Amber from 94M years ago is focus of discussion Nat. History Museum staffer to speak about findings in Sayreville BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer Some Sayreville residents and officials are on a different sort of amber alert than the ones Americans have grown used to hearing about. Efforts to preserve a privately owned, 159-acre tract, where amber dating as far back as 94 million years ago was found, are gaining support. In an effort to spread knowledge about the hundreds of pounds of the rare, ancient fossil-resin, which was discovered about 10 years ago, Paul Nascimbene, a scientific staff member from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, will be a guest speaker at the Sayreville Historical Society's meeting Sept. 13. "It's very unusual stuff," said Carol Kadi, former president of the society. "There is no place in the United States with amber like ours." The American Museum of Natural History was one of a number of institutions that took amber from the site, Kadi said. Nascimbene will bring samples from its collection of more than 100 pounds. The site, which was once home to the Crossman Sand Co. and is the location of the oldest-known amber in North America, is directly across from the Main Street Townhomes. Both properties are owned by Peter and Lorraine Mocco, whose company has developed a large number of properties in the borough, including the Winding Woods apartment complex. Amber was found during the time when the property was used as a sand and clay mining field, according to Antoinette Isabella, a historical society member who has conducted extensive research into the site and its contents. "As a result of it being butchered, so to speak, for its resources, it allowed these [scientists] to discover these fossils," Isabella said. When the amber was first discovered, the Moccos allowed professionals from various disciplines to come to their property and take from the rich supply for research and study. "There was a huge number of scholars and archaeologists and geologists who were there," Kadi said. Those who were allowed access to the tract pledged not to interfere with possible future development of the land, according to Isabella. "You would think that they would be climbing all over each other," Isabella said. "I guess a lot of them feel like they've exhausted whatever is there." The Moccos lost a court battle against the borough in 2005 that denied their application to build 200 homes on the amber site, and there have been other legal spats involved with the property and its owners. The historical society wrote a letter to the Borough Council, suggesting that the land be purchased as open space, Kadi said. The cause has garnered support from state Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D- 19), and residents throughout the town. Isabella stressed the importance of the amber find, saying that because it is the oldest ever discovered in North America, and the third oldest in the world, it holds the key to otherwise unavailable knowledge. "The beginnings of life forms can answer our beginnings," Isabella said. "They were here before us, who knows what they can uncover?" Due to the outstanding preservation abilities of amber, DNA information can be gleaned from the life forms held within, according to Isabella. Included in the lifeforms frozen in time from the Cretaceous Period of the geologic timescale are the world's oldest fossil ants; mosquitoes; moths; mushrooms; bees and biting black flies found in amber, Isabella stated. "It's quite a distinction, if you ask me," Isabella said. The society has invited various local schools to attend the educational speaking engagement, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. next door to the museum at the senior center, located at 425 Main Street. Attendees should enter through the rear of the building. "There are other communities that could say George Washington stopped there, but we ... [have] something that was there for 94 million years," Kadi said.