HYDRAULIKPRESSE 2/2013 - einseitig - Hansa Flex

DID yoU know...? scHOn GeWussT...?
schon vor über 10.000 Jahren wurde Bernstein zu schmuck
verarbeitet.
amber was being worked for ornamental purposes as much
as 10,000 years ago.
worked to form items of adornment at a very early
stage. So archaeologists regularly find amber beads
and other items of jewellery in treasure caches or
among burial objects. and these finds are not by
any means limited to a given geographical region.
For example, a necklace consisting of about 3,000
amber beads was recovered in the excavation of a
3,000-year-old urn grave close to Ingolstadt. Such
an item must have been of practically incalculable
value in its time. at digs in southern england, archaeologists
found two gold rings, each of which
was inlaid with a sliver of amber. But the remarkable
thing about the find was this: an almost identical
artefact was found in Mycenae, which was an
important commercial centre in the Bronze age
(about 1500 years before the Common era). and
amber jewellery dating from more than 6,000 years
ago has even been found in egypt.
early GlOBalisaTiOn
Scientific analyses of the amber artefacts found
in egypt have revealed that the amber originated
from the southeastern region of the Baltic Sea
coast. then, as now, the Baltic region was a major
source of amber – particularly the Samland Peninsula
in the former east Prussia, which is now part
of russia in the kaliningrad region. archaeologists
are therefore puzzled as to how amber jewellery
might have travelled all the way to north africa in
such early times. there can only be one explanation:
trade in amber must have been flourishing
3,000 years ago. In a documentary entitled “Die
Bernsteinstraße” (the amber route) broadcast by
the arte television station in the summer of 2012,
archaeologist Dr timo Ibsen followed one of the
possible trade routes from thebes to the Baltic region.
In the programme, the archaeologist’s route
is compared with a virtual journey to the Baltic Sea
coast undertaken by an egyptian 1,400 years ago.
the first stop on the journey is the archaeological
site at Qatna in Syria, where a well-preserved
amber lion was excavated. the route taken by timo
Ibsen then passes through the city of Uluburun
in southern turkey, where a large number of amber
beads were discovered in a sunken trading
ship, and on to Mycenae. Significant amber finds
have been reported here, too. the route continues
through the Brenner Pass in the alps, whose very
name may quite possibly be derived from the old
German word for amber, Brennstein. other stations
on this possible trade route include the ancient settlement
of Bernstorf near Freising in Bavaria, which
according to ancient legend enjoyed vast wealth,
Ingolstadt, nebra, where the famed sky disc was
discovered, and neustrelitz. whether amber was really
traded between the Baltic Sea and north africa
in this way is still open to question. But it is beyond
dispute that such trade routes did exist.
FascinaTinG prOperTies
But why are people so enthralled by amber? one of
the reasons may be that it can be worked very easily,
and has a unique appearance. But it owes its appeal
mostly to its extraordinary properties. amber
floats in salt water and can be charged electrically
by rubbing. Its most remarkable feature, though, is
the fact that amber burns readily, which is why it is
called burning stone. when exposed to a flame, it
gives off a resinous fragrance. So it was often used
for ritual purposes, and even today it is used as a
substitute for incense in India. today, the largest
amber mining site in the world is near the town of
Jantarny, not far from kaliningrad. In 2008, about
500 tons of amber were extracted, 90 percent of
which is used for manufacturing varnish. although
in our times it is used almost exclusively for a very
mundane purpose, amber has still lost nothing of its
fascination. •
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