Amber – Latvian Symbols

Amber plays a role in Latvian history and has always been an essential part of the Latvian cultural identity. In ancient times the amber found along Latvia’s Baltic Sea coast was considered ‘good as gold’ and was sought by Vikings as well as traders as far away as Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire. This led to the development of the Amber Road between Latvia and the Black Sea. Latvians, on the other hand, often refer to their Baltic Sea as The Amber Sea (Dzintarjūra) and have adopted amber as one of their most treasured cultural symbols.

Unlike other precious and semi-precious stones, Baltic amber (succinite) is formed from organic fossilized pine resin. Traditionally it has been used to create amulets, pendants, broaches, buttons, necklaces and intricate pieces of decorative jewellery. The way it absorbs body heat and the presence of succinic acid in amber has led Latvians to also use it for medicinal purposes. In 2007, a Latvian scientist discovered how to make hi tech thread and textiles from amber for use in advanced medical applications. This has led the fashion industry to began exploring new decorative uses for this ancient natural resource from the Baltic Sea.

Amber is fossilised pine resin (from the amber pine) which oozes out of the trunk and then sets. When it fossilised, it becomes amber. Often bits got trapped in the resin before it set, perhaps even insects (see right). The film “Jurassic Park” imagines that you could take a mosquito from a piece of amber, remove some dinosaur blood from the mosquito’s stomach, extract the DNA from the blood, and clone a dinosaur. This is impossible, but not completely impossible, and it makes a good story!