Beautifully polished and gift boxed copal from Pleistocene to Holocene epochs of Madagascar. The Holocene is our most recent time of the earth's history and that is the time we are living in now. The Holocene will probably end when the natural process of climate change allows the world to alter its environments. Then we will have to think of a new time and name. However, that of course does not mean copal is brand new because it comes from these deposits, it is still old, just not as old as amber which is millions of years old, and quite different from copal. Its wrong to compare amber and copal, because they are from different times and places and then you have things like Jet is similar to both so it can get quite complicated if you want to make comparisons. Simply, Copal is Copal, Amber is Amber. They are not substitutes or imitations of each other. Copal is dated from tens of thousands of years to a few hundred years ago.
It is a difficult process to date most things prehistoric but if you think of Copal is being someway down the middle you get an idea that it is still old, and many of the inclusions are extant and still around today. This gives an idea of its age. All pieces have inclusions of insect and plant life, the plant life is normally the tree of which produced the copal resin. Insects included are ants, termites, flies and various mites. There is also air bubbles and sometimes sand and grit.
The oldest known Copal found is estimated to be 1.6 Million years old. Amber on the other hand, has been found in Carboniferous deposits (some 320 Million years old). But Amber that contains insects is most often found from the early Cretaceous onwards. Flowering plants that need pollinators marks the time of exotic insects and these are found in all their preserved glory.
We also have insect fossils that are found preserved on silt and mudstones from time to time, which you will find on the Insect page
Copal with plant and insect inclusions (Natural Flows and freeform)
On Sale
On Sale
Polished Madagascan Copal with Insect inclusions A22
Boxed Copal with insect inclusions Most contain some kind of insect inclusion. Also the odd piece is just Copal, with little or no inclusions ideal for jewellery making. If you want to know more info about these or anything else on the website, please get in touch.