gems, amber, amber identification, analytical, Europe, Baltic, Sicily, locality, species

European geological ambers of five different localities and types, and Italian geological ambers from seven different deposits have been studied with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT). Ambers from several localities have been characterized for the first time. The research aims to create a database of European ambers, containing both FTIR and DRIFT data. The FTIR spectra are easily comparable with the data commonly available in the literature, whereas DRIFT analyses are shown to be more useful to characterize the archaeological finds. The provenance of several archaeological ambers from northern and southern Italy, dating from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, is assessed on the basis of the developed database. Of the 35 analysed archaeological objects, all but five are composed of Baltic succinite amber.