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The small village of Nida on the Curonian Spit was first mentioned in written sources in 1385 AD when Teutonic Knights moved through the area on their way to plunder and baptize the Lithuanian lowlanders who up until that time had clung to the old pagan ways. The Curonian Spit is named after the Curonians, the western tribe of Balts who reached the height of their strength in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Collected by the local population right up to the early twentieth century, whole families along the coast used to make their living gathering amber. At one time, amber was called "scoopstone" because of the nets used to gather it from the seaweed along the shore of the "Amber Sea," the Baltic.	the 'amber coast' Dating back to prehistoric times, the waves and winds of the Baltic Sea formed what is known as the Curonian Spit on Lithuania�s famous "Amber Coast." Running roughly southwest to northeast, the spit which varies from 430 yards to 2 � miles wide, is a sixty-mile-long bank of pine trees and sand dunes separating the Baltic and the Curonian Lagoon -- an area the Baltic Sea has used for thousands of years to deposit high quality amber, torn from the ocean floor by strong tides and fierce storms. lithuania's 'curonian spit' photo: curonian nat'l park In marshy regions or areas where the tides were unpredictable, amber was collected on horseback by "amber riders" who used poles and nets called "amber-catchers." The author of a seventeenth century book about amber also described "amber divers" who carried a wooden spade to loosen amber from the sea floor. As the world's only source of amber until relatively recently, from at least 1200 AD on, unauthorized trade in amber gathered along the Baltic was a risky business for anyone caught circumventing the draconian "Amber Laws." The unauthorized collection of amber -- that is, escaping the supervision of the local potentate's "Beach Master" or "Beach Rider" -- invited dire punishment. To further prevent the theft of unworked amber, workshops were placed as far from the source as was feasible, in Germany and Prussia.
In the early 1300's in the Danzig area, local fishermen were inclined to disregard amber regulations until the supervising friar introduced a procedure to hang everyone caught gathering amber -- without a judgment or trial -- and to do so on the nearest tree. Anyone caught at the crime scene was hanged without any investigation. The largest pieces of Baltic amber on record were found on the coast of Prussia (now part of Russia or Poland): one weighing nearly 15 lbs. was found in 1803, and another weighing a little over 21 lbs. was found in 1860. In the city of K�nigsberg (now Kalingrad, Russia), it was forbidden to even own or possess any unworked pieces of amber. Jurate is *also known as juras mate, meaning "sea mother."*	a government monoply copper engraving, 1744; gibbet in an 'amber town' Closely monitored, amber was strictly a Government monopoly; one coastal village after another was �adorned� with gallows for amber-thieves. For example, when large parts of the Baltic came under Prussian law in the 1600's (after having been conquered by the Order of Teutonic Knights), "those charged with stealing one fourth of barrel of simple amber, over four pounds of fine white amber or over two pounds trade amber (lumps over four loth) face the gravest penalty, death by hanging." jurate & perkunas Engaged to the Baltic god of waters Patrimpas, the beautiful mermaid goddess Jurate lived in an amber palace at the bottom of the sea. But, seduced by the beauty and courage of the humble fisherman Kastytis, throwing his nets every day, she disobeyed Perkunas, master of the gods, and invited Kastytis into her palace. In anger, Perkunas hurled his lightning, destroying the palace and killing Kastytis. Ever since then, Jurate, chained to the ruins of her home and beaten by the waves, wails in the storm and weeps tears of limpid amber which the sea throws back on the shore.
Its beautiful radiance resembling the sun, amber was highly prized by ancient Stone Age sun worshipers who believed it was solidified sunshine -- "the juice or essence of the setting sun congealed in the sea and cast up on the shore." Baltic amber beads found in the pyramid complex of Teti, date back to 3400-2400 BC. During his excavations at Troy (1871-1890), German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found amber beads among the artifacts that scientists determined were brought from the Baltic coast 3,000 years before. He also discovered Baltic amber in Crete when he uncovered Mycenaean domed tombs built around 1600-800 BC. The earliest written record of amber in Egypt is from 883 BC. Carved on a stone obelisk, it reads: "Ashur Nasir Apal, the ruler of Assyria, sent his people to the land of amber where the seas wash amber ashore like copper..."	the 'jurassic gem' Harvested, traded and crafted into decorative objects for at least 13,000 years, amber, the "Jurassic gem," has a long and rich history. The earliest pieces of amber worked by man, Palaeolithic-era beads from 11,000 - 9,000 BC, were discovered in southern England near the Cheddar / Creswell crags in an ancient cavern called Gough�s Cave. The next-oldest trove is from around 7,000 BC. Said to be in a "remarkable state of preservation," it was discovered in the county of West Zealand in Denmark, in an ancient peat bog. Sometime during the Bronze Age (4,000 � 3,000 BC), or possibly even as early as the late Neolithic Age (7,000-4,000 BC) as farming began to supersede hunting as the predominate culture, and as larger settlements and villages began to appear, a remarkable expansion in the trading and exchanging of commodities with other tribes and groups in the Baltic area occurred -- including the trading of amber. It is during the Bronze Age that the very earliest "Amber Road" trade routes were established, as demand for amber spread to Central and Eastern Europe, and within a relatively short time, as far as Egypt. neolithic amber photo: amber museum, palanga; lithuania By 1700 BC, the Minoans had established jealously-guarded trade routes from Knossos to Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Scandinavia where they traded amber, copper, ivory, amethyst, lapis-lazuli, carnelian, gold, and other important commodities. When the Minoan civilization was destroyed around 1200 BC, it was the Phoenicians who most aggressively attempted to fill the void. Prospering on the Mediterranean coast north of Palestine from 1200 to 800 BC, the Phoenicians were the major sea traders of the time and amber was a prime commodity for them.
