Colorful Arizona Triassic Petrified Wood Slab

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Ancient & Ethnographic Art Through The Ages

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 10, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-02-10 10:00:00 2022-02-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient & Ethnographic Art Through The Ages https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-art-through-the-ages-8873
Join us for Part Two of a spotlight on two fabulous collections, one from Lumberton, Texas, and the other from Whisnant Gallery in New Orleans. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  North America, Southwestern United States, Arizona, Late Triassic, ca. 225 million years ago. A massive and gorgeous slab of fossilized or petrified Araucaria tree trunk, sliced crossways and highly polished on both planar faces to showcase the broad interior rings of the tree - not only beautiful but providing invaluable information to researchers about the prehistoric climate. The exterior bark is fossilized, replaced by rough stone, while the smooth interior features incredible, colorful quartz, agate, and translucent crystalline structures. The hypnotic colors are pink, lilac, orange, gray-blue, and creamy white with semi-translucent quartz crystals. The polished surface is pleasantly tactile, and just like natural wood today the graining and coloration of each petrified slab is unique with special character. Many Araucaria fossils have indicated the changing climate and eras of drought during the tree's life, which affect the ring sizes. Size: 18.25" Diameter x 0.75" W (46.4 cm x 1.9 cm)
  
  Fossilized trees from this time period come from the Chinle Formation of the southwestern USA, and the beautiful colors found in the formation - exemplified this fossilized tree slab - give the Painted Desert of Arizona its name. Due to plate tectonics, this area was near the equator on the supercontinent Pangaea during the Late Triassic, which gave it a humid, sub-tropical climate. It was a floodplain below mountains to its south and a sea to its west; as a result, massive trees washed down from the mountains and came to rest in sediments that preserved them and fossilized them. The petrification process involves the rapid burial of the tree or pieces under sediment which prevents the usual decay. Flooding and volcanic activity are usually responsible for creating the layers of sand, silt, and ash needed to create the right types and amount of sediment. Mineralized water can then permeate through the wood, coating cell walls and filling the intercellular cavities which then fossilizes into stone. The detailed preservation of the wood, including knots, rings, and bark, are possible because the organic wood molecules become coated and surrounded with smaller silica molecules. Nine different species of tree have been discovered in the fossilized deposits in the region; usually identified as Araucarioxylon arizonicum, an extinct conifer tree (and the state fossil of Arizona). Fascinatingly, the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived in the region approximately 1000 years ago used petrified wood for making tools and even building houses!
  
  Provenance: private southwestern Pennsylvania, USA collection, acquired prior to 2000
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
  
  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #159991

  Condition

  Professionally cut and polished. Natural cavity that perforates fully through from one face to the other. Other natural chips and cavities throughout. Great coloration and large size.
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