldest rocks, the is 4500000000 years old. Oh, planet was formed around 4 to 6000000 years ago. As well as the moon and the planet system is just of course, amber is very young compared to the smaller amber, like the piece in my hand is around 37000000 years old. Its its, its geologically young, but theres more ancient amber. I used for example, in burma, who am i am a oh, its about a 100000000 years old. From the cretaceous period, houses from the polio gene period. It would be with the design, but gold, cocoa, its very young, 30, the fuel cells in dsl. You can find it in japan and south east asia, and in the southern hemisphere, you can find cocoa in argentina if you wouldnt mind. Its just a few 1000 years old. But how do we know the age of all . And if we look at this deposit would become a reading deposit from an ancient see if it was, its the same age as december. Does it become worth it . So you can find a book in them, but to a lesser degree must be as low as they were formed in a sea, but not the baltic sea. Yeah, the baltics that you dan logically young. Sure. Its 10 to 12000 years old. And yeah, because it was formed in iglesia lake, it was with the baltic. Sea is now. This came from a milton garcia. Its about 20000 years ago. But before that, this land was dry hunter. And under these calm, re, in Shallow Water conditions, a sealed clay and some deposits foamed what we see here, a sort of tends to 2 to 3 meters and the rest of it is a different kind of deposit gold. What blue fillable, blue ground bed watching and amber is highly concentrated press nicely in this blue us and a fortunately, sol and the reserves can be found in blue with us. Why isnt that . Why do we find am but here on the coast border, because this blue ethics stands out to about 10 meters from the sea bottom, no thought with lips, then well see wash it down here. And the other is lighter than water. Its light. So it ends up on the b triple that we collected. Yes, it most of it, right . So about the age of amber, youve talked about that, but how long does it take for the resident to actually become amber itself if the which flows and thats very complicated because these im a ring deposit that and performed on land comes from trees. So there are many hypotheses about this. One of the theories is that the was a Shallow Water see here, and ive also left them there. Where does land . The river flowed 37000000 years ago, just it was cold enough to spend the forests growing throughout all of this area that produced this resident. The resident fell into the river and here the same way were supposed its miles where it fluid in to a google and all that. And but from the river, accumulated in this marine settlement on the basis of the chemical physical transformation of arisen into m. There is complex and its still not completely clear how because its not known how long it spent in the soil is blue, or if it fell directly into the river. Or if it land the ground or see thing was then washed into it. Because model number like cotton or remember if the kopel thats being dug off is very brittle, like a typical resin truck. Its not sticky with but very brittle. Its just you but sucks. And it has a very Interesting Properties, but its very hard with a high melting point. Yeah. Its almost like can be found in different colors and so on and use that tool connected to its origin because we still dont understand what kind of tree produce them. But whats your booth, for example, japanese them, but was produced by the group industries. But what exactly was lines finally done . Snow well for in the currently, the main Scientific Research points those times raise. Because we find kind twiggs in the embassy to spend the japanese umbrella behind. Thats also a kind of forestry, but still grows today. Just, its also, its not really clear, but i think was that it will eventually show us that comes up on, you know, mostly i believe the book of us. What about this place itself . I know youve already mentioned that there are other places around the world where amber is available and you can find it. But it is often said that here in the baltic, its the best quality, amber. Why . The baltic white here . Im not talking about that as well. So do you said 1000000 years ago that was completely different conditions now its cold like that, but then there was sub tropical conditions because it was quite warm. Will the why the continents were in about the same place as now, but with and talk like it, we had a continental drift until the ticket was connected to us strangely. There was no and optics component current as a friday. There was no ice cap on the optics and dr. Go and there wasnt a temperate climate here. How do we know it was warm, like a sucks and if there is deposits, have accumulated fossils from life forms that like pete is coming that dont live in the baltics anymore. This deposit is gold. Is emily a credit . Otherwise, theres electron, there are a lot of accumulated, was if you search, you will find some will start to look it over the 1st find the noise to show us the history event and number of which the heat loving animals. And then the last is in the baltic. Now, lets look here and we didnt really have see countries or muscles usually with completely different animals live here on the see bed look start to continue on with also little c h and you see yeah, right here. Okay. So how do they get here . I mean, we know that for a paleontologist like yourself, amber is a very, a risk material for you to find history and to learn about our past. And what has been the coolest thing that youve been able to find. Uh were just using, well actually its not only fossils. We find a number bearing deposits, but in the under itself there