{"id":4234,"date":"2021-03-16T05:11:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T05:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/?page_id=4234"},"modified":"2021-07-04T20:30:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T20:30:50","slug":"the-magical-of-mexican-amber-of-chiapas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/the-magical-of-mexican-amber-of-chiapas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magical Mexican Amber of Chiapas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mayan<\/a><\/p>\n

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Amber is a living gem; and has been revered by humanity\u00a0for thousands of years as a protective, healing, and decorative material; and was once believed by ancient man to be the tears of the sun. Chiapas Amber<\/em> <\/strong>is fossilized tree resin from the now extinct tree species, Hymanea Mexicana<\/em><\/strong>. What we know is that it formed some 23-30 million years ago during the Oligocene Era. These giant trees were\u00a0subject to damage via forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other means, releasing copious amounts of\u00a0resin<\/em><\/strong> from their trunks and branches. This\u00a0resin\u00a0is differentiated from tree sap. Sap is the watery substance which transports nutrients through a tree. Resin on the other hand, is the sticky goo that is exuded when the tree is damaged, and acts to protect and heal it.\u00a0 Insects, flowers, leaves, and sometimes frogs, crabs, and lizards were inevitably trapped in the sticky\u00a0substance that flowed from the trees. Sometimes pieces of resin would fall to the ground, encasing other plants and animals. Through centuries of floods, tectonic shifts, and other environmental events, these trees and resin were eventually transported to the shallow ocean, where the resin hardened through the process of polymerization. Oysters, barnacles and other mollusks grew on its surface, and eventually the resin was buried under ocean sediments. Over millions of years, with constant heat and pressure, the resin hardened into copal<\/em><\/strong>, (which is a premature form of amber.) As the volatile organic chemicals left the structure of the copal,\u00a0 it eventually\u00a0transformed into the true amber we know today.\u00a0When polished by human hands to a high clarity,\u00a0a mirror into the far distant past is revealed:\u00a0ancient creatures long extinct and a stunning, fascinating, work of natural art that resembles otherworldly landscapes of ancient planets\u00a0and the imagination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Chiapas<\/a>
Beautiful ball of Chiapas amber.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"orangefire\"<\/a>
Firey drop of Chiapas amber.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The Tree Chiapas Amber Originated From<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hymenaea mexicana<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is described as the mother tree of amber originating from mines in Chiapas, Mexico. This species is characterized by clawed showy petals with cordate bases and glabrous, verrucose ovaries with long hirsute hairs at their bases and margins on one side. This species is closely related to the extinct Hymenaea protera\u00a0of Dominican amber fame, and together with it, is placed in the primitive section\u00a0Trachylobium<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0of the genus\u00a0Hymenaea<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0in the\u00a0caesalpinoid legume<\/strong><\/em>s. The closest extant species to\u00a0H. mexicana<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0H. verrucosa<\/strong><\/em>, a relict surviving in East Africa. These results challenge previous views that Mexican amber was produced by the South American species\u00a0H. courbaril \u2013 H. intermedia<\/em><\/strong>, which belong to the advanced section of the genus.\u00a0Twenty three to thirty million year old Dominican amber is prized for its variety of inclusions. It is slightly softer than Baltic. The Mexican cousin,\u00a0Hymenea Mexicana<\/strong><\/em>, produced an amber that is actually harder than Baltic amber due to its direct and constant proximity to volcanic earth. This makes it the hardest amber in the world and a wonderful material for craftspeople and jewelers to create with.<\/p>\n

\"greeny2\"<\/a>
Green amber from Chiapas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mayans and Amber<\/span><\/h3>\n

The ancient Mayans were intimately connected to the natural world and cosmic forces as evidenced in their elaborate and detailed artwork and stone carvings illustrating their life and beliefs.<\/p>\n

\"pacal\"<\/a>
Carved lid of the tomb of K\u02bcinich Janaab Pakal I in the Temple of the Inscriptions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This amber was originally discovered by the Mayans, who valued this stone and even included it among jaguar pelts and cacao on their inventory scrolls.<\/p>\n

It was known\u00a0\u00a0that the\u00a0ancient Maya traded or offered amber as a tribute to the Aztecs. The Spanish conquistadors tell of the Aztec emperor, Montezuma stirring his chocolate with an amber spoon.<\/p>\n

In the Aztec records the Mendoza Codex<\/em><\/strong> the tribute registry for Socanusca<\/em><\/strong> (which is now Chiapas) lists the following:<\/p>\n

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– Strings of jade beads
\n– Coloured feathers
\n– Skins of a blue plumaged bird
\n– Cocoa beans
\n– 40 skins of jaguar
\n– 2 bezote (lip piercings) of amber encased in gold
\n– 2 pieces of clear amber the size of a brick<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"codexmendoza\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Eventually, it gained value among modern cultures as well who now demand this amber both for its beauty and rare inclusions. In 1953, a Dutch archaeologist named Frans Blom discovered the deposits of Chiapas, soon after bringing a group of scientists from U.C. Berkeley to study the amber deposits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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How Chiapas Amber Compares to Baltic<\/h4>\n
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It is estimated that approximately 95% of the amber market has been dominated by Baltic amber from Poland, Ukraine, and other northern European countries. \u00a0Baltic amber was originally found along the coast of the Baltic sea, but is now often mined via stripping vegetation from large swaths of land followed by large open pit mines in order to meet demand.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Chiapas amber is slightly younger than Baltic amber, being Oligocene in age vs the Eocene Baltic deposits. Surprisingly, Chiapas amber is significantly harder than Baltic amber, meaning it is much less likely to scratch, crack, chip, or shatter. Chiapas amber is also much more fluorescent and phosphorescent than Baltic Amber. Lastly, Chiapas amber comes in a variety of natural colors such as greens, reds, honey, cognac, etc. Whereas Baltic amber must be heat treated to achieve this same variety of colors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Special Properties of Chiapas Amber<\/h4>\n
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Chiapas is one of only three highly fluorescent amber types in the world because of its high concentration of a hydrocarbon called Perylene. Only Dominican amber and Indonesian amber can compare in fluorescence, with Indonesian amber being extremely soft in comparison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Chiapas amber is also the most phosphorescent of all types of amber in the world, meaning it will not just fluoresce under a UV light, but will glow for some time afterward as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides being one of the hardest amber types in the world (being as hard as Burmese amber and Dominican Amber), the most phosphorescent, one of the three most fluorescent, and having one of the largest varieties of natural colors, Chiapas amber is also known to be warm to the touch and extremely electrostatically conductive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, some claim that amber has the following properties:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Balances emotions.<\/li>\n
  • Attracts good luck.<\/li>\n
  • Eliminates fears.<\/li>\n
  • Relieves headache.<\/li>\n
  • Clears the mind.<\/li>\n
  • Dissolves negative energy.<\/li>\n
  • Helps develop patience and wisdom.<\/li>\n
  • Protects against harmful EMFs.<\/li>\n
  • Enhances sexual energy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    If you are interested in purchasing any of the pieces on this site, please email me: ryu.zen18@gmail.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Amber is a living gem; and has been revered by humanity\u00a0for thousands of years as a protective, healing, and decorative material; and was once believed by ancient man to be the tears of the sun. Chiapas Amber is fossilized tree resin from the now extinct tree species, Hymanea Mexicana. What we know is that it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4234","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4234"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4363,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4234\/revisions\/4363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}