i-Medjat n°2, décembre 2008 Papyrus électronique des Ankhou Revue caribéenne pluridisciplinaire éditée par l’Unité de Recherche-Action Guadeloupe (UNIRAG) Amber in the Ancient Near East has healing properties. Thousands of archeological findings in Central Europe have proven that amber was used by prehistoric humans for personal embellishment and glorification of religious rituals. When a piece of amber is heated, it emits a gentle resin scent, making people feel better and believe in the healing power of the magic stone. It was also used to massage sore muscles, and mixed with Graciela GESTOSO SINGER honey and oil was a good medicine to almost every illness. Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Egipto (CEHAO) Universidad Católica Argentina If it is kept in water or wine for two weeks, the liquid can ggestoso@yahoo.com be used for stomach ache, sore throat, and asthma. In ancient Chinese medicine, amber was used regularly for healing and health enhancement; a belief that is still practiced today. Benefits include detoxification, increased Amber is a wholly-organic material derived from the resin blood circulation, and improved heart, liver, kidney, and of extinct species of trees. Amber can sometimes contain insects, twigs, bark, small vertebrates, and leaves. Although intestinal function (Li 2001). Lithuanian tribes in former times employed amber to drive away evil spirits. The newly born not mineralized, it is often classified as a gemstone of babies were fumigated with amber incense to help them organic origin (Anderson 1995). Various cultures have referred to grow faster. For the new couples, it was a symbol of it by many names: "sea gold", "electron", "hardened eternal happiness. For the ones heading to war, amber honey", "tiger's soul", "the gold of the North", and "tears of helped them return with victory in their hands (Saldukiene 1970: the gods". Amber is known to mineralogists as succinite (lat. Succinum) or "gum-stone". The Greek name for amber was 85 ff.). In ancient Rome, amber was used as medicine and protection against different diseases. Roman peasant elektron, and was connected to the Sun god, one of whose women wore amber medallions not only as adornments, but titles was the "Elector" or the "Awakener". It is also also as a remedy for swollen glands and sore throat. The associated with the word "electricity", because amber Romans used amber in a number of different objects, becomes electrically charged when rubbed with a cloth and including coins and situlae (a small bucket -secio in Istro- can attract small particles. The word electrum is a Latinized Venetian-, half-conical shaped, narrower at the bottom and form of the Greek name elektron, a metallic substance supplied with a handle) (Bonfante 1985: 276-292). Today, we can consisting of gold alloyed with silver. The electrum is pale yellow or yellowish-white, and it is called the "white gold" found amber in some anti-rheumatic ointments, in bracelets or the "pale gold". The same word was also used for the to ease rheumatic pains, or in beads of collar to help in cases of thyroid illnesses. Current medical practitioners would substance amber, probably because of the pale yellow color certainly disagree in its curative qualities. Despite its lack of of certain varieties, and it is from the electrostatic properties healing powers, amber still serves a number of useful of amber that the modern English words "electron" and purposes. Ninety percent of all extracted amber is of poorer "electricity" derive. The modern name "amber" comes from quality and can be used only as an ingredient in other Arabic, meaning "ambergris", the waxy aromatic substance products, such as varnish, amber oil and distilled acids. created in the intestines of sperm whales (Lucas-Harris 1934: 191-192; Craftsmen mold the remaining ten percent into jewelry and 392-394). There are many varieties of amber; some are a very ornaments. rare occurrence in nature. Amber beads are mainly separated by their color, transparency, texture or grains, and locality. Main sources Amber occurs in a range of different colors: the usual Amber from the coast of the Baltic Sea is the best-known yellow-orange (amber color), pale lemon yellow, brown, and and come from pine tree resin (Pinus succinifera). It has a black. Other uncommon colors include red (cherry amber), very wide distribution from northern Europe to the Urals. green, and blue (Saldukiene 1970: 85-87). Today, Baltic amber is found in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Russia, and occasionally washed up on the shores of Healing powers the Baltic Sea as far away as Denmark, Norway, and England In antiquity, amber was valuable, attractive for its color and (Poinar 1992: 16-17). Other amber sources include Myanmar, magical properties, in order to guarantee victory, fertility, Lebanon, Sicily, Romania, Germany, Mexico, Dominican electrostatic energy, and fortune. In ancient India and Egypt, Republic, and Canada. About 90% of the world's extractable it was burned as incense, believed to purify temples and amber is still located in the Kaliningrad Oblast ("amber region") palaces. From antiquity, people have believed that amber of Russia on the Baltic Sea (Grimaldi 1996: 148-159). In antiquity, the source of the amber found in the from Crete, raw ivory from Syria, silver from Anatolia, and Mediterranean area can be determined by means of infrared amber from Prussia brought down the Adriatic or out of spectroscopy. Most of the amber found in Mycenaean Odessa across the north Aegean" (Vermeule 1964: 89). The elite Greece, Italy and Levant comes from the Baltic Sea. In of Mycenae had a predilection for amber. The shaft grave archaeological contexts, amber occurs in the form of beads, offerings include amber beads from the Baltic region amulets, ornaments, jewelry, and rectangular plaques. It was (Bachhuber 2004: 5; Renfrew 1972: 467-468). Mycenae was therefore in an object of trade and barter in the Baltic and Mediterranean possession of a valuable commodity that was accessed areas (Todd 1985: 292-301; Heltzer 