Amber was recovered from the Gravettian period La Garma A cave site in the Cantabrian region of Spain; but the amber is of local derivation rather than Baltic. The largest deposit of Baltic amber is near the town of Kaliningrad, where it is believed that 50% of the world’s Baltic amber can be found. Amber is a fossilized resin from coniferous (pine) trees that has been collected by people living along the shores of the Baltic Sea since the Bronze Age. Historians have named the event „The Gdansk Massacre”.
The amber market crashed, and Polish craftsmen were not permitted to work at their craft. They would find amber in lakes, rivers, and streams, as well as while digging ditches and wells or ploughing their fields. Amber was always present in their culture. Perhaps no civilization was fonder of amber than that of Rome. The art works produced at this juncture included sacred religious sculptures as well as practical objects such as boxes, candle holders, caskets, clocks, picture frames, and tableware.
Wet sediments of clay and sand preserve the resin well because they are devoid of oxygen.
Barabara Kosmowska-Ceranowicz has identified an ancient river course which she has named the ‘Eridanus’ and also an ancient delta at the mouth of the ‘Eridanus’, which has been called the ‘Chlapowo-Sambian’ delta.
The geological reason for the concentration of amber rings in this region has been described by a number of authorities N.O. Holst, the Swedish State Geologist referred to an ancient river called the ‘Alnarps’ which he wanted to call the ‘Amber River’.
The source of most of this baltic amber has for many years presumed to be the extinct species of tree Pinites Succinifer.
This conviction has been recently confirmed by Albert Bogdasarov, a Byelorussian mineralogist who recommends the wearing of amber necklaces, especially by children, in areas of intense radiation caused by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.