In The Odyssey , Homer describes an amber necklace belonging to a distinguished Phoenician merchant, and he also mentions amber jewelry -- earrings and a necklace of amber beads -- as a princely gift. It was Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (624-547 BC) who first described the electrostatic properties of amber, documenting its ability to attract small seeds, dust, and pieces of cloth when rubbed against wool. The Greek word for amber, elektron> , meaning "substance of the sun," is the source of the word electricity . According to Pliny, amber protected people of all ages from "attacks of wild distraction." Roman physicians recommended a mixture of amber powder and Attic honey to be taken internally to improve poor sight -- however, only reddish ambers were considered effective. Painful earaches were said to be cured by a medication of finely powdered amber, mixed with honey and rose oil. Pliny recorded that when Nero compared the hair color of his wife, Empress Poppaea (d. 65 AD), to amber, "from that time on, respectable women began to aspire to this color."	urine of the lynx With minor deviations, both the Greeks and Romans accounted for the origin of amber through shared myths that more or less followed the same story line: tears of the gods Helios, the Greek sun god, had three daughters, Aegiale, Aetheria, and Aegle -- known as the Heliades or "Children of the Sun" -- and one son, Phaeton. One day, Helios allowed his son to drive his 'chariot of the sun' across the sky. Phaeton, inexperienced, couldn't control the horses. Falling ever nearer earth, he nearly set it on fire. Zeus had no choice but to strike Phaeton out of the sky with a thunderbolt whereupon he plunged out of the sky into the river Eridanus, dying. His sisters, the Heliades, stricken with grief, shed copious tears into a river which ran into a 'great sea,' grieving so long that even the gods felt their grief. Taking pity on them, the gods changed the three sisters into popular trees, their arms branches, their legs trunks, and their tears amber. Years later, the sea is still throwing the sisters' tears onto the shore. Between the secrecy surrounding Minoan and Phoenician trade routes and commodity sources, and the age's general lack of scientific knowledge, fanciful 'facts' about amber flourished: Callistratus (d. c.360 BC), Athenian statesman and orator, believed that "people subject to attacks of wild distraction" were usually cured when powdered amber was taken in a little wine. Sudines (ca. 240 BC), an astrologer living at the court of Attalus I of Pergamum, stated that "amber is the product of a tree that grows in Liguria (a region of Italy), a tree known as the lynx." And, according to a first-century AD Roman senator and historian, amber was formed from the urine of the lynx: the tawny, dark sherry colors being the product of the male, and lighter colored ambers being produced by the female. However, Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), Roman historian and naturalist, noted in his History Naturalis: "Amber is formed by the pith which flows from trees of the pine species, as a gum flows from cherry trees and resin from pines."
Glessum " was the Latin equivalent of the ancient German word for amber, glesse , meaning something like "luminous" or "shine" -- and the origin of the English word "glass." More ambiguous than the "Silk Road" (that connected China to India and Europe and which followed the same basic route century after century), the "Amber Route" (or Road) refers to all the land and sea networks established between northern and southern Europe to convey amber, tin and other coveted goods from north to south as well as items such as gold, wine, olive oil, and glass beads in the opposite direction. Romans had immense confidence in the curative properties of amber, especially in the treatment of ailments such as tonsillitis, goiter, croup, asthma, hay fever and infections of the throat -- to this end amber was worn as a necklace or pendant. A collection of amber at the Archaeological Museum at L�Aquila in central Italy is said to include ladies� toiletry articles, mythological figures, genre figurines, pieces in the shape of fruit, and a collection of rings with female heads, all from a comparatively short period, 60�160 AD. So intense did the demand for amber become that Pliny complained "a small statue of a man in amber was more expensive than the cost of a live and healthy slave."	the 'amber route' Again, Pliny, ever the acute observer stated that the geographic origin of amber was "in the islands of the north of the Northern ocean that is called Glessum by the Germans." For this reason, when Germanicus Caesar (15 BC-19 AD) commanded a fleet in the 'Northern ocean' (Mare Balticum), the Romans named one of the islands Glessaria (or Glaesaria). ancient amber routes While no significant amber trade was established on Germanicus Caesar's expedition, the timing (ca. 8 AD) does roughly coincide with the beginning of Rome's two century love affair with amber. It's possible that no civilization was fonder of amber than that of Rome: starting in the early years of the first century AD, demand for amber was so great within the Empire and its colonies, that it eventually drove the creation of various "Amber Routes" from points on or near the Mediterranean to various points on the Baltic � all for the purpose of securing amber. The most significant single event which seems to have kicked off the amber frenzy in Rome is a gladitorial 'circus' hosted by the Emperor Nero (54-68 AD), a lavish event meant to impress. Pliny records: "... the Roman knight who was sent to procure amber... traveled over the markets and shores of the country, and brought back such an immense quantity of amber that the nets intended to protect the podium from the wild beasts were studded with buttons of amber. "Adorned likewise with amber were the arms, the biers, and the whole apparatus for one day. The largest piece the knight brought back weighed thirteen pounds." By ca. 250 AD, the frenzy was over, and by ca. 400 AD, the point at which the Roman Empire goes into rapid decline, the history of amber slides from view. By the early fifth century, the demise of the Empire was all but complete and the Dark Ages had begun its inexorable sweep across formerly Roman or Roman-controlled lands. From this time on, until the early Middle Ages, except for the Anglo-Saxons and Celts, close to amber's source, literary and historical references to amber all but disappear.