are fossil inclusions because thats a very interesting because if the fossil loses its structure, manually inclusions because of the tiniest details like insect passing through from a poly into logical point of view. Thats a treasure trove. Whats the truth of new knowledge about the ancient and before is that existed here 37000000 years ago to collide what i would speak to myself. But about the raf signs you can come across and remember, these are examples to lizards have been found in built. It kinda goes camel spiders that live in warmer agency. As you know, the majority of animals, we find the number of trip on the small animals that fell into a red and trap. They couldnt get out and just remained to them, but it was, but its rare to find the big around them. It was because big around the most can to escape from the resident. We very rarely find fleas because fleas on them all the power sites and they can jump very quickly. Not so long ago had was found from a memo. Weve never come across the premium will, for example, in dominican amber, which is more ancient and boy there was a famous dinosaur, will find you the hand of a small bed like dinah. So what i have to ask a lot of people have seen the movie Jurassic Park and are fascinated by the idea. In fact, when i telling people about amber, this is the 1st thing they ask me, is this something that the scientists are working on to be able to extract the dna and maybe revived dinosaurs or something along those lines . The, just the, thats a good question. This is actually if you look at the inclusions in the long as you can see, find details and musky does the work. But it turns out the defense, its a poly merick substance. Yeah, theres an, a diffusion takes place. What we see is the animal itself. Its a sort of animal print like a 3 d shadow if the and well itself. For the reason this practically no biological content, thats the reason the all to bible nucleic acid has a quite complicated structure. It decomposes quite quickly over about 500 years ago. So they conducted some experiments. They took residence, todays residence, they bought insects and its just very dizzily. So if im trying to sequence the dna about 5 years went by, was the one no results showing that we could completely recreate dna item. And that was only after 5 years, and were talking millions of years. Unfortunately, amber is a poor trap for such organic structures when it comes to dna. Also, Jurassic Park may be a great and beautiful fairy tale, but unfortunately, it is just a fairy tale. What about the clarity . You have very Different Levels of color. Sometimes its a milky sometimes. If even blue is one of the rare colors, what gives amber . Its a specific color. And why is there such a wide range of things as milky and whats the transparent amber . It can be light blue or a greenish color. Oh, this depends on the embers chemical composition. So lets see if there are many aspects to consider. It depends on the kinds of impurity this was the amount of fracturing before the mole fracturing the less transparent. When there are a few factors, it can be highly transparent when there are a lot of franchises, its more opaque solution, but most highly value them. But there is milky em, but because its stronger, think its the most commonly used in jewelry making. Theres also a roof and amber, which is very fragile, but thats all connected to its physical chemical properties. But the chemical formular itself is always about the same, but do not cover search and see 14. 00, h, 16. 00 or 2 for that could be an inclusion of different elements. Just let me know if through junior, because you filament, for me. What about the physical characteristics . I mean member can float. Its not particularly dense. It actually burns, if you try and set it on fire, it can melts. Uh, what are some of the other characteristics of amber and why is it this way . Oh that isnt that what you know, the source machine city well, but has a lot of Interesting Properties in the summer and probably the most interesting it is. Its newman essence. If we were to come here with nights with an ultra violet light and turn it on and wed see how it glows in different colors of some new key green. Those are transparent, luminous, light blue. Thats also caused by that organic lattice that reacts to the ultra violet light. So she had what asked to ask. Im fascinated by her tattoos. I know that you love what you do and it shows in our conversation. But your tattoos are they amber related as well . Or are these just random creatures that youve adorned yourself with . No level of fun question. Um we have some parental time. Appellate ontology is because i conduct research in various areas. Not only these and the bearing deposit seconds. My ph. D dissertation was im trying to but extinct maureen propoxyphene this now to become a full professor. Im working on a paper thats also one ancient author pods, immune system, oregon. So these are the kinds of species ive written about. Okay. So uh, yeah, so thats my style. I guess the, the, the here at the amber museum including drugs, they have one of the Worlds Largest collections of the precious stones. You do not keep on those is indeed exhibition curator here. And i bet sheets have some stories to tell the the email, thanks for taking the time to meet us here. Um, this is such a beautiful collection. I wanna ask, what has amber meant to humanity throughout the years . Origin by chicago across the now theres a lot to take in here because amber has great significance for me just because we dont know exactly why it was considered magical, 4000 years ago. And thats what it seems that was magically that where were at the beginning of the period the amber trade was making