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The Amber Trade in Kurpie
Article by Jerzy Jastrzębski, translated from Polish by Agnes Lupa
Full Polish version of the article can be read here. Website administered
by Zdzisław Bziukiewicz.
Kurpie is a region found in the basin of the river Narwia in northeastern Poland. In the past the area was covered in old growth forest cut through by many Narwian tributaries. Permanent settlements in Kurpie were established relatively late in the 16th – 18th centuries. The development of agriculture was delayed which resulted in the proliferation of other professions such as an old form of forest apiculture (beekeeping in forest trees), hunting, fishing, craftsmanship and in the largest proportion the extraction and refinement of amber. Of all the sparse resources in the Narwian region amber drew most of the interest as it has been found on the eastern shores of Narwia for a long time. The people of the Narwian basins had such a strong association with the exploitation and refinement of amber that the “gemstone” became a permanent part of the cultural history of this geographical area. It also influenced the rise of an individual ethnographical definition of the region and for many years determined its economic development.
The pockets of amber in Krupie in the quaternary glacial establishments were a result of tertiary deposits by the Pleistocene glaciers in the most recent Ice Age ( 1.7 million -10,000 years ago). This is today’s Baltic amber or succinite, very specified in regards to existing forms and varieties. The degree of weathering varies as does the hue, transparency and the size of the nuggets. The next movement of amber at a later time occurred via the river.
Amber has been found and is being found in various locations near Narwia. In the sands and river dunes it is possible to find pieces cracked from the sun and a with a discolored top layer. In the post glacial debris among small rocks and gravel many such heavily weathered and various sized pieces were found. Quite often large deposits of amber were found by fisherman in the river and at the bottom of water reservoirs. When searching for amber in the reservoirs one would wait until evening or nighttime because when lit up with a Łuczywo (torch) the amber would shine in the water making it clearly visible. To extract the amber from the water wooden shovels with slits were used as were hand held nets called czerpaki and kaszorki.
The most amber rich rivers were: Szkwa, Piasecznica i Rozoga. Before the regulation of these rivers (between 1935-1937) the rivers would often change their path and in the process washed ashore large quantities of raw amber.
An interesting way of extracting amber in Kurpie was by compacting the surface of the soil with your feet. In wet fields called “rygocie” stomped on by cattle, amber could be found right under the surface of the soil, and sometimes water would emerge bringing up amber nuggets.
Lack of research in this region prevents us from determining when people began digging up amber, but most likely it has been happening for hundreds of years. Often amber was found by accident for example during plowing when digging rows and wells of a depth between 2-4 meters. It also appeared during the exploitation of clay and gravel mines. This allowed the implementation of specific techniques of amber extraction and caused the introduction and refinement of various tools used in the process. The inhabitants of the Krupie region quickly learned to recognize places where one could find amber. In the swamps they identified such areas by the rusty color of the water and in the dry regions - by the color of the soil. Most of the amber occurred in the pits and swamps of soft earth which didn’t contain many rocks and was a grey or cerulean in color. This kind of earth was called “siwica” and the underlying gravel layer was referred to as “ciękieć".
Amber tradesman would chose a location and perform a so called “beating the trial”. This was executed with the help of sharp 2 pronged pitch-forks sometimes called trial staffs or sticks. With these pitchforks one would prod the fields where the existence of siwica was suspected. Since this soil was to contain no rocks if the fork hit something hard it was most likely amber and if this was the case more intesive digging would begin with the use of a shovel. Another test staff used was one with a steel tip and barbs used to extract soil samples. This tool would be pounded into the ground and once extracted the barbs would contain clods of soil. An older tradesman – a “master” – would examine the clods rub them between his hands and if her recognized the grey or cerulean hue determined that the diggining should take place in this spot. A master from the village Wolkowe told others that he picked up a clod of dirt in his hand he could tell whether it did or did not contain amber.
Shovels were used for digging and for the deepening of the trial openings spades, and a variety of other tools that break up the earth were used. In the place were presence of amber was suspected a few small pits were dug about 25cm wide, 37 long and 75cm – 1.5 meters deep. The master tradesman would examine the earth rub it in between his hands and when he saw the grey or cerulean color, a moist soil with grains of sand, he would call the other workers and announce that he hit the “ciękieć” and that amber must be coming soon.
Digging one would encounter so called amber belts 3-4 meters in length. Underneath these belts at the depth of 60-90cm were large deposits of amber. The name amber belts was coined by the amber tradesman for these particular areas of soil that contained such aggregations of the gemstone. Once these belts were found, trial openings were dug to further determine in which direction the belt extended and widened. The length of the amber belts varied, but on average they were about 24 meters. They always ended on a widened section (58cm – 1.15m) called “kociołkiem”, in which occurred the most concentrated amount of amber. Occasionally the “kociołka” could contain as much as 100kg @ 50lbs or amber. The wide opening usually occurred on the east side. The belts did not run through the soil horizontally but rather at an angle often changing direction and sometimes cutting across each other. There were a variety of belt types distinguished by different names such as ordinary, crooked, discontinuous, broken, with outlets and double.
