Management of the Senckenberg amber collection and research developments

Abstract

Amber and copal are fascinating materials due to their ability to preserve fossils in incredible detail, but they are also very fragile materials that quickly deteriorate when stored in unsuitable conditions. The copal surface becomes cracked after some years and amber becomes darker and fragile over time. Few studies have dealt with the problem of amber storage, but they highlighted the bad effects of environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, light and oxidising agents). After the acquisition of important collections of amber and copal, the Senckenberg museum developed an original storage system for its amber collection. New air-conditioned stores protect the material from temperature, relative humidity and/or light intensity variations, whilst embedding in artificial resin is used to protect the samples from the atmosphere oxidising agents. The Senckenberg museum has thus a very secure amber storage system.