it was connected with the romans who considered amber to be a magical stone because of a greek legend. The amber trade greatly affected the Economic Life of europe during that period, even though it started here. When the i asked he lived on this land is the later amber became one of the most important materials traded between the hands, sciatic league, and the teutonic order. It is then a diplomatic gift, a gemstone, and the medicine for half before majority of diseases. So now it makes fantastic jewelry. And in principle, we can find amber throughout human history. So troy is priesthood. So either i know that there are a lot of legends surrounding amber. Uh, what is your favorite to the cross spoken . Probably my favorite one describes the attitude of people in ancient rome towards amber, which has had an influence on many of us valuable. Its the story of a paste on your phone who suspected that he was the son of helio, the sun. God shall see us to drive his fathers chariot with its fiery horses, but couldnt cope with, and was killed by the sub list. And now according to the legend, amber is present. Ready and also the tears of the daughters of the sun, god crushing it. So this shows the attitude of the romans, torrents amber, its the stone that lights away in the after life. Well, theres a legend that started various violins were even coated with a powder of amber. What other uses are there for this stone . Youve always, for this point, you know, its been used for many Different Things to send or anything from diplomatic gifts, this to amber lenses for measuring the density of beer. And at some point, it was discovered that amber improve circulation, interstate, and can be used for blood transfusions. Grove, in the 17th century or even earlier, many medicines contained amber exhibited, was actually thought the amber was a cure for the plane. Although that may have been a legend started by amber catchers who spent a lot of time in water. So they had better hygiene and at the war. But none the less, the spell doctors treating the plague to amber wisdom and put it in the beach masks. It was thought the amber or a unicorn horn, which was actually ivory and couldnt detect poison and food or drinks to ship. Those things werent quite readily available. But they still thought it had these powers. There was a belief that amber powder or oils were very useful for treating diseases for me to find out which disease is exactly why youd have to collect prescriptions from all over europe. For example, theres one prescription from the pope, from the 13th century. This piece of property in school thing not split the so how does amber make its way from the mines in its natural state to jewelry and museum showcases, we were able to get access to december coming up to a unique entity which handles the whole process. The like thank you very much for taking the time to bring us out here and see how this all goes down. So i have to ask, this deposit is about 50000000 years old. My understanding is to get something that all you have to go really, really deep. Maybe even down to the core. Uh or does the amber just kind of find its way up to the surface . Talk to me about that process. So there are some, do you have enough . Yes, a very valid question. Im. Were now located at the side of the biggest amber deposit on the planet to get to the layers with amber bearing clay. We have to move 50 to 60 meters, so waste, or you know, thats what most of our people work on. So we do 10 times more work removing ways to get to the blue earth. This side has been in operation since the 9th june 17th, and theyd be extract it 10000 tons of amber here. Theres got to be 100000 left voltage to so you and i surely wont live to see you over move to new region thoughts. So talk to me about the whole process. So you dig, you find you process, talk to me. How do you find amber to know the measurements . That was the well, any Mining Operation begins with geological exploration. I think you geologist, search for the amber. They get bored, a whole new test and determine the con tours of the deposit and its volume that are in your after that would bring into miners. So you will already know approximately what depth will will find average deposits, how much there will be. And we can already make some preliminary calculations and look at the kind of makes that shortly as far as the equipment is concerned. Remove 50 meters using various machine seen by employ, move the 1st 25 meters with small excavators and trucks, which take all the waste or is from the develop space and the pay of them. I mean, we remove the lower layers where you can find water that henders Vehicle Movement off with drag line excavators near which you can see over there about that arent affected by water adult. Wasting my arms, one bucket load can remove about 20 tons of waste or see if its, you know, thats what its doing now is. And when this excavator finishes its work, we will finally reach the top of the blue earth with a 5 meter deep layer of blue earth, which contains the amber. Will we need to lift this layer with the help of the excavator. And so keep with a powerful stream of sea water use. So after that, the slurry made up of sand mcclay and sea water as well as the amber itself, goes to our Processing Plant out of our separation and sorting stuff. Them very cool. Now when i think of amber, i think of small pieces with inclusions and them. What is the biggest piece of amber . Are the most exciting thing that you found here . Its a yes and i shall, and theyve got enough. So now i wont say about this. I but in general, 0 has been established that a piece of amber weighing 12 kilograms was found in the baltic coast in the 19th century. Its always, thats