Amber is a fossilized tree resin. It was formed over millions of years. The amber originated from trees in an ancient rain forest. The tree sap (or resin) became buried and preserved. This resin was soft and tacky. Over time the resin went through a process called partial polymerization and it began to harden. After several thousand years, the tree sap turned into copal. It still wasn’t amber at this time, although some of the qualities were the same as real amber. Then, over millions of years, the volatile oils (called turpenes) that were trapped inside began to evaporate to produce amber.

Copal is much younger than amber. Some of it may even be as young as a few thousand years. Amber ranges from around 20 million years and older. Some amber from the Cretaceous period is over 100 million years old.

To learn more about fossil amber, click on the topics listed below:

• Common Insects Found in Amber
• Properties of Amber
• Amber Color
• Amber Authenticity Tests
• Amber Inclusions
• Sources and Age of Amber
• The Search for DNA

Check out our Amber Inclusions:
Amber Inside Amber, Ants, Amber Jewelry, Ant Larvae, Ant Pupa, Assassin Bugs, Bees, Beetles, Bristletails, Bugs, Caterpillars, Centipedes, Crickets, Earwigs, Eggs, Feathers, Fighting-Interacting-Carrying, Flies, Flowers & Buds, Gnats, Grasshoppers, Inchworms, Isopods, Jumping Plant Lice, Large Insects, Larvae, Leafhoppers, Leaves, Mammal Hair, Mating Insects, Microcosm (A Little World), Midges, Millipedes, Mites, Mites on Host, Mosquitos, Moths, Other Insects, Other Inclusions (Non-Insect), Other Botanical, Plant Hoppers, Praying Mantis, Pseudoscorpions, Psocids, Pupa and Larvae, Queen Ants, Rare/Unusual/Odd Inclusions, Roaches, Roots of Botanical, Scorpions, Seeds, Snails, Spiders, Spider Webs, Stalactites, Swarms, Termites, Thrips, Ticks, Twigs, Twisted Winged Parasites, Unusual Botanical, Webspinners (Zorapteran), Wasps, Water Bubbles (Enhydros), Weevils

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