Amber is a hardened tree resin, consisting of compounds of terpenes,
alcohols, and esters. Trees produced it as protection against disease and insect infestation when the bark of a
tree was opened due to limb that broke away or attacks by wood-boring beetles, or for other reasons. After
oozing out, it hardened in wet sediments, such as clay and sand that formed at the bottom of lagoons or river
deltas and was preserved in the earth's crust for millenniums. The chemical composition of the resin acted as desiccant and
antibiotic which caused that animals like insects and non-insects (i.e. mosquitoes, flies, spiders, ants and their eggs and emerging
larvae) and even lizards and frogs, when caught in the resin, were entrapped and preserved as dehydrated fossil
inclusions, but without the shrinking effect dehydrations usually causes. They were kept in such a way that their
cellular structure and even fragments of the DNA can still be found today. This fact gave way to the background story of Spielberg's movie
'JURASSIC PARK'Amber from the Dominican Republic is renowned for
the diversity of inclusions it contains. Amber lovers, scientists and collectors alike value Dominican Amber for
the three rare "treasures", which are scorpions,
lizards and frogs. Probably only 30 to 40 scorpions, 10 to 20 lizards and 8 or 9 frogs have been found worldwide.
A piece of Dominican amber was discovered in 1997 and valued at over 50,000 US$. Why? I contained a small frog,
preserved in a magnificent way. The occurrence of insects in Dominican Amber is about 10 times higher than in
Baltic amber.
Enhydros (air and water inclusions) may enhance the colour effect and add beauty to a piece of amber, even dust
particles and stalactite formations might be interesting for scientists, jewelers and collectors alike. But inclusions like plants, insects, worms or even small vertebrates are even more fascinating. Most specimens are
rather small and large size pieces with rare inclusions are highly valuable. In addition, the visibility and the
position of the inclusion inside the specimen are important factors.
This is an (incomplete) list of inclusions that can be found in Dominican amber:
Insects, Non-insects and
Vertebrates
Plants and others
