Characterisation of the amber collection of the earth sciences museum of Bari-Italy

The Earth Sciences Museum of the University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy) disposes of an ample collection of amber samples. These are of unknown origin or have been classified as Baltic amber (succinite), Sicilian amber (simetite), amber from New Jersey and New Zealand. However, many samples revealed to be erroneously classified due to incorrect information on the labels or in the museum catalogue - also due to historical forgeries as is often the case of simetite - or to the exchange of samples that probably occurred during the displacement of the museum collection from the Central University Building to the Geo-environmental and Earth Sciences Department. In this study all amber samples were systematically investigated with long and short wave UV rays, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and pyrolysis/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py/GC-MS) using on-line thermally assisted hydrolysis methylation and silylation. The combined use of these analytical techniques allowed for a complete characterisation of the ambers. The compositional data could then be used for a correct classification and better valorisation of the amber samples of the museum collection.