It’s not every day the average person gets to hold something millions of years old, let alone eat off of it or sit on it. Petrified wood has been around since antiquity and throughout many cultures it has had a plethora of uses and been bestowed with magic and metaphysical properties. In the Stone Age it was used for crafting weapons and tools. In medieval times it was worn as amulets, believed to impart long life.
Stores selling petrified wood at first appear to be just a showroom of tree trunks which pop up in neighborhoods across the PRD, puzzling many a foreigner. Zhang Jianlun runs one of these shops in Guangzhou and explains that because the wood “takes ages to transform, it absorbs the essence of nature, which always means good luck.”
So what happens to create it? Millions of years ago some forests were covered by volcanic ash and the buried plant material was protected from decay by oxygen and organisms. As groundwater would pass through the wood, it would deposit minerals like opal or calcite. The result is a fossil, the details of bark, wood and cellular structure beautifully preserved. Petrified wood is found worldwide, with important sources in Madagascar, Libya, Namibia, Mongolia, China, Australia and the United States.
Because petrified wood takes so long to form and carries both wood and stone energy, it is said to increase patience and perseverance. It is deemed a stone of communication in feng shui and a common use is in offices — a decorative piece is said to take the edge off tense negotiations, and signing a contract on a desk made from a slab of it is believed to bestow longevity on the deal.
Zhang explains that “different wood has different uses, and the value is determined by the age and region it comes from.” Normal wood stone is less than 100 million years old and is mostly collected by ‘rockhounds.’ “Agate-like examples older than 120 million years old are often found in Xinjiang province and can be quite beautiful,” continues Zhang. Fully petrified wood is the most valued; known as ‘wood jade,’ it is at least 230 million years old and collectors look for “the purer the better, the greener the better.”
But the uses of the ancient substance have moved beyond just feng shui. Alongside trends in the West like re-purposing old hardwood from decrepit barns for floorboards to brag about in chic, urban lofts, new takes on something old have been emerging. Carol Wang runs one of the largest gemstone decorative slab suppliers in China and she says petrified wood has become a hot seller for home and commercial decoration. The rustic slabs can become tables which are conversation pieces; large slabs become sleek, indestructible countertops.
The colors and patterns vary depending on the time period and the region’s climate. Some types run neutral tones and make for subdued floors and tiling, while others are psychedelic and brightly colored.
Collectors and suppliers scour antique markets and some is imported to China from the US. There have been cases where someone has discovered a fossilized forest when digging in their backyard, which Zhang says is “really lucky. Now that is destiny.”
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