HANDS OF AMBER

Amber is the organic 'gem' par excellence of Mundo Maya. It is the fossilized sap of ancient trees, yellow in color and usually translucent, that was produced 27 million years ago by various species of trees.

    Since the beginning of recorded history, cultures have attributed supernatural powers to amber. Pre-Hispanic peoples believed it imbued its wearer with warrior courage, the kind that fears neither war nor death. The ancient Chiapanecan people (from the Mexican state of Chiapas) wore amber nose studs, a fashion that historian, Father Francisco Ximénez once said made their noses look like snouts-strange and oversized.

    Alonso Ponce, a cleric traveling in Chiapas in 1586, noted that the Indians had, "minerals of transparent yellow amber from which they made rosaries and other things."

    The early Mesoamericans (defined as the people living from central Mexico to Honduras) used and traded the amber of Simojovel and Totolapa for centuries, but only Simojovel developed a solid, amber-based economy.

The town of Simojovel, in Chiapas, is a humid territory formed by the abundant mountain clusters that reach up to 2,000 meters in height. This is where the ancestral Maya tradition of amber extraction lives on.

Simojovel is in the northern highlands of Chiapas, between the state's central plateau and the plain that stretches to the Gulf of Mexico. The region is rainy, humid and crammed with mountains rising 2,000 meters above sea level; of every 100 hectares, 95 have inaccessible, steep cliffs.

    Amber deposits are located in a dozen places in the mountains around Simojovel and Totolapa. MUNDO MAYA visited the Pauchil or Pabuchil mines a few kilometers from Chanal-ocom.

MOLE MEN

The mines are open tunnels, like so many burrows on a hillside. The slopes are very steep and the men climb to their respective tunnels with the help of staffs and fallen trees, which they use as steps. Once inside the tunnel, they dig until they hit one of the many layers of carbon known to contain the 'heart of the amber;' then they begin the careful process of perforation.

    Amber mines vary in size, and the longer they are worked, the larger they become. Locals insist some of them have been mined for centuries and into the greater of these, a man can walk upright for a distance of 30 meters or more. The majority, however are extremely narrow and just looking at them it is hard to believe a man can even fit inside, much less do anything once there.

To get to the mines, the workers of Simojovel walk for an hour through very difficult terrain. Once there, they will work a long day—easily 12 hours or more.

The men have to crawl into the tunnel, or walk in bent over at the waist. It is pitch black inside; nevertheless, the miners work by the light of a single candle. They enter barefoot and scantily clad, with only a cloth covering their heads. Their only tools are simple picks, shovels and iron rods that are one centimeter thick and approximately 15 centimeters long. They use cloth sacks or small, rough wooden wagons to remove the earth.

    Once a vein is hit, a good worker can extract a quarter, to an eighth of a kilo of amber during an eight-hour shift. Still, there are days when the men leave empty handed. A lump weighing anything from 100 grams to half a kilo is a major find, and pieces weighing several kilos or more are extremely rare.

In Simojovel, a municipality in northern Chiapas rich in amber, children occasionally collaborate with their fathers in a series of mining-related chores.

Most of the part-time miners are actually full-time farmers. In the interval between the spring planting and the fall harvest (January to May), they collect amber for the additional income it brings their families. It is an option only the men can exercise and young boys may, on occasion, collaborate with their fathers. When they do, the kids divide their time between farming and mining, and boast that they also find time for school. Mudslides, that can seal the mouth of a tunnel in seconds, are the greatest danger; so during the rainy season, when such occurrences are prone to happen, digging is usually suspended.

AMBER RESURFACED

Once a miner has accumulated a significant quantity of amber, he or his wife will go to Simojovel to sell it to the artisans or intermediaries who then distribute it throughout Chiapas, the rest of Mexico and beyond.

The artisans of Simojovel can make up to six pieces a day. First they remove defects and polish the stones, which are brighter than they seem. Then they decide on the piece's final shape.

The artisans of Simojovel use knives, water drills and lathes to turn the amber into a commercial product. If they are prosperous, they will probably own the specialized tools common to jewelers and dentists. These artisans make everything from simple pendants to fine jewelry to elaborately carved animal and geometric figures. The most common, simple pieces are hearts, closed fists, stars, crosses, rectangles and fangs. The more difficult pieces include earrings, bracelets and necklaces of perfectly round, amber beads strung with semi-precious stones and precious metals. Complex pieces show superb workmanship and are greatly valued.

Amber can be shaped with small saws or electric lathes. Many artisans simply turn around and cut the stones on the back of their chairs; later the pieces are passed to those who refine and finish the piece.

Chiapanecan craftspeople can produce just about any figure imaginable, and are often inspired by the original shape of the amber in its brute form—just as contemporary sculptors say that the raw material suggests the finished work of art.

    The quality and color of amber varies. Generally, it ranges from lemon yellow to a rich golden yellow, with tones of green or even pink. It can be either opaque or clear, and occasionally a near-perfect appearance is mottled by the addition of dust, earth, leaves or fungus to the sap before it sets and begins the process of hardening that goes on for millennia.

    The only caveat potential buyers need be aware of, is that amber is easy to fake and many an innocent has paid for amber and gone home with plastic. There are tests however, and experts say fire is the best: real amber does not melt (though it gives off a sweetish odor when burned). Any legitimate salesperson, knowing that fire will not damage it, should let you hold a match to authentic amber.

Pieces made from true amber, such as those pictured here, are easily recognized. Their amber will vary in color and quality, maybe even have tiny imperfections. False amber will be uniform in every aspect.

In addition, of course, since it is a natural substance every piece of amber is unique. If you see a whole series of pieces whose amber is identical and uniform in quality, it is probably not the real thing.

    The resurgence in the demand for amber has given Simojovel's economy a boost: a remarkable feat considering its history over the last 30 years. In 1969, anthropologists Carlos Navarrete and Thomas Lee reported that there were no amber craftsmen in Simojovel, and the few men mining the resin sent their yields to the cities of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapa de Corzo and San Cristóbal de las Casas.

    Today, the number of artisans and miners in Simojovel is rising, and tourists are swamped by venders selling amber. They can purchase it in raw form, or worked, polished and carved by local artisans. Every fourth house in San Caralampio, the 'amber barrio' is a workshop. An unofficial, government census puts the number of amber guilds at three and the number of ambareros (amber workers) at 300, not counting the many independent miners.

MAGIC STONE

According to Maya tradition, amber is the petrified 'blood' of forgotten forests taken from the ground today, thousands of years later.

There are many contemporary, spiritual communities claiming that amber has mystical powers, and in Chiapas, it is reputed to purify souls and protect its wearers from unwanted spirits. Many a country wife will swear that it wards off the 'evil eye,' a calamity usually cured only by medicine men and shamans.

    Dealers specializing in stones and gems, and healers who work with stones professionally, all shop for amber in Simojovel. Science is also interested in amber for the insects it trapped millions of years ago. Encased in the resin during the Cretaceous or Miocene periods, their DNA may have survived intact: a scientific bounty out of Jurassic Park.

    However, amber performs another, and perhaps its greatest function when it joins the present-day Maya to their ancient forebears. The men of Simojovel collect amber in exactly the same place, in exactly the same way and with exactly the same appreciation as their ancestors 3000 years ago did. Now that is continuity, and we all could use a little more of that.