Occasionally during digging water would appear which was called "żygawicą". This water would protect the sides of the pit and allowed digging down to 3-5 meters, sometimes down to 8 meters. Depending in what type of dirt they were digging another set of tools were used. Narrow shovels to dig in between the roots of trees in the forest, a light grubbing-hoe for looking through the bottom dirt, a “trial” spoon for muddy soil, iron rakes for amber rich soil and a wooden tray for separating out the excavated soil.
Amber in Kurpie was dug on an a individual’s and on leased land by an individual or an entire family. Groups were created called “osmany”. At the head of this company was a “master” – the most experienced amber man who knew not only how to dig but also how to look for amber. Earnings were divided according to the amount of amber after its sale. On their own land, an individual could dig without limits, but on government land was surrendered through a lease auction. The government itself did not rule over these lands, this supervision was left in the hands of the forest service. Their assignment was to oversee and regulate the lease payments and insure that the amber tradesman covered up the pits they have dug after the extraction.
The largest interest in the extraction of amber in the Kurpie region occurred during the first half of the 19th century, although history ties the beginnings of the amber exploitation to the arrival of Wolfram de Vozy from old Prussia during the 18th century. In 1796 he began the search near the village of Wolkowe, and sometime later in Chełchach in the municipality of Sypniewo. In the first half of the 19th century in the most amber rich terrains of the southern Baltic, there was a significant regression in the expansion of exploration and refinement of raw amber material. Small digs in Sambia were abandoned and private lease holders were applying for leases of government land suitable for amber exploration. The Kurpie terrains replaced the Baltic beaches and the shores of the Sambian peninsula in the refinement and extraction of amber. In the 19th century there were over 100 small open cast mines of a depth of 0.5 – 5meters, sometimes of a significant yield, and twice as many individual finds documented in literature.
The first government mine was in the forest district of Łacha. Amber was discovered there in 1808, but the land lease was not signed until 1816. Between the years of 1818 – 1822 as many as 2000-3000 people were employed there daily. In 1818 in certain places as much as 100 kg of amber was extracted. The lesses kept a close watch on their workers and kept all of the extracted amber. Between the years 1835 – 1836 in the forest distric of Ostrołęc 1285 kg of small amber pieces were recovered and 1148 kg of larger amber pieces were found. This amber mine existed until the year 1850.
The second government mine stretched throughout the forest district of Przasnysz, and was leased as of the year 1816. There were only about 15 workers a day. The amber belts reached up to 35m in length. In 1817 a third mine opened in the forest district of Różan. This mine covered about 50km and employed around 20 people. The amber belts were found at depths of 1-2 meters and the largest nuggets found weighed up to 1kilo. The fourth mine, leased from 1825 spanned the terrains in the forest district of Pułtusk. The yield varied for all the mines, the largest from all the government mines was in the Ostrołęc district, also it had the longest leases.
In 1840 in the basin of Narwia there were around 60 industries dealing with the extraction of amber and by 1865, only 2 survived. In 1841, a journalist, W.K. Wójcicki, wrote about amber extraction in Kurpie. “Typically Jews dug for the lessees and they did not get paid, but were given an unlimited supply of Vodka and rewarded only when they found amber. In this manner this people becomes drunkards. On top of this, digging up and extracting amber and surfacing non-fertile soil they are destroying the land and pastures.
The elimination of government mines did not mean the halt of amber quarrying.
For many years still, the people of Kurpie worked extracting amber. In the typescript of Hess from 1917, in this year there were 15 locations in Ostrołęc
Still being quarried, and to this day there are still people interested in the work.
At present amber is seeked out on freshly oared meadows in the evening or at night using the light of a headlamp. In Poland you must have a license to dig. Individuals attempt extraction using hydraulic equipment. The private digs yield amber at 1-12meters underground and in small amounts.
The people of Kurpie knew not only how to seek and dig for amber but how to treat and refine it. Traditional treatments of amber in the Narwian basin date back to the 15th century. At first the treatment was fairly simple. The following tools and materials were used:
Fine sand, sandstone plates, marble, ash, amber dust, river and marsh clays, dry and muddy clays, dry and moist chalk dust, ground brick, glass pieces, goat and sheep hide, thick cloth, flannel, large and small brushes, paint brushes, clay bowls, water, oil and soap.
The sand was used for grinding down flat the rough surfaces of amber.
This was the first stage of treatment. Purified of the outer shell (bark) one would rub the flat surface with coarse or fine sandstone until a surface with no dips was achieved. This is how they smoothed the area on a marble tile moistened with clean water. If the tradesman did not have marble, he would use a wooden block called kopystka which was smeared with moistened ash made out of soft wood. The people residing near stagnant water used the thinned out mud and clay to grind surfaces smooth. With the help of a wooden spatula this helped grind and smooth the amber but did not polish it. For this purpose thick cloth sprinkled with ground chalk moistened with water or soap water was used. After 20 or so minutes of grinding and polishing the piece of amber was ready, and if it possessed a natural opening it became a pendant.
More of this article will be available as we continue our translation.
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