1 March 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New research reveals that Baltic amber was transported to the most westerly region of the continent more than 5,000 years ago

A team of scientists has identified the oldest pieces of Baltic amber ever found on the Iberian Peninsula, revealing that this luxury material used in jewellery and handicrafts around the world was already being imported more than 5,000 years ago.

For thousands of years, Baltic amber has been recognized as the finest in the world and sought after for use in jewelry since Roman times.

Despite other amber deposits across Europe, ancient people from far and wide were keen to get their hands on the Baltic bling. New research reveals that the material was transported to the most westerly region of the continent more than 5,000 years ago.

The research was led by University of Granada (UGR) lecturer Mercedes Murillo-Barroso and involved the collaboration of Marcos Martinón-Torres of the University of Cambridge and Araceli Martín Cólliga of the Government of Catalonia. According to Murillo-Barroso, the work “allows us to say with confidence that the arrival of Baltic amber on the Iberian Peninsula occurred at least in the 4th millennium BC, more than a millennium earlier than we thought, and that it was probably part of wider trade networks linked to the south of France”.

Trade is one of the many mechanisms through which we establish social relations, and often the objects that are exchanged are not necessarily consumer goods needed to live, but rather decorative, luxury or symbolic objects.

Sometimes, especially in adverse conditions, having trade networks means having a network of mutual support, but these trade networks can also generate social inequalities and relations of dependency, especially if not all the community enjoys equal access to the networks or if the objects exchanged are unequal.

Researchers found a single bead of Baltic amber in a Catalan cave. Image credit: C. B. González, edited by M. J. Vilar Welter
Researchers found a single bead of Baltic amber in a Catalan cave. Image credit: C. B. González, edited by M. J. Vilar Welter

In prehistoric times, amber, a fossil resin, was certainly not a raw material necessary for the development of daily life, but it was highly valued and was exchanged via the extensive trade networks that were established. The use of the multiple amber deposits on the Iberian Peninsula since the Upper Palaeolithic has been documented and, thanks to research carried out by archaeologists over the years, we know that from the 4th millennium BC onwards Sicilian amber began to reach the Iberian Peninsula through Mediterranean trade networks. However, until now it was believed that Baltic amber did not reach the Peninsula until the 2nd millennium BC, at which point it would become the primary raw material, replacing other types of amber such as Peninsular or Sicilian amber.

Regarding their research article, published in the prestigious journal Nature, Mercedes Murillo-Barroso affirms: “We present the standard infrared spectroscopy analysis of an amber bead of Baltic origin found at the Cova del Frare site in a context dated between 3634-3363 cal BC”.

“The site, which is truly exceptional, illustrates the transition between the Middle Neolithic of the ‘Sepulcrand the Late Neolithic of Véraza”, explains Araceli Martín Cólliga, director of the excavations at the site.

“As there are no written documents from prehistoric times, the only way to study human activity is through archaeological remains. To study the transport and exchange of materials, we use very precise analytical techniques, such as infrared spectroscopy, which give us a kind of fingerprint of the amber deposits and objects,” says Mercedes Murillo-Barroso.

Based on a large amount of data and this type of analysis, combined with other bodies of archaeological information, the study confirms that Baltic amber arrived in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula as early as the Neolithic, which is “something that must be understood in the context of trade during this period of transition and change, either by agents of a declining ‘Sepulcres de Fossa’ culture, or by those who would set new cultural trends at the end of the Neolithic, led by the Véraza groups of Catalonia and southern France, and not necessarily as direct contact with northern Europe”. In fact, there is currently no evidence of Baltic amber crossing the Ebro at such an early date into the southern Iberian Peninsula, where the use of Sicilian amber was predominant as a result of the Mediterranean networks.

The Baltic region is home to what is perhaps the best amber in the world for use in jewelry. Indeed, it was highly sought after in classical Rome and now sustains a whole industry, for example in Poland. We now know that it began to arrive in Iberia as early as the 4th millennium BC and that it gradually replaced Peninsular and Sicilian amber.

This finding undoubtedly has important implications for our understanding of early exchange networks of exotic materials and their influence on social structures,” explains University of Cambridge professor Marcos Martinón-Torres.

University of Granada

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41293-0 

Related Articles

The oldest evidence of human cannibalism as a funerary practice in Europe

7 October 2023

7 October 2023

According to a new study, cannibalism was a common funerary practice in northern Europe around 15,000 years ago, with people...

Maya city Tikal put today’s urban gardens to shame

26 June 2021

26 June 2021

The Maya civilization was known for its achievements in art, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, and calendar systems. Tikal, the ancient Maya...

500-year-old curse tablet found in Germany

15 December 2023

15 December 2023

In the city of Rostock on Germany’s northern coast, archaeologists found a lead curse tablet invoking Satan and two other...

Cave paintings discovered in western Turkey carry the region’s past back to prehistory

18 December 2021

18 December 2021

During the archaeological survey carried out in and around the ancient city of Alinda in Aydın province in western Turkey,...

Archaeologists have discovered another exceptional find in Mérida

12 August 2023

12 August 2023

In Mérida, Spain, archaeologists recently discovered an “enormous” Roman bath. But it is that inside these baths, in the area...

Stunning Roman-looking sandal found deep in the snow in the Norwegian mountains

16 April 2022

16 April 2022

Global warming is leading to the retreat of mountain glaciers. Incredibly well preserved and rare artifacts have emerged from melting...

Torrential Rain Reveal 2500-Year-old Small Bull Statue

19 March 2021

19 March 2021

After heavy rains near the ancient Olympia site, a bronze bull statue of a bull believed to be at least...

Antibiotic bacteria that fight E. coli and other dangerous bugs found in the Roman Baths at Bath in England, “Bath’s waters may really be good for you”

9 June 2024

9 June 2024

The popular Roman Baths in the city of Bath in southwest England are home to a diverse range of microorganisms...

14,000 years old vessels made by Hunter-gatherers in Japan

1 May 2022

1 May 2022

The Late Pleistocene inhabitants of Tanegashima Island were making pottery about 14,000 years ago. In the Jomon period, people obtained...

Netherlands’s unique treasure finds of medieval gold jewelry and silver coins

12 March 2023

12 March 2023

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (the National Museum of Antiquities) in the Netherlands has announced that a unique treasure of 1000-year-old...

Tang-e Chogan bas-relief carvings, Majestic treasures of Sassanid art, are under threat of destruction 

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

Treasures of Sassanid art, some of Tang-e Chogan’s bas-reliefs are under threat of complete destruction due to lack of maintenance...

Found in Spain a poem by Virgil engraved in a Roman amphora

22 June 2023

22 June 2023

Archaeologists have deciphered a verse by Virgil, the greatest poet of Rome’s Golden Age, carved into the clay of a...

After 85 years of adventure, Globetrotting Mycenaean gold ring returns home

3 June 2022

3 June 2022

The 3,000-year-old gold Mycenaean ring, stolen from the Rhodes Archaeological Museum during World War II and later bought by a...

Recent excavations at Girsu uncovered innovative civilization-saving technology of Ancient Sumerians

19 November 2023

19 November 2023

In ancient city Girsu, located near the modern city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, revealed through a recent excavation by...

Explore 1,400-year-old ruins, submerged in Eastern China – Atlantis of China

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Deep in Qiandao Lake, between China’s Five Lion Mountains, lie the mysterious ruins of two ancient cities, dating back to...