The "Sunstone"
Amber plays a particularly important role in the special exhibition: We show "sunstones" in a great variety, comparing their areas of origin as well as mining methods. Millions of years old "fossilized" resin often looks similar, but it can come from very different tree species and be influenced by a wide variety of geological processes. In addition, it can conceal converted witnesses of time, such as insects, which still experienced the Eocene themselves.
Bildergalerie
Photo: UHH / CeNak
Most of today's beetles from the broad weevil family live in the tropics.
Photo: UHH / CeNak
The most exciting amber fossils are those where you can still infer animal behavior - like here, where a mosquito is laying eggs.
Photo: UHH / CeNak
Most inclusions show only small animals, but now and then parts of vertebrates, such as feathers, are found in the amber.
Photo: UHH / CeNak
Termite from Baltic amber. Termites are a heat-loving group and are not found in Central or Northern Europe today, but in the Eocene they also lived here.
Photo: UHH/CeNak
The Pseudoscorpion, of which Julia Stoess has made a 100:1 scale model for the special exhibition. More info here.