a very rare example on building i would say probably wasnt of the best quality because the bigger is a piece of amber. The more likely it is to have floss expecting that this far this side is concerned. Like a few years ago, we found a piece waiting more than 3 kilograms, so youll feel like its now in the sites, amber museum, where anyone who wants to see the categories are likely with a variety of shapes and large color palette. Amber has always been an inspiring medium for many artist piano. The Pumpkin Assembly has been looking at giving amber, a new perspective. Well, also preserving centuries of tradition, the piano, its always interesting to come into an Artist Workshop to see where everything happens. So thank you for the opportunity. I know that amber is quite fragile to work with. Is this an asset or is this something that harms you when youre working with a uh yeah, i was raised here in colin in grad and ive been coming to the coast and collecting amber since i was a child. Get a quote. It was very exciting. I knew it was light and fragile, even back then you simply fall in love with this material and little by little he learned to work with that you except its for jill at a nice but i have a project with but little bit here. Touch it. Yeah, you, i worked on the edge here slipping off pieces such so i played around with its for jill lity and it turned out like this book at all or so. There are advantages to e. Boy choice backwards dealer. How do you select a piece of effort to work with . Yeah, what to do next for so i use 2 methods. I lay out the amber, i buy it at the mill, then we cut it into the slabs and sort them by size. Okay, there are 2 options, basically do something with what you have or come up with an idea by carefully selecting each piece. You can go through everything there and then find none of it works for you. So even if you have a ton of amber, your idea might not fit. Its a very long process, but in any case, you have to find the right piece law. Settlement data to lay too. I know that some artists actually color the amber in some way. Do you color your amber specifically for a piece of work or do you like to use the natural color that exists . Yeah, which i only like to use natural amber, just natural colors without any chemicals or physical coloring. Just because its great is it is you can choose a piece of amber to work on, but with time its color will change. Its very interesting and how you execute your work will impact the color over time. And how it might look later. It depends on the artist of skill, but in i wanted to ask about that. Does amber actually change over time . Not just the color, but the, the texture of the emperor as well. Uh, for more its shape. Uh yes, its white. Amber for example. Here the oil evaporates little by little and this changes its structure a bit. But these are a Little Things that only a craftsman will notice. The color of this kind of amber will change a year by year. If you have a piece like this, you can take a picture of it every year, and every year youll see a different color. Its very interesting. So if we take amber of this usual golden color, it will start darkening 20 or 30 years later more. So thats quite a long time the more, but it will only become more valuable with time is valuable. Increase with that color. And its interesting that my favorite amber is black amber. I dont think its very well known color for amber. So it has an interesting peculiarity and that it does the opposite over time, becomes slightly gold. And every year its like a drop of gold is that as well . So its very interesting to observe a little bit of that. Very cool. Now youve touched on this a little bit before, but i see that you have a sketch over here. When you are working with amber, do you sketch out your ideas and then follow that pattern or just the amber speak to you . To give you an idea of what youre working on, you know ive learned how to make the stone work for me. Its you plan to work and already know which stone to work with, which is less vehicle quick. I need to come with a book. May i ask what youre working on right now, i guess to just deal with what im, what im, im doing this. Not long ago, they discovered a horde of valuables from 1300 b. C in cyprus and found pieces of amber. So people have been extracting december for all that time going into the sea and collecting it. And my project is called the emperor capture. Unfortunately, people die collecting this amber even now young people who havent really mastery scuba diving also die. So this idea came to me little bit, amber capture, whether its a realistic person or some kind of human form, worst call. And so im doing this kind of work now. And these are already finished forms of practically ready to be worked on whats good. So these are the shapes that im looking. Its also interesting. Thank you very much. I appreciate the i was afraid of robert f. Kennedy junior. Well, apparently everyone in the political establishment and mainstream mediates very much like donald trump, he says what he thinks the liberal tire to use. The den junior is fear because the spirit or the, the west african eco watch was orders that deployment of a fan by military force moving a potential intervention and the share one step closer. Uganda hit the fact that the world bank for suspending funding to the country unless come paula changes the strict homosexuality laws the one to cause us to actually a bundle of feet. You know, our cultural principles, you know, also going to because of money. But we will not allow you to not change because because of my, you know, thats one of the hopes and dreams of a whole Community Riding on this vast machine as it actually takes up rush ahead to