Tag Archives: fossil

Amber Museum In Lithuania Explores Baltic Legacy

Did you know that Lithuania has a museum of amber that showcases the legends surrounding this compound’s mystical healing properties, inquires into its scientific characteristics, and preserves the cultural heritage of the Baltic region?

The new Mizgiris Amber Museum is strategically located in the resort town Nida on the Curonian Spit that has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its distinct flora, unique fauna, and ethnographic legacy.

Characterized by immense drifting sand dunes, tourist-favorite beaches, and unique cultural heritage, the UNESCO-listed Curonian Spit of Lithuania is one of the most visited parts of the Baltics. That is why the new Mizgiris Amber Museum has been situated in Nida—a resort town located at the heart of Curonian Spit, where amber collecting has been considered as the traditional craft of the region.

The museum seeks to preserve the unique history of this Baltic legacy, commonly referred to as “Lithuanian Gold”, and introduce it in a new interactive way.

“Amber has played a significant role in Lithuanian culture. Baltic tribes used solid amber as early as 2000-1800 BC to craft jewelery and weaving tools, treat diseases and shield people from evil spirits. Meanwhile, amber incense was used to protect children, newlyweds, and soldiers going to war. We seek to showcase these amber traditions through the expositions of our museum,” said Virginija and Kazimieras Mizgiris, museum’s founders and locally-renowned cultural activists.

Ancient stone age amber- Juodkrantė’s Treasure

Continuing the deeply-rooted amber traditions, amber is widely used in Lithuania to this day, for instance, in the Lithuanian wellness industry.

Since these agents are known to strengthen the immune system, some SPAs utilize amber oil to perform massages and other procedures. Also, the material has been found to exude extra health-boosting compounds when heated, therefore, a few wellness centers utilize amber as tiling material for sauna interior. Educating the public about the material’s medicinal properties remains part of the mission of the people who are active in the amber industry today.

Before the museum opened in June 2021, The Palanga Amber Museum was a major tourist attraction in Lithuania.

However, it has a pronounced focus on the way this material was used in decorating Lithuanian palaces in the late 18th to early 20th centuries. Meanwhile, the main concept of the new museum in Nida is an amber river which showcases the path amber travels from nature to culture. The exhibition features rare amber and works of art, complemented by a virtual story on the formation of amber with its various forms, colors, fossilized inclusions, and more.

The largest amber stone from Baltic sea in Lithuania, 3820 g.

“What we seek to achieve with this exposition is presenting amber in a modern and interactive way. We hope to make the history of amber, as well as the Baltic legacy, more accessible to a broader audience—both young and old, foreign visitors and locals as it shines light on the part of Lithuanian heritage that has not reached the mainstream culture,” said Mr. Mizgiris.

Baltic Amber | Teething Necklaces For Babies | Amber Necklaces For Babies

This is not the first cultural initiative, sponsored by Mrs. and Mr. Mizgiris. The couple has been immersed in the amber business for about three decades and has founded several other amber galleries in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius and the Curonian Spit. They organize educational programs, art exhibitions, and have published several photo collections internationally. The passion for amber of Kazimieras Mizgiris is also reflected in his personal life as he has a collection of amber from all over the world.

The Mizgiris Amber Museum is located in Nida at Nagliu st. 27 and greets visitors all-year-round.

Visiting both the famous resort town and the newly-opened museum allows visitors to experience Lithuania as a real nation of amber. In fact, Lithuania’s most recent tourism campaign makes the visit even more convenient as it promotes the opportunity to stay longer in the country by compensating visitors’ third-night stay in over 200 accommodation providers.

Featured image: The priest E.Atkočiūnas showcases Museum amber with ancient mosquito inclusions.

Lake Erie Finds Questioning Archaeological Establishment

“In my personal archaeological research I’ve been focused on the shores of Lake Erie (and a few inland sites) beach and general shoreline lithic retrievals— on the Canadian side of the lake—for many years.”

Top Left- one of the retrieval locations Top Right- one of the retrieved teeth sent to Dr. Walker Center- eg's of stone artifacts discovered in indirect association with some of the teeth
Top Left- one of the retrieval locations.
Top Right- one of the retrieved teeth sent to Dr. Walker.
Center- eg’s of stone artifacts discovered in indirect association with some of the teeth.

The surf and weather are odd bedfellows, on one hand revealing and on the other destroying, so it seemed obvious to me that I should keep eyes to the ground, sand, and wave line and to pick up what seemed to me to be artifacts.

Occasionally friable materials turn up such as large, disarticulated bones. Even a basket made from reeds turned up. And then there’s the teeth— found in several varied locations and in indirect association with what look to me like artifacts and pierced pebbles.

I’ve yet, however, to find any of this material in situ, i.e. still buried in its confining sediments.

Some of the teeth seem to have been ‘broken’ perpendicular to the long axes, some seem to have been burned and some show calcified deposits of calculus in the interproximal grooves (I worked in dentistry for several years so have a basic understanding of tooth morphology and deposit identification etc).

Some teeth were found inland quite a few miles away from Lake Erie. I later contacted Dr. Danny Walker, RPA, Wyoming Assistant State Archaeologist at the Comparative Osteology Museum and Zooarchaeology Laboratory. I emailed to him photos and descriptions of the teeth. He kindly offered to study several of the teeth. (Dr. Walker is a co-author of the research paper, Unraveling the sequence and structure of the protein osteocalcin from a 42 ka fossil horse, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 2006;70(8):2034-44.)

(Center) Equus Scotti- Pleistocene horse once native to North America.
(Center) Equus Scotti- Pleistocene horse once native to North America.

Along with his graduate students, Dr. Walker identified the teeth that I had mailed to him as Equus scotti—Pleistocene ice-age horse. Now the story begins to resemble somewhat the X-files. The established archaeological community here in Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum (I made all aware of the teeth, the lithics and the identification offered by Dr. Walker) disputed the finds, the identification and the lithics. The Royal Ontario Museum also told me that if I had the teeth dated and they showed as pre-contact, then they would offer this explanation— that the teeth were deposited on the Lake Erie shoreline after being brought aboard lake freighters from Europe; i.e. that they may have filled their ballast with gravels which could have included the teeth.

Putting aside the low probability of this possibility, as well as the fact that Equus scotti is a North American horse, the skeptics have failed to address the fact that some teeth were discovered inland—many miles away from Lake Erie. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.