Hortus Sanitatus , a herbal book written by Jacob Mayden Bach, published in 1471, shows the earliest representation of the fabled 'amber tree' in the form of a woodcut. Of unknown origin at the time, because it was found most frequently on the shores of streams, in old lake beds, or in the sea, some thought it came from a fish called the "amberfish." Others believed it came from crystallized seafoam or from tree resin (imagine that...). So, when the artist of Hortus Sanitatis , was required to portray amber, he cleverly composed all these legends, producing a foaming ocean in which an "amberfish" swims under an amber tree growing out of the waters. Clear and mostly colorless amber was considered the best material for rosary beads in the Middle Ages due to its smooth silky feel and its warm, translucent deep yellow form.	gold of the north the medieval woodcut; medieval life illustrations Fast forward to the early Middle Ages. As Europe began waking up from its deep sleep and prosperity began to soar, so did demand for "Gold of the North," not only for adornment and religious objects like rosaries but as medicine. Camillus Leonardus, physician to Cesare Borgia and author of Speculum Lapidum ("Mirror of Stones") (1502), wrote: "Succinum or amber being taken inwardly, it provokes urine, brings down the menses and facilitates a birth.... amber naturally restrains the flux of the belly; it is an efficacious remedy for all disorders of the throat. It is good against poison. If laid on the breast of a wife when she is asleep, it makes her confess all her evil deeds. It fastens teeth that are loosened, and by the smoke of it poisonous insects are driven away." As outbreaks of bubonic plague, cholera, and typhus periodically swarmed across towns and countries taking a heavy toll on the inhabitants, fumigation with the smoke of burning amber was recommended as an effective preventive measure. Whether or not this helped, in 1680 a Matthaus Praetorius noted that "during the plague not a single amberman from Gdansk, Klaipeda, Konigsberg or Liepaja died of the disease."
Art historians have determined that the luminous depth that marks works of the Old Masters was acquired through the application of varnishes high in crushed amber content. Wildly popular at the turn of the nineteenth century, during a five-year period from 1895-1900, a million kilograms (approx. 455,000 lbs.) of Baltic amber was made into jewelry. In the 1920's, one-half of the production of amber went for the manufacture of articles for smokers -- cigar/and cigarette-holders, and mouth-pieces for pipes. Probably the single most important factor in driving demand -- on which the industry is still riding -- was the hit movie, "Jurassic Park." For many months after the movie's release, millions of viewers wanted to own a bit of nature's 'time capsule.' And, pre-Internet, retail stores couldn't stock enough.	the 'amber room' The art of skillfully working amber into beautiful objects d'art flourished in Europe from the late sixteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century, especially in the Northern Germany, Prussia, Poland and the Baltic countries. Nothing better illustrates this period of amber art than the famed Amber Room. Created for Prussian King Friedrich I (1657-1713), in the early eighteenth century, the amber panels became a gift from his son King Frederick William I (1688-1740) to Czar Peter (1672-1725) the Great. restoration of 'amber room' panels When completed, the walls of the Amber Room -- consisting of twenty two panels -- were completely covered in a mosaic of more than 100,000 intricately carved pieces of amber. In 1755, the chamber was installed in the Catherine Palace outside St. Petersburg, where it remained for nearly two centuries. In 1942, during World War II, the panels were dismantled and hidden by the Nazis in the old Teutonic Order's Krolewiec Castle in K�nigsberg, the old capital of East Prussia (now Kalingrad, Russia). Despite extensive searches, the panels have never been recovered and many experts believe they were probably destroyed when the castle was bombed and burned down in 1945. In 1979, the Soviet Council of Ministers decided to recreate the famous Amber Room panels. The work was painstakingly performed by amber carvers of the Museum of Tsarskoye Selo and the re-created room is now open to the public.