petrified wood

[goldnsilver]

I would appreciate any thoughts on this piece found last fall. It weights 6 1/4 pounds and about 10" long. Are pieces of this size with cell structure showing hard to find? Possible age? Thanks

 

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[Indian Steve]

Nice piece! What state is it from? steve

 

[goldnsilver]

Thanks Steve, It was found in Maryland.

 

[JBM]

Preserved wood,part of a wooden case from about 2,000 years with a Roman lead stylus still in situ.

 

[GatorBoy]

Don't know about that last photo looks like a piece of iron but anyway the original photo does look like petrified wood I'm not so sure about Maryland but if it were found in the south I would think it was a piece of petrified palm wood

 

[goldnsilver]

Gator, thanks for the response. Any chance it may be a piece of palm wood that floated up the Chesapeake Bay from the south, many, many years ago? I found it in an area where I pick up arrowheads on the beach, a few miles from an area were I look for Miocene fossil shells. Will post a photo of the shells in another thread. Thanks

 

[Harry Pristis]

For comparison;

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The common practice for petrified wood is to use "form genera" names for specimens, thus all petrified palm fiber is described as Palmoxylon sp and the roots as Rhizopalmoxylon sp. The reason for this convention is that the wood rarely gets as much attention as the foliage when plants are described and these components are rarely, if ever, found attached.

 

[Las Vegas Bob]

Fossilized Palm Wood found in California

 

[GatorBoy]

Louisiana .. These all came from a Native American site.. there were also many tools made from this material on site

 

[GatorBoy]