Judging quality
The best material holds crisp cellular structure and bright agatised color. Arizona rainbow wood is legally protected within the national park; collecting there is prohibited, so provenance matters.
Fossil
Petrified Wood
Ancient wood in which every cell was replaced by silica, preserving growth rings, bark and even insect galleries in solid quartz.
Care
Hard and durable. Soap and water.
History & lore
The Petrified Forest of Arizona preserves a 225-million-year-old floodplain forest of conifers unrelated to any living tree.
Cultural history, recorded as tradition rather than as medical or scientific claim.
Common questions about Petrified Wood
- What is Petrified Wood?
- Ancient wood in which every cell was replaced by silica, preserving growth rings, bark and even insect galleries in solid quartz.
- How hard is Petrified Wood and what is it made of?
- Petrified Wood is a Fossil-family mineral with the composition SiO2. It crystallizes in the trigonal system and rates 6.5-7 on the Mohs hardness scale. It occurs in brown, red, yellow, grey.
- Where does Petrified Wood come from?
- Notable localities for Petrified Wood include USA (Arizