Amber from the Dominican Republic documentary of Patrick Voillot

ha on the sunny beaches of the Caribbean the old sailors like to recount that the goddess of the sea one day fell in love with the handsome fisherman she took him to her palace of amber deep in the ocean enraged the god of thunder in love with her hurled a thunderbolt to destroy the palace the young man lost his life inconsolable the beautiful goddess burst into tears which turned into amber and fell on a remote island the Dominican Republic [Laughter] method feats on there no because my name is Philippe tour Nair and in my work I draw mostly things that I see in nature [Music] what is not traditionally medium used by jewelers although it has been used I've found a fairly ideal link between wood and and the resin that initially flowed from the wood and I think the amber and wood in this way are a perfect match I think what's most appropriate for this wood is amber from the Dominican Republic bathed by the Caribbean Sea to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north but the minikin Republic is part of the island of Hispaniola Christopher Columbus landed on this island December 5th 1492 [Music] it was then inhabited by the tannot Indians one of the most advanced indigenous civilizations of the West Indies after a turbulent history which included the dictatorship of general Trujillo the Dominican Republic is now a democracy its economy is mainly dependent on agriculture with tobacco the cigar industry cacao and sugarcane [Music] [Music] but the main activity is undoubtedly tourism which was developed in a major way exploiting its exceptional beaches and the hospitality of its people [Music] dominican land contains many resources including a precious gem amber [Music] it is also home to a stone the color of the ocean that we can only find on this island the Larimar [Music] in the southwest near the border with Haiti women and children look along the beaches for Larimar in the alluvium brought down by the rivers of the nearby mountains this blue volcanic stone is found only in the Dominican Republic when it was discovered in 1970 many amber miners moved with their families to the region near the town of bahar ona to try to make their fortune unfortunately the deep blue stones are very rare the amount of deposits is reduced compared to Amber which is spread across the country also the working conditions in the mines are very difficult and extremely dangerous miners descend every day risking their lives in deep galleries poorly supported and poorly ventilated often without finding any blue stones mean hombres Tony my name is Tony Frank West Cueva I'm married and have two children and I've been working in the mines for 15 years already at this moment work is a bit difficult because the holes are filled with earth and there's not enough time to exploit them we worked very very hard there was a case where for young people died it was not negligence it does happen this is not the hill that killed them they died of asphyxiation it's the things in the air [Music] [Applause] lera marketing has developed as a veritable trade in this region residents have learned to work it to give it a form usable in jewelry although it is much harder than amber in the same way it is polished to bring out its blue and white swirls [Music] [Music] I [Music] of the quantities produced in the mines stones with a blue suitable for manufacture of jewelry represent only 5% [Music] many people left amber for Larimar believing they would make their fortune Toni was one of them but today the days go by and the money does not come in doubt has got ahold of him he must make a decision before leaving his family into catastrophe magic and the occult are part of everyday life on the island the miners often use them to make important decisions as is the case today with Toni let's see the cards let's see what we learn let's see what happens to you and to me it's a problem that comes from you and you've had for a long time it's not very serious but you have to make a decision and fast in this case the problem will solve itself you pull the other card see what says what's the problem someone is after you you have to walk away from your family for some time or you will start you can try to draw a card like this one I see that if you go soon you'll find much joy in a new job this card represents money and you'll find a stone many yellow stones that will change your life you have to go success is down the road the cards say go to your destiny [Music] hello darling how are you well I just came back from work we're working very hard it's a lot of work extract a lot of stones yesterday we ended up taking out three quintiles but kept nothing I kept only this one oh good idea yes but it's not enough for all of our expenses true we have a large family and we spend a lot on the children I don't know if we're going to survive I'll have to look for another job the mining of amber is much better yes it's a good stone this must be done here it's not going well it's really bad we have nothing I'll sell it and I'll give you money and I'll go work elsewhere in another mine because I cannot stay with my arms and hands working without finding anything we have no money no savings yes I'll quit this job and I'll go to Santiago to work in another mine [Music] the amber mines near Santiago are more than 200 kilometers from Toni's village to get there with his meager savings he uses the benevolence of the truckers that will transport him close to his destination for just a few pesos [Music] tony is very determined to make his fortune for his wife his children he spares no effort and doesn't hesitate to walk long hours to reach the mines [Music] hey cousin I went up there but hey nothing big how you doing there well my brother we pick and pick but I don't think we're going to find something today okay let's go [Music] miners diggin casings several hundred meters deep carved in the clay rock these dangerous tunnels are not supported despite experience accidents are frequent they occasionally we'll put up a piece of wood to avoid disaster [Music] the search for amber is a very traditional enterprise its discovery as often due to the intuition of the miner there are no real veins but geological layers in which they were deposited long ago and today have become fossil resins [Music] lanois amber is like the copal a resin produced by various species of plants it is a plant defense the resin and amber is older than the COPO it distinguishes itself remember because copal is still soluble in alcohol in general copal remains copal for 50 thousand years and amber itself is the oldest resin the oldest known amber dates back 300 million years amber from the Dominican Republic is newer because it date backs only 20 to 30 million years these resins have a big advantage which is that they fossilized almost everything that was in the forest at the time so virtually complete fauna small flies beetles termites cockroaches these insects fossilized in the resins undergo a chemical transformation so the interior of the animal will often be transformed into a carbon powder coal and therefore the organic matter is degraded the cells are degraded and the DNA inside the cells as well we cannot expect to find in the ancient fossil resins in amber the DNA of fossilized insects and plants the DNA is not fossilized and therefore the story of Jurassic Park a mosquito that has bitten a dinosaur and from which blood and DNA was recovered is just a fable the mines will produce incredible amounts of amber and then with no transition will provide nothing for several months this is a serious problem for the miners who feed their families by selling their discoveries [Music] listen Tony you must go to the mine of cacao you have to find a friend who will help you find a new job you understand the amber here is most expensive it's different yes you come here but there's no more production you know the amber here is better but there's no doubt for now that there's no more so no problem I'll go [Music] the most sought-after gem on the island is undoubtably amber it is distributed in many places with its color and smooth appearance it is considered a symbol of beauty and sweetness the dominican republic is not the only country in the world to produce amber several parts of Europe Asia Africa and others have it in their subsoil here what we find most fascinating are the qualities and colors of the different varieties [Music] [Music] it was cocky what are you looking for here amber [Music] [Music] [Music] Dominican amber has always been famous the book decades of the new world written in 1493 by Pedro Martinez and Gloria speaks of Christopher Columbus he discovered that this earth naturally produces gold cotton spices like pepper trees with scale insects green colored amber and many other valuable products in abundance [Music] [Music] it was obviously impossible for any Explorer to ignore the pervasiveness of this matter on the island I am a turkey is there amber here yes there is amber and also in a mind not far from here [Music] the word amber comes from the Arabic and bar meaning the sperm whale in reality there are two types of amber that should not be confused gray amber which is accretion produced by the stomach of sperm whales it's a rare substance used in the manufacture of perfumes and amber which interest is here and is a fossil resin formerly it was thought that the sun's rays hitting the sea turned into amber these popular beliefs had not deceived Aristotle who from the fourth century BC had already recognized the true nature of amber [Music] minami my name is Jorge Martinez I'm a craftsman and amber and Larimar I have 37 years of experience in the field of amber and three years in the field of Larimar I spent almost my entire life working with them Andrew Campbell lombardi Anika member haz14 colors including yellow blue green and many other variations for example in the yellow there are 14 different shades also in blue and so on spotted amber will have a variety of different colors Rose amber is very hard to find I find one piece every 10 years even when working with one quintal of amber per month una PA sake Sarah yes I am Bartolome see the different colors of amber maybe due to the type of plant from which the resin came from but also the conditions and duration of its fossilisation the presence of organic and mineral elements in the amber and a change in temperature and pressure during its formation all these may play a role in determining its color my name is Jorge Caridad the museum's history began when I started selling collections of amber to people from Europe in 1977 and 1978 at the time amber was not worth very much we could buy fossils in amber the entosis normal maintenance at the MPL my remoten grandma Laura so the prices were a pound of amber cost twenty paces at the time customers could easily purchase fossils for $1 - I sold many pieces without knowing what I was selling really it was the business of supply and demand then a client invited me to Europe to Germany and I went to see the Boston museum's collection and the stoker Museum of Natural History I arrived there and I was very surprised to see all those pieces the entire collection spiders ants frogs and really I was ashamed and I started questioning myself and I told myself that what I could do was to create a museum in Santo Domingo por que dijo do when we care hora enter secured a habanero que puedo hacer es acero Masayo in Santo Domingo colección udacity pirate Jurassic Park was a very important event because it made Dominican amber famous worldwide Missy the public doesn't know I think they can go into a mind and get 100 mosquitoes or 200 flies you can sometimes find just one two or three mosquitoes per year they're not that many you can go to the mind and ask for a number of different insects but we can only take what is given to us for me Jurassic Park allowed me to sell everything I had in stock and that's how we were able to buy a new part of the museum I wish they would make another film ojala Ciara what drove us apart [Music] when I well all over the world there are counterfeits even here tourists can buy a lizard for 200 pesos