(Late Pennsylvanian – Miocene)
It may look like glass or a type of mineral, but amber is fossilized tree resin formed from the hardening of tree sap over time. Amber is a type of trace fossil but sometimes small animals, insects, or plant matter is preserved inside the resin, frozen in time for millions of years. These are called inclusions, and they are valuable to scientists as they can show what ancient life looked like more accurately than a normal fossil.
(Late Pennsylvanian – Miocene)
It may look like glass or a type of mineral, but amber is fossilized tree resin formed from the hardening of tree sap over time. Amber is a type of trace fossil but sometimes small animals, insects, or plant matter is preserved inside the resin, frozen in time for millions of years. These are called inclusions, and they are valuable to scientists as they can show what ancient life looked like more accurately than a normal fossil.