2000: 169-176). through overland trade (Bachhuber 2004: 14). Amber jewelry is abundant in Bronze Age Aegean For the Egyptians amber was "the tears of the eye of Ra, the contexts, though it occurs infrequently in Bronze Age sun god". The eye of Ra is most often connected with eastern Mediterranean contexts beyond the Aegean. The protection, divine justice, punishment and vengeance. total recorded amber objects includes seventeen amber Amber was also associated with the lioness goddess scarabs in Egypt, two beads from Assur, and six beads Sekhmet, daughter of Ra and one of his eyes. Small pieces from Enkomi (Cyprus) (Bachhuber 2006: 352, n. 90). of amber have been discovered inserted beneath the skin The earliest amber in the Near East may date from ca. 1800 covering the hands of Egyptian mummies, in order to B.C.E., two beads at Assur (Harding et al. 1974: 169), or ca. 2400 protect the dead in the afterlife (Todd 1985: 292 ss.). Baltic amber B.C.E., at Tell Asmar. The last excavations at Qatna (Syria), beads were found in the tomb of Teti (ca. 2345-2333 B.C.E.), at reveal that amber was imported into Late Bronze Age Saqqara. The breast ornament of King Tutankhamen (ca. 1333- Syria and used for making the prestige artefacts found in a 1324 B.C.E.) contains large Baltic amber beads (Reeves 1990; Serpico Royal tomb of ca. 1340 B.C.E. There were found beads 2000: 451-454). During the reign of Thutmose III (ca. 1500 B.C.E.), in and a unique vessel in the form of a lion, likely fashioned the tribute scenes at the tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100) is in Syria from raw amber imported from the Baltic via the registered a delivery from Greece of "a great heap of amber, Aegean (Mukherjee et al. 2008: 49-59). which is measured by the heket, making 36.692 deben (ca. Thousands of beads of glass, agate, carnelian, quartz, 3424 kg)" (Breasted 1906: II, § 761). In this case, we believe that it faience, ostrich eggshell, and amber were found at could be a delivery of amber, probably from the Baltic area, Uluburun (shipwreck, late 14th Century B.C.E.), near Kas, through Mycenaean envoys. at the south coast of Turkey (Bass 1991: 69-82; Pulak 1988: 1-37). More than forty beads of Baltic amber have been recovered Amber road from the Uluburun shipwreck (Pulak 1998: 218; Bachhuber 2004: 204, The so-called "Amber Road" was an ancient trade route table 9). Many more amber beads likely floated away from the for the transfer of amber, from Europe to Asia and Uluburun ship, as amber is neutrally buoyant. back, and from northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea (Sherratt 1995: 200-203). Amber was transported from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, and Egypt (Beck 1985: 200-209). Beads of Baltic amber Photo INA : http://ina.tamu.edu/images/Uluburun/beads/KW2832.JPG In the Greek mythology, amber was made from the tears of a nymph as they dropped into water or the tears that Apollo shed for his son Aesculapius. Heinrich Schliemann found amber beads in Troy, and in cupola tombs of Mycenaean culture built on Crete Island from ca. 1600 B.C.E. In the Greek mainland, amber is found at the very end of the Middle Helladic period (Hughes-Brock 1985: 257-267). Imports to the Late Helladic period (LH I) mainland are restricted almost exclusively to the Mycenae shaft graves. Vermeule’s inventory of exotic items in the shaft graves Amber trade routes (Michelbertas 1963) 1.Border of Roman Empire 2. Route of the Early Bronze Age 3.Route of the Middle Bronze Age includes "ostrich eggs from Nubia sent through Egypt and 4.Sea route 5."Amber route" 6.Routes of the East Crete, lapis lazuli from Mesopotamia, alabaster and faience During the Bronze Age, the "routes" of amber reached Grimaldi, D. A. Amber, window to the past. New York, Harry the Adriatic Sea starting from the Northern European N. Abrams, Inc. and the American Museum of Natural History, sea-shores. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the 1996. routes crossed the Alps near the Resia and Brenner Harding, A. - Hughes-Brock, H. "Amber in the Mycenaean passes, but then, during the Late Bronze, a new oriental World". IN: Annual of the British School at Athens (BSA) 69 (1974): 145-172. way stemmed out from the Vistula River to the Alpine Heltzer, M. "On the Origin of the Near Eastern Archaeological passes and, via the Isonzo River, reached the northern Amber". In: K. Van Lerberghe - G. Voet (ed.). Languages area of the Adriatic Gulf. From this area the route and Cultures in contact at the crossroads of civilizations in the forked, one of the branches headed for the delta of the Syro-Mesopotamian Realm. 42th Rencontre Assyriologique Po River (the market places of exotic objects), and the Internationale held at the University of Leuven in July 1995. other made for the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 96. Leuven, Peeters reached the Mediterranean Sea, where the Mycenaean Publishers, 2000, pp. 169-176. culture was flourishing (Catacchio 2007: 28). The Hughes-Brock, H. "Amber and the Mycenaeans". Journal of presence of Baltic amber in Greece and Levant is not Baltic Studies 16, 3 (1985): 257-267. necessarily an indicator of intercultural contact, but only Li, R.K. "An Interview with Qigong Great, Master Randy K. of some sort of exchange system operating in the Li". Kansas City Chinese Journal, March 29th, 2001 http://www.kansascitychinese.com Mediterranean area (Renfrew 1972: 467-468). Baltic Lucas, A. - Harris, J.R. Ancient Egyptian Materials and amber reached the Mycenaean kings by means of a Industry, Precious and Semi-Precious Stones. London, Edward "prestige circuit" of royal gift-exchanges stretching Arnold, 1934. across the Mediterranean area. Michelbertas, M. "Amber Routes". In : Amber Museum Gallery, Vilnius, 1963. Map online: http://www.ambergallery.lt/english/i-muziejus_gintaro_keliai.htm Mukherjee, A.J. et al. "The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in late Bronze Age Syria". Antiquity 82, 315 (2008): 49-59. Poinar, G.O. Life in Amber. 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