Romanian amber

There are a few comparative analytical studies of Romanian geological amber, referred to as Rumanite or Romanite, which conclude that Romanian amber is geologically younger, but chemically almost identical, to Baltic amber (Stout et al., 2000). 

Romanian amber (Colti, Buzau County) 389 3200 OH frequencies, alcoholic (phenolic free OH and bound intramolecular OH) from hydro -acids observed wavenumbers shifte characteristic of amorphous structures. Less intense signals in this region for archaeological samples and slight shifts... 

Based on the relative comparison with the geological reference material (both Baltic and Romanian amber, see Table 1) and according to the FTIR-VAR bands of archaeological samples from the region 1820-1350 crrri, 1275-1020 cm"i and 900-600 cm"h the classification of several archaeological samples is summarised in Table 2. Some spectra obtained for the samples from Nufaru (Roman Age), Cioclovina (Bronze Age) and a Neolithic bead are presented in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. 

These results based on comparison of FTIR-VAR spectra about origin of amber artefacts were clarified and confirmed by other non-destructive analysis (Raman, statistical analysis) and supported by historical context, in some cases. In other cases, the assignment of samples to Baltic amber or local (Romanian) amber contributed to understanding of archaeological (historical) context. 

Stout E. C., Beck C. W. Anderson, K B. (2000). Identification of rumanite (Romanian amber) as thermally altered succinite (Baltic amber). Physics and Chemistry of Minerals 27,665-78, ISSN 0342-1791... 

Teodor E.D., Litescu S. C., Neac u A., Truica G. Albu C. (2009). Analytical methods to differentiate Romanian amber and Baltic amber for archaeological apphcations. Cent. Eur. J. Chem. 7, 560-68, ISSN 1895-1066... 

In our studies, in the amber analysis the main goal was to estabhsh several criteria able to be useful in discrimination between different typ>es of amber, the obtained FTIR information being used to ascribe the origin of the materials formd in archaeological sites on the Romanian territory. 

The existence of a local amber exploitation on Romanian territory aroused the question of geological origin of amber artefacts found by Romanian archaeologists over time. 

Regarding archaeological amber from Romanian teriitoiy, it was basically unstudied since we started our research project in 2007. Some studies by Nikolaus Boroffka on prehistoric amber (Boroffka, 2006) refer to chemical analyses of amber with an assumed Romanian origin in another paper, Boroffka (2001) discusses the results published by Banerjee (Banerjee et al. 1999) for two prehistoric beads from Romania, both considered of Baltic origin. 

Fig. 4. The overlaid FTIR-VAR (reflectance) sjjectra, region 4000-600 cm-i for geological reference Baltic amber (211), reference Romanite (204), and an archaeological sample from Cioclovina (456)-Bronze period- assigned by us to Romanian origin...

Virgolici M, Petroviciu L, Teodor E. D., Litescu S. C., Manea M M, Ponta C., Niculescu G., Sarbu C. Andrei Medvedovici A. (2010b). TD/CGC/MS and FT-IR characterization of archaeological amber artefacts from Romanian collections (Roman age). Rev. Roum. Chim. 55, 349-55, ISSN 0035-3930... 

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