| Between 20 and 30 million years ago the centipede at left stepped onto something sticky in a tree. The “gunk” was resin, or sap. More resin oozed over the centipede, trapping it forever in what would become a golden, see-through tomb.
Ancient insects, leaves, spiders, lizards, and other once-living things can be perfectly preserved inside amber, or fossilized tree resin. They still look lifelike millions of years after their death, sealed in amber.
Amber forms when tree resin hardens and fossilizes. Throughout history people have prized amber, often making it into jewelry or ornaments. Amber containing a fossilized organism such as a reptile is most valuable. Today a piece with a 30–million–year–old lizard trapped inside, for example, might sell for US$25,000. |
