Copal

Copal is a tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree Protium copal (Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and for other purposes. More generally, copal includes resinous substances in an intermediate stage of polymerization and hardening between "gummier" resins and amber. Copal that is partly mineralized is known as copaline.

It is available in different forms; the hard, amber-like yellow copal is a less expensive version, while the milky-white copal is more expensive.

Etymology

The word "copal" is derived from the Nahuatl language word copalli, meaning "incense". In ancient times and still today in English-speaking countries, copals were also called animé.

History and uses

Subfossil copal is well known from New Zealand (kauri gum from Agathis australis (Araucariaceae)), Japan, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Madagascar. It often has inclusions and is sometimes sold as "young amber". When it is treated or enhanced in an autoclave (as is sometimes done to industrialized Baltic amber) it is used for jewelry. In its natural condition copal can be easily distinguished from old amber by its lighter citrine colour and its surface getting tacky with a drop of acetone or chloroform. Copal resin from Hymenaea verrucosa (Fabaceae) is found in East Africa and is used in incense. East Africa apparently had a higher amount of subfossil copal, which is found one or two meters below living copal trees, from roots of trees that may have lived thousands of years earlier. This subfossil copal produces a harder varnish.

By the 18th century, Europeans found it to be a valuable ingredient in making a good wood varnish. It became widely used in the manufacture of furniture and carriages. It was also sometimes used as a picture varnish. By the late 19th and early 20th century, varnish manufacturers in England and America were using it on train carriages, greatly swelling its demand. In 1859, Americans consumed 68% of the East African trade, which was controlled through the Sultan of Zanzibar, with Germany receiving 24%. The American Civil War and the creation of the Suez Canal led to Germany, India, and Hong Kong taking the majority by the end of that century.

In pre-Hispanic times, among the Mexica or Aztecs, it was known as copalquáhuitl, "copal tree," and the resin extracted from it as copalli, "incense." Due to its religious use, it was known as iztacteteo, or "white god," due to the color of the smoke it gave off. Bernardino de Sahagún, in his General History of the Things of New Spain, describes how copal gum was used ritually by the inhabitants of the Aztec capital, who burned it as an offering to their gods. Copal is still used by a number of indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America as an incense, during sweat lodge ceremonies and sacred mushroom ceremonies.

The use of copal was also widely spread among the Mayan culture, where it was known under the name of pom (also written poom), although there are also records of the use of the Nahuatlism copal, in the area of Mayan influence. This resin also constituted an important element of the religiosity of that people as demonstrated by the finding of figures made of this material in the great offering of the sacred cenote of Chichén Itzá, likewise, it was one of the substances that, together with cinnabar, made up the characteristic funerary pigment of the Red Queen of Palenque.  While in the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, copal is called "brains of heaven."

Differentiation of copal from resin and amber

Copals can be divided into two large groups: 1. the hard, genuine or fossil copals (tropical amber) and 2. the soft, fake, recent or recent fossil copals. 

Fake copal is a semi-fossil, natural resin which, in contrast to fresh resins, has a much greater hardness and therefore a higher melting point.

Unlike amber, which is measured in millions of years, fake copal—at least in the most common definition of the term—is a hardened, subfossil resin that is typically between a few decades and a few millennia old. Dropping acetone or a similar solvent onto copal creates a greasy, sticky surface, whereas genuine fossil copal and amber remain unaffected. Furthermore, the melting point of amber (200 to 380 °C) is significantly higher than that of fake copal (below 150 °C).

In the 1990s, attempts were made to classify resins, copal, and amber using scientific methods based on their chemical properties. In addition to the constituents, the degree of polymerization of the resin samples examined plays a role. The results of these analyses indicate that " it is essentially useless to attempt to determine the age of organic material in sediments solely through chemical analyses " because the extent of chemical transformation processes is determined by various influences, and as a result, resins of the same age can exhibit different stages of development, which lead to different results in chemical analyses. However, the results also indicate that copal is much closer to recent resin than to amber, and there even seems to be reason to doubt whether copal should be described as a subfossil resin.

The question of copal's age range continues to be answered in different ways by scientists. The only thing that is clear is that polymerization is not complete in copal, whereas it is in amber. The boundaries between recent resin and copal, and between copal and amber, are fluid. For the layperson, who neither has the equipment to perform complex chemical analyses of resin samples nor the expertise to interpret the results of such tests, the tests mentioned above are the only options. Trade names are often unreliable and misleading.

In scientific literature, the term "resin" or "fossil resin" is generally used, among other things for the reasons mentioned above. Terms such as "amber" or "copal" are considered colloquial or commercially common terms that are vague in the scientific sense.

