Found in Amber

Caravaggio paints the moment Christ calls Matthew from the tax collector’s booth. The scene is biblical. But the fashion belongs to Rome around 1600.

Why does Caravaggio make ancient Judea look like the Rome of his day?

New video out now: https://youtu.be/pmjExdG46QU

2 days ago | [YT] | 39

Found in Amber

This painting is supposed to show Bethlehem around 1 AD. Instead, it looks like a 16th-century Flemish village.

The mistake is obvious. The mistake is deliberate.

New video out now: https://youtu.be/pmjExdG46QU

3 days ago | [YT] | 40

Found in Amber

The drunks in this 400-year-old painting are staring straight at you. There's a reason for that.

New video is available now: https://youtu.be/_YWPwfDFXh0

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 37

Found in Amber

Mark Twain was born in 1835, around the time Halley's Comet appeared in the sky.

He spent years predicting he would die with it. "It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't," he said.

Halley's Comet returned. He died on April 21, 1910, one day after the comet reached its closest point to the Sun.

For more stories like this, watch The Strange History of Comets: https://youtu.be/3Yi9A9VzUi0

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 27

Found in Amber

In 44 BC, a comet appeared over Rome.
Within weeks, it turned a murdered man into a god.

Comets haven’t changed in 4.5 billion years.
But what we’ve made them mean has. This film traces that shift, from Caesar to Rosetta.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 10

Found in Amber

In Medieval Europe, lovesickness was a deadly disease. Physicians had a test for the condition. They'd hold your wrist and casually drop the name of your suspected beloved. If your pulse leaped? Confirmed.

The cures included bloodletting (of course), distractions, but ideally: consummation with the beloved. And if that wasn't possible? Go find someone else, and do it fast.

For the full story of love through history, watch The Complete History of Love: https://youtu.be/GIIfl3g7UPk

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More posts like this are available for members on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/FoundinAmber

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 28

Found in Amber

In 1910, people thought Halley’s Comet was going to kill everyone on Earth.

Astronomers had detected cyanogen gas in the comet's tail. One of the most famous scientists of the time publicly wondered if it might “snuff out all life on the planet.”

Panic followed. Anti-comet pills. Sealed doorframes. Crops left unplanted.
In May, Earth passed through the tail. Nothing happened.

The “poison gas,” one newspaper wrote, bore a close resemblance to ordinary hot air.

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The 1910 comet panic will feature in my next documentary, which I'm currently hard at work editing. More updates like this are available for members on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/FoundinAmber

If you haven't seen my previous documentary yet, Anticipating the Apocalypse explores humanity's relationship with "the end" in depth: https://youtu.be/UZDAHlG2jF0

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 27

Found in Amber

The Doomsday Clock is at 85 seconds to midnight.

People have said the end is near for as long as we’ve been around. The people of ancient Mesopotamia, the Vikings, medieval monks by candlelight, and us, staring into our screens in 2026. Different worlds, same fixation.

Anticipating the Apocalypse is the story of why we can’t stop, what it means, and what this ancient anxiety reveals about what we actually hope for.

1 month ago | [YT] | 9

Found in Amber

The channel just crossed 10,000 subscribers. I didn’t expect to be here half a year in, and I’m honestly overwhelmed.

Thank you to everyone, for the comments, the support on Patreon, the generosity, and for giving me the space to explore the subjects I care about. It means more than I can really put into words.

The next film is coming soon. I’ve been working on it for a while, and I can’t wait for you to see it.

The painting is a hint.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 52