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Code: 10480
Dimensions:
A Petrified Wood Dish
Fashioned from an unidentified
gymnosperm species (Woodworthia?)
Gokwe South District, Midlands Region, Zimbabwe (?)
Triassic (200 million years old)/Late 20th Century
Measures: 16 cm (6.3") long by 13.3 cm (5.6") wide
Although of relativly recent manufacture the green-brown petrified wood from which this dish is carved is thought to have originated in the Gokwe Region of Zimbabwe and probably dates to the Triassic period around 200 million years ago.
Petrified wood forms when a tree falls and its remains are buried beneath mineral material such as volcanic ash or river sediment. This creates an anaerobic (reduced oxygen) environment halting the usual process of decay. In time minerals are absorbed and then crystallize, replacing all the organic matter. Over hundreds and thousands of years the material eventually completely hardens to stone.