Botanical origin

Copal is extracted from both deciduous trees (Hymenaea) and conifers, such as the New Zealand kauri pine, a member of the Araucaria family. However, there are also copal species on the market whose botanical origin is not readily identifiable. For example, the subfossil resin from the roots of the resin-producing trees has seeped into the soil, from which it is only extracted long after the trees have disappeared. Copal can also be found in secondary deposits, such as amber, due to erosion.

Currently, the technique for extracting the resin varies depending on the desired product. For example, so-called stone copal or gum is collected from the tree's bark. White or holy copal, on the other hand, is extracted in a very similar way to rubber and chicle: by making diagonal cuts along the tree trunk or branch, so that it falls. It is generally collected in a maguey leaf placed under the last incision.

The ancient Mayans used copal in their religious ceremonies, which they obtained from the Protium copal tree, also known as Elaphrium copal.

It is supposedly used to cleanse and purify the energies of a place and the people who use it. Turpentine (a distillation of pine balsam), walnut, or poppy essence are generally used to dilute the resin.

Organic inclusions

Similar to amber, copal also sometimes contains organic inclusions, such as insects or plant parts. These inclusions in copal form in the same way as amber inclusions. In contrast to amber inclusions, the inclusions in copal are usually much better preserved due to their relatively young age. In principle, unlike amber inclusions, there is a realistic chance of isolating DNA from preserved tissue of copal inclusions. Because the few inclusions from copal that have been scientifically examined in more detail include extinct species despite their relatively young age (e.g. Garcorops jadis), quite a few paleoentomologists see this aspect as a strong reason to advance research on copal inclusions. Copal from Madagascar and Colombia in particular is becoming the focus of research. 

Another aspect that has been put forward for studying inclusions in copal is the fact that copal is sometimes mined in huge pieces that can contain a multitude of inclusions. The diversity of forms of hundreds of inclusions in a single piece, organisms that were enclosed virtually at the same minute and shared the same habitat, allows conclusions to be drawn about the communities of life at the time of resin formation and opens up the opportunity to reconstruct habitats that have since disappeared. 

Varieties

Over time, an incalculable number of terms has emerged for copal, which neither follow a uniform systematic nor are applied consistently in the literature. Terms that follow the rules of mineralogical nomenclature (e.g., Agathocopalite or Legumocopalite for copals derived from the resin of Agathis or legumes, respectively) have not been established. Some names for varieties of copal that are widely used today are

Copal Oro, from the resin of Protium icicariba (Burseraceae), according to other sources from Hymenaea courbaril and probably also Hymenaea oblongifolia (syn.: H. oblongifolia var. palustris); Occurs in South and Central America, mainly the Amazon basin (Brazil) and Colombia.

Copal Negro, from the resin of Protium klugii or Copal Torote Bursera microphylla and Palo Santo Bursera graveolens in Mexico, Guatemala.

Copal Blanco Copal Pom, from the resin of Protium copal, Copal Amargo Bursera bipinnata or Protium crassipetalum, Protium nodulosum in Mexico.

Copal Saint Copal de Penca or - Blanco Bursera copallifera from Mexico.

Mexican Copal Almárciga Bursera citronella, Fragrant Copal Bursera fagaroides, Jecahui Bursera stenophylla, Copal de Santo, Topoca Bursera penicillata, Copalillo Bursera glabrifolia, Copal Florido Bursera linanoe.

Brazilian Copal Hymenaea courbaril, Hymenaea martiana, Hymenaea parvifolia, Hymenaea velutina, Hymenaea stigonocarpa, Hymenaea intermedia, Cynometra spruceana var. phaselocarpa, Cynometra sessiliflora. 

Breuzinho Protium heptaphyllum from Brazil.

Manila copal, from the resin of the Philippine kauri spruce or dammar fir Agathis dammara; in other sources called Agathis alba (the same tree species), as well as others. 

Dammar copal, made from the resin of the dammar tree (Shorea wiesneri) in the dammar family, native to Indonesia. A distinction is made between white and brown dammar. White dammar is obtained by live resin extraction, while brown dammar has oozed from natural tree trunk openings and has lain in the ground for some time. Thus, unlike white dammar, it can be considered a subfossil resin, or copal in the narrower sense.

Kauri copal (also kauri resin), from the resin of Agathis australis (New Zealand), Agathis ovata (New Caledonia)

Zanzibar, Mozambique and Madagascar copal, made from the resin of Hymenaea verrucosa, Eng. Zanzibar Copal, Analomanta, Fra. Copalier.

