- Title: SCIENTISTS CLAIM TO HAVE DISCOVERED THE OLDEST PIECES OF AMBER IN THE WORLD
- Date: 17th October 1996
- Summary: BEIRUT, HAMANA, LEBANON (OCTOBER 17, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) BEIRUT, LEBANON 1. SMV PROFESSOR GEORGE TOHME, HEAD OF LEBANON'S NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, SHOWING OFF PIECES OF THE AMBER 0.11 2. SCU TOHME HOLDING ROCK CONTAINING THE AMBER/ROCK ON PAPER 0.30 3. SMV/CU TOHME HOLDING UP PIECE OF ROCK ZOOM INTO ROCK 0.45 4. MV TOHME SAYING "WE HOPE THAT IN THE FUTURE WE CAN COLLABORATE AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL WITH ALL RESEARCHERS INTERESTED IN THIS FIELD IN THE WORLD TO IDENTIFY INSECTS AND PLANTS FROM THESE AMBERS." (ENGLISH) 1.08 5. CU INSECTS TRAPPED IN THE AMBER (PICTURES TAKEN BY MICROSCOPE) (4 SHOTS) 1.44 6. SCU TOHME SAYING "WE KNOW NOW THAT THEY (THE AMBER PIECES) ARE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE HAVE NOW. MAYBE INSTINCT ANIMALS OR INSECTS BUT MORE OF THEM ARE DIPTERA. WE HOPE TO FIND ANTS BEES AND EMINEPTERA" (ENGLISH) 2.10 7. SCU BITS OF AMBER ON A MICROSCOPE DISH (2 SHOTS) 2.29 8. SMV TOHME PICKING UP PIECE OF AMBER AND SHOWING IT TO CAMERA 2.41 9. CU AMBER BEING HELD BY TOHME 2.49 HAMANA, LEBANON 10. GV MOUNTAINS AROUND THE HAMANA VILLAGE (35 KILOMETRES (22 MILES) EAST OF BEIRUT AND ABOUT 900 METRES (3,000 FEET) ABOVE SEA LEVEL) IN MOUNT LEBANON AREA WHERE THE AMBERS WERE LOCATED (3 SHOTS) 3.10 KEYWORDS : EXTINCT SPECIES Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 1st November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIRUT, HAMANA, LEBANON
- City:
- Country: Lebanon ASIA MIDDLE EAST
- Reuters ID: LVABZW3RPI58SLWKFHON4TFPWT7Y
- Story Text: - INTRO: Scientists working in Lebanon claim to have discovered the oldest pieces of amber in the world. The stones, which contain trapped insects now thought to be extinct, date back 125 million years and could lead to new scientific advances.
An international group of scientists has uncovered what is believed to be the oldest pieces of amber in the world during routine sample collection of the stones from a site in Lebanon.
The amber contains insects now extinct and plants far older than those found in Baltic amber, which dates back 35 million years.
A Lebanese university student named Dany Azar sparked the discovery when he collected thousands of tiny samples of Lebanese amber and took them with him when he went to study in Paris in 1989.
The stones where found at a site near the village of Hamana on Mount Lebanon, but the exact location has been kept secret to protect the area for further scientific research.
Initial observations showed that as well as insects, some remains of plants were also trapped in the amber.
Professor Georges Tohme, head of Lebanon's National Council for Scientific Research, said teams of Lebanese and French scientists from the Universite de Paris Sud in Orsay had been set up to study the insects in the amber. The age was confirmed by French scientists earlier this year.
Professor Tohme said he hoped international scientists would work together to identify the insects and plants trapped in the fossilized resin.
The insects will give scientists the chance to study ancient DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) which is essential to the science of genetic engineering.
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