Baltic amber

Much of the Baltic amber has been secondarily redeposited in Pleistocene glacial till deposits across the North European Plain.

The age of the amber is controversial, though it is generally interpreted as having been produced during the Eocene epoch (56-34 million years ago).

More recently, it has been proposed, on the evidence of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of amber and resin from living trees, that conifers of the family Sciadopityaceae were responsible.

[1] The only extant representative of this family is the Japanese umbrella pine, Sciadopitys verticillata.

[8] The structure makes the amber denser, harder and more resistant to external factors.

[12] Numerous extinct genera and species of plants and animals have been discovered and scientifically described from inclusions in Baltic amber.

Vertebrates are another 0.5% of the animals included and mostly are represented by mammal fur, feathers, and reptiles.

Янтарь и его имитации Материалы международной научно-практической конференции 27 июня 2013 года [Amber and its imitations] (in Russian).