Amber Web Links

‘Oh, listen in the evenings,
When the sea is restless
And sprays the shore with amber
the depths unseen palm ...’

Maironis

There are numerous web sites out in cyberspace which address the topic of amber and inclusions in one form or another. Using a standard search engine such as Alta Vista or Ultra Find and inputting the key words ‘amber’ and ‘insect’ produces something like 200,000 returns. The problem therefore is not finding sites but sorting through them!

Here are a number of favoured amber sites. Some of them are well known, others perhaps rather more obscure. The following list therefore does not cover every amber site but certainly those recommended.

You will need to use a web browser to access these sites, usually Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. To display the site type in the URL as written below in the URL display window of your browser and press return. (A Uniform Resource Locator is an address in cyberspace for the relevant web site). Be careful, a single error or letter transposition will prevent you from accessing the correct site . Alternatively, if your browser supports this function simply double click on the URL address that might be highlighted and this will automatically take you to the specific site.

Happy Surfing!

http://www.ambergallery.com/

A second web site developed by Tammi L. Johnson, graduate of the University of Kentucky . This is a more commercial site which sells amber jewellery and pieces, but also has one or two pages of facts and data.

http://www.amberworld.com/
A recent search (Spring 1999) of the internet revealed this interesting site. Developed and maintained by Jens von Holt in Germany. It contains some basic facts on amber and some advice to the new collector. Some excellent photographs of insect inclusions make this site worthy of a visit.

http://home.t-online.de/home/Arnold-Heide/ebrnstrt.htm
A new and recent amber web site. The author lives in Germany and has created a straight forward, english language site. The layout is almost linear in fashion and wont win any prizes for web design. The content is however, interesting and with some useful links. Cetainly worth a visit.

http://www.emporia.edu/S/www/earthsci/amber/amber.htm
One of the best amber web sites on the Internet. A very simple layout, full of information and with ample coverage in most areas. The background colours can be a little garish and visually other than the photographs the layout has an elementary style. Updated perhaps once or twice a year.

http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Geology/webdogs/amber/welcome.html
A fairly new web site written by Tammi L. Johnson of the University of Kentucky, for WebDoGS. An organisation which brings eduational as well as entertaining pages to the internet. It contains a lot of information as well as pictures from the works of Grimaldi and Poinar who have both been kind enough to grant permission to reproduce many of the photographs from their books.

http://weber.u.washington.edu/~mrmeyer/amberhome.html
Designed by a graphics professional the site has simple and clean layout. The content covers some basic aspects of amber and its related studies. Its a shame the site is not larger and covering more than just primary details. Infrequently updated.

http://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu/008amber/index.html
A strange web site this one. The content appears slightly jumbled with links to different sections interspersed throughout the opening page and with no apparent structure for the reader to easily follow. Some interesting sections however are to be found. Never updated.

http://www1.uni-bremen.de/~i18m/amber.html
Included here only for one reason. The author of these pages collects Baltic amber and also takes stereo photographs. This particular page contains 13 photographs if amber inclusions 11 of which are stereo. A unique site for this reason alone. Infrequently updated.

http://amberlady.com/amberlady/index.htm
A commercial site run by a company specialising in amber jewellery and insect inclusions. Predominantly a site trying to sell you amber there are however some informative sections together with a page advertising and displaying some rather nice insect inclusions in Dominican Republic amber. One remarkable section has details of a partial lizard for sale contained in amber from Bitterfield, Germany. Worth a visit if only to look at this vertebrate. Infrequently updated.

