Donate

Gutta-percha

Beachcomber and historian Tracy Williams discovered her first Tjipetir block in the summer of 2012. Now, she runs a Facebook group collecting photos and stories of other blocks that have washed up on beaches throughout northern Europe.

We finally know why these mysterious ‘Tjipetir blocks’ are washing up on European beaches

Environment

You never know what’s going to wash up on the beaches of Cornwall, England. In recent years, among the seaweed and driftwood, mysterious 100-year-old blocks of rubber have appeared. But an amateur historian from England might have cracked the case.