Akracopal, Sierra Leone, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Angola and Benguela copal. The legume Guibourtia copallifera and Copaifera salikounda are considered as resin donors (at least for copal from the Congo Basin and Sierra Leone), West African copal in Akra and Benin by Daniellia ogea, Daniellia oliveri, in Liberia, the Gold Coast and Nigeria, Angola and Congo by Guibourtia demeusei and Colophospermum mopane, Tessmannia moesiekei, Tessmannia africana, Tessmannia anomala, Tessmannia yangambiensis, Copaiba copallifera, Guibourtia arnoldiana, Guibourtia carrissoana, Guibourtia ehie, Sindoropsis letestui. 

African Copal from Niger, Sudan Daniellia thurifera.

East Indian copal (Bengal copal), Canarium bengalese.

Peruvian Copal Golden Copal Parkinsonia praecox or Protium grandifolium, Copal Negro Dacryodes peruviana.

Other copal deposits with organic inclusions are known from: Allendale, Victoria (Australia); Mizunami, Japan. The latter, with an age of 33,000 years, is considered the oldest copal deposit. 

The Colombian resin is often offered commercially as amber. Its age is hotly debated, although C14 dating of a sample of this material has shown an age of less than 250 years, thus ruling out its classification as amber. 

Use

Between 1853 and 1970, more than 100,000 tons of subfossil kauri resin (kauri copal) were mined in New Zealand. The majority of this was exported to England and the USA, where the raw material was used in the production of lacquers and varnishes, as well as in handicrafts. Exports peaked at 10,000 tons in 1905. New Zealand's copal deposits were already intensively used by the Māori, who arrived in the island group around 800 years before the first Europeans. Copal was used as fuel, and the smoke was used to combat various insects. Mixed with the sap of a plant similar to our sow thistle, copal was chewed to care for teeth; ground into powder and mixed with oil, copal served as an antiseptic for wound treatment. Burnt copal played a role in the production of inks for Māori tattoos. 

Large quantities of copal were mined, particularly in the 1920s, in the coastal regions of southern Africa for the purpose of lacquer production. In the territory of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (then the Belgian Congo) alone, more than 20,000 tons were mined in 1926, accounting for around 97% of total African copal production. The material occasionally offered commercially as "Kenya amber" or "Tanzania amber" is also copal. 

In Mexico, copal has the same significance as frankincense does here. The indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica used copal as incense in their sacrificial rituals and as a remedy for many types of illnesses (e.g. asthma, colds, or diarrhea). The Maya also used copal to produce the pigment Maya blue from indigo and palygorskite. Its formerly very widespread use in paint and varnish production has now been reduced to very high-quality instrument and boat varnishes. In the food industry, copal resin is still used today as a color carrier and sealing substance for the industrial production of Easter eggs.

Subfossil copals were and still are occasionally used as the basis for high-quality lacquer paints. Then as now, the value of copal depends on its hardness: the harder (and therefore the higher the melting point), the higher the quality. In cosmetic products it is listed in the list of ingredients as COPAL (INCI).

Despite its optical properties similar to amber, copal plays only a minor role as a raw material for jewelry production due to its comparatively low hardness. At the beginning of the 20th century, copal from the Congo was processed by the Belgian company Ebena from Wijnegem into high-quality jewelry boxes decorated with carvings and gold leaf. 

Copal is sometimes used as a base material for embedding organisms (mostly vertebrates, often lizards). These reconstructions, which are sometimes difficult to recognize, often end up on the market as counterfeits of high-quality amber inclusions.

Use in traditional medicine

Copal has been used since pre-conquest times for the treatment of various ailments. Francisco Hernández already reported the use of copal for the cure of headaches and " for all diseases that arise from cold and wet causes," in accordance with the theory of humors prevailing in Europe at that time.

Even in modern times its therapeutic use is recorded among contemporary indigenous communities, who use different copals for ailments such as stomach pain, toothache, strangulation of the uterus, burns, fever and respiratory problems. 

However, the most widespread use is with respect to the so-called cultural diseases, which are part of the cosmogony of the Mesoamerican indigenous peoples: susto, bad air and the illnesses caused by witchcraft or harmful spiritual influences, whose cure includes the use of copal burned in incense and passed over the body of the sick person, in the so-called cleansings. 

Copals are used in various ways, one being the already mentioned burning in incense, but there are more, it can be cooked for vaginal cleansing, an infusion can be made with Protium copal and it was used to calm the stomach. 

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