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/amber/amber.html
The supporting web site for the recent amber exhibition at the American Natural History Museum in 1996. Some quality photographs and effective layout make this an excellent site to visit. I would hope and encourage the AMNH to extend its content to broader aspects of amber studies. Never updated since new.

http://www.kadets.d20.co.edu/~lundberg/amber.html
Quite an impressive site this with a different and engaging layout. Coverage is broad in terms of the issues it links to and some of detail contained within it. More frequently updated than many other of the amber sites and definitely worth a visit.

http://www.amberisland.com/
A relatively new commercial site selling amber. This time operating from the Dominican Republic. The photographed pieces are simply displayed as thumbnail pictures which can be enlarged by clicking on them. It is very effective and simple to peruse the range of inclusions for sale. The prices are also reasonable. Not much in the way background information however. Only recently published, updating policy yet to be assessed.

http://www.brost.se/
One of my favourite sites to visit. The site utilises ‘frames’ to make navigation of the site easier. It contains some superb photographs of insect inclusions and has a fairly broad coverage of amber studies. Essentially a site aimed at promoting the Museum its content is visually impressive and has obviously been developed with a lot of enthusiasm. Updated perhaps once or twice a year.

http://home.earthlink.net/~skurth/AMBER.HTM
Included here because of several photographs of insects taken from the Raritan formation of New Jersey. Never updated.

http://www.lava.net/FOSSILS/
A famous fossil dealing company which carries a huge line of amber and copal inclusions from the Dominican Republic, Africa and South America. A visually totally uninspiring web site, not a single graphic to be found, however the list of inclusions for sale is extensive and worth a visit if only to read the lists. Infrequently updated.

http://www.inyourpocket.com/knamber.htm#gotobar
Essentially a tourist guide web site, this particular section links to some fascinating background information concerning the local amber industry of Kaliningrad. Well worth a visit to read about the Yantarny (formerly Palmnicken) factory and the illegal digging and gathering of amber in this area. There are no graphics and no inspirational page layouts, essentially it is written text displayed in web page format. Never updated.

http://www.rnac.or.jp/~kohaku/
Japan has several amber deposits, but probably the most famous is centred in Kuji. The Kuji museum has developed a web presence and has several photographs of cretaceous insects discovered at this particular source. Unfortunately the site text is in Japanese and so drastically prevents non-Japanese reading visitors learning very much. Infrequently updated.

http://www.villaromantica.co.cr/amber/amber.htm
A web site dedicated to the Russian Amber Room project. The famous Amber Room, which went missing during the Second World War, is now slowly being recreated by Russian craftspeople. The site is in German and shows some examples of the work completed to date. Infrequently updated.

http://www.dominicana.com/m.ambar/english.htm
A commercial amber museum from the Dominican Republic has put together a website which looks at some aspects of this islands deposits. The museum looks particularly interesting.

http://www.ambermuseum.com/
Another commercial amber museum from the Dominican Republic. The museum also has a description and discussion by Manley & Poinar on a new discovery of a fossil velvet ant or mutillid discovered in the Dominican Republic amber deposit. The site is worth visiting.

http://www.rockhounds.com/
Bob's Rock Shop is probably the best resource on the internet for the rockhound. Constantly maintained and updated. This place should be visisted by anyone with an interest in rocks, minerals and fossils who serve the web.

http://members.tripod.com/~Snakefly/
A new web page developed by Yale Goldman in the USA. The site is an excellent starting point for young people wanting to find out about amber. They can even get a certificate from the site!

http://www.schatzsucher.net/amber/index.htm
This web site is dedicated to the search of the fabled Amber Room, it provides a series of links and information of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about this subject. Most of the site is written in German.

The Full Amber Link Miscellany

http://acm.org/~purdy/multi/Mosaic_DNA_Recover.html

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/bebop/amber.htm

http://amberlady.com/amberlady/collect.htm

http://everest.hunter.cuny.edu/bight/amber.html

http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~jbrown/jurassic.html

http://helios.cr.usgs.gov/gips/0amber.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~skurth/AMBER.HTM

http://issfw.palomar.edu/Wayne/WW0702.html#amber7a.gif

http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/Mineralo/AMBER/AMBER.htm

http://mist.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw27.html

http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/amber/whatisamb.html