On the island of Lesbos, researchers have recovered a well-preserved fossil tree, including its branches and roots. As mentioned the Natural History Museum of Petrified Forest on the island of Lesbos in December 2020, Whether it was an exceptional discovery. Due to similar plant remains, up to 20 million years old, they appeared to light in the hundreds on the Greek island of the Aegean. However, the latest discovery impresses with its unique perfection.
Prospectors, who were active in the run-up to the road construction, uncovered a tree more than 19 meters tall in a layer of volcanic ash. The projectiles of a volcanic eruption knocked the tree down and buried it. These conditions also favored the entire ossification process of the tree. Describes Nikos Zoros from the Natural History Museum in the videoThat the discovery was about 20 million years old. The fossil dates back to the Miocene, an era in Earth’s history when a particularly warm climate prevailed in Europe at that time. Further investigations should now show the types of trees they were in.
© Natural History Museum of Lesvos Petrified Forest (Oceannet)
Tree restoration | In order to safely raise the find from the ground, the excavators wrapped the fossil in a protective layer and then placed it on a metal frame.
On the west of the island, excavations in Petrified Forest took place for the first time in 1995. Researchers have been working at the site where the current tree was found since 2018. They have unearthed numerous fragments of fossil trees and layers of fossilized leaves. The remnants of a primitive forest, in which both conifers and deciduous trees grew, span an area of more than 15,000 hectares on the island of Lesbos. At the time of the Miocene, there was vital volcanic activity in the Aegean Sea, in which the subtropical forests of that time also occurred.
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