or $20 virus that and being in character twitter comparing legato can be indecent to peso $20 amber was already well-known in ancient times at the very beginning of our era the wife of Nero whose hair was the color of amber made this gem one of the most coveted of its time the famous Roman naturalist plenty the elder recounts that a small amber statue was then worth more than a slave in each house in the region those who do not work in the mines are involved in cleaning and sorting the specialist resident the practice allows them to do this sorting by distributing gems of lots of different qualities and different values in anticipation of the sales I look at this stone can you clean the stone for me the large one there this one that one and the other one if you like you can clean this one okay no problem this this big one from the group get it out this one you guys keep working I'm going to the carnival see you later my name is Ricky oh but everyone calls me Tahiti I was born here and I've lived here all my life I've known amber since I was born I see [Music] [Music] I started working with my father at the age of seven so I was in it already so I've been bound to Amber for many years when my father died I was already very invested in his work I was involved in negotiations a task he'd already delegated to me and when he died I continued to work with him [Music] how are you come come here and see the Ambu look it's very beautiful with insects look there are also fossils look at this work it's very different work work for the carnival of la Vega [Laughter] it's beautiful is it not very beautiful Dominican amber the best amber in the world if you want to do business I can tell you amber if that's what you seek I'm looking for amber mine I can take you to the amber mines when you want do you want to go now yes yes come on let's go [Music] in the Dominican Republic amber miners called the embryos work day and night to remove the special matter from the earth but they also know how to have fun when the carnival period comes around all the worries fly away only the music and partying count each region is represented in boisterous parades like the one in vacant [Music] artists up their creativity trying to make masks that are even more beautiful and richer than those our previous years amber is traditionally and widely used in the costumes nothing is too exceptional to compete with the other teams the Caribbean ambience and fragrance of madness lasts for several days and nights then comes the moment when the amber reminds the embryos of their reason [Music] I prefer to be a miner but I rarely get to work regularly in the mines because the miners need me to buy their Ember miners need me to be with them I buy the hardware their need to work there are many of them and I cannot stay in a single mine the quantity of amber they have in this area depends on rain because if it rains they cannot work so if you do not work no amber so if you haven't have a season with little rain more Sun you can have ten pounds of blue amber a month means una dia Libre and parcel libras ENS the end-all which equates to about 5000 grams of blue amber and we extracted parts of Latakia that have been sold for more than a hundred thousand dollars museums where they are now currently estimate them at millions of dollars the miners working groups of six to eight sometimes ten all the expenses equipment food whatever they need to work it's an intermediary that pays for it could be me or someone else we do not sign any papers we discuss and we negotiate with the group leader I will therefore finance the cost of labour I lend the money when they begin to extract amber they sell it only to me at the price set by our prior negotiation if they extract a lot I get a lot if they extract a little bit I get a little bit and if they don't find any amber I continue to finance until they do well we have about 2,000 or 3,000 people who benefit directly or indirectly from the trade of amber this means that of these 3,000 people there are 1,000 or 1,200 people who directly benefit from amber as miners or as intermediaries or working in the workshops narrows intermediary owes look at the language a year on the lumber man has always been fascinated by this honey colored material the oldest amber object associated with humans is over thirty thousand years old it is an amulet with a hole discovered in the region of Hannover many magical powers were attributed to it among other things it was used to boost fertility and pieces were sewn into clothing to protect the gladiators [Music] long before Jesus Christ amber necklaces were used to ward off diseases and to heal in Asia the Chinese prepared a sedative potion which contained the gem called amber syrup even today young children were amber necklaces to protect them from tooth aches remnants of an old tradition when we gave a small piece of well-polished amber that they would chew for relief [Music] [Music] [Music] Tahiti often goes on expeditions to meet the miners and to collect and buy their latest findings it is here out of the mine that he will be in the best position to find beautiful pieces that will sell easily [Music] the ability of annoying way more this piece is not very good but hey since we're working together again I want to make sure we get along well we can help each other with all respect we just found this vein there's a gallery that's just collapsed and we thought we weren't going to get anything at all I know that this vein is good it's good quality that's exactly what I like because it's the amber that people want the most so we'll weigh it okay yes let's weigh [Music] amber deposits are distributed in many parts of the island especially in the eastern Cordillera to Savannah Del Mar but the richest mines are located in the northern Cordillera near the cities of Puerto Plata and Santiago it's near the ladder that the mine lost cacao is known for its blue amber it's in this mine that Tony goes to decide to make his fortune located in the rainforest there is no access by Road [Music] esta bien asahiyama la mina de los cacao yas varios años atomy Nando this mine is called las cacao we've been working here in recent years to sustain our families here five of us work in addition to others already working here and occasionally there are brigades that also come to work if one of us find something it is shared equally after counting the cost of labour we cannot operate the mine more because we cannot afford it we just need to eat and provide a little work for ourselves if we could get help to exploit them then we would have galleries that would run deeper and we can come out of it with more stones now when the galleries go too far we have to demolish them because we cannot continue as they may collapse we cannot afford to operate more tunnel entonces por ESO no podemos continue al mucho en trabajo sino cada vez que el - neiva un poquito tenemos que era un Barlowe porque no podemos seguir mahidol on tape or casanova rumba no tenemos mucho para la pilot I mean [Music] in the Dominican Republic there is only small-scale amber mining no industry has taken root in this economic sector [Music] the miners used two techniques to search for the precious material at toka the mine where Tony has found his cousin galleries were dug horizontally into the rock to reach the rich layers of amber in the heart of the mountain this rock is strong enough you can dig long tunnels with little risk of collapse [Music] in the lusca cow's mind the umbrellas will dig vertically through layers of sediment containing fossilized resin which is close to the surface these layers are often composed of alluvial clay and sand the operation is extremely dangerous a horizontal hole could collapse within a few meters accidents are very frequent [Music] you must have a keen eye out for the blocks of amber in the clay an awkward hit with the pickaxe can destroy a block of an estimable value their color is identical to the parent rock nothing suggests that inside this gray mass is a substance with delicate colors that will provide capital to its discoverer the sale circuit is well organized the miners know where to go with their bounty buyers pay cash for a good price and fine specimens are rare the course is well known to everyone there is little margin for discussion and the transaction is quick how are you alright I brought it to see if you're interested let's see let's look let's see how much look at this one can we weigh it you can weigh it here's the scale yes that's way it weighs how much you have how much there this one is 200 and a few grams 202 listen I'll sell it because I need the money I didn't want to sell it I don't want to part with it but this I'll make it for ten ten thousand yes that's too expensive I'll do everything all at once give me three twenty six for the whole lot twenty-six it's too little you know it's very hard to extract it it was very well buried listen my last price is 28 I'll give you twenty seven thousand twenty-seven okay [Music] when you have others bring them to me yes okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello is that Amber yes it's amber set with gold is it natural authentic that's not plastic no no it's not plastic this one yes this is plastic you see the difference you can see the difference in salt water if it is plastic it remains at the bottom if it is amber it stays at the top it floats ah can we try yes we can try this one's plastic amber it rises most of them show me another method to test amber I'll show it with fire you see how authentic amber burns it is authentic plastic now I'll show you with plastic the plastic doesn't burn amber is not a mineral it is an organic material with special qualities it has a very low density allowing it to float on salt water it is combustible endowed with piezoelectric properties it attracts light objects it's for this reason that the ancient Greeks called it electron which later became the word electricity I'd like you to make something with this one in this shape here yes in this shape like two's faceted yeah faceted okay that's doable is that all or is there something else no that's it we agree then you can do this work for me when could it be ready they'll be ready in 10 to 15 days [Music] the best amber cutters are in San Domingo [Music] El Chino is one of the Masters in his field he is able to carve and sculpt the soft matter that does not allow for any error either in the technical work nor in the expertise of the raw block and what he will be able to obtain from it cracks inclusions frailty color each of these elements must be assessed with a master's eye and taken into account when carrying out the work [Applause] cutting polishing and shining gradually reveal the quality of the amber [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello tell me sir I'm making those pieces I discussed with the man and yes it's possible to make them in the workshops of philippe tournaire the jewelry is planned out with precision no detail is left to chance [Music] like any master of his art he oversees his jewels from birth until the very last moment [Music] [Music] then comes the fragile moment when the jewel takes wings and finds itself around the neck of a woman the ultimate destiny for which it was made [Music] amber is a godsend for the Dominican Republic it is for this reason that the umbrellas are want to say that as long as the Sun continues to bathe the island every day amber will continue to flourish [Music] you

Channel: Voillot Patrick

Views: 114,338

Rating: 4.7209301 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, gemmologist, gemstone, precious stones, gemmology, patrick voillot, pierre précieuse, pierres précieuses, jewelry, stone, movie, tv, frenchtv, jeweler, prices, million dollars, expedition, mine, mining, Place Vendôme, amber, Dominican Republic., dominican republic, insect fossils, Jurassic Park, larimar, dangerous, tunnels, searches, discovery, carnivals, Caribbean, Tournaire

Id: yLDGVjH8sZs

Length: 51min 1sec (3061 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 14 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Tangledtitty]

I really enjoyed this. I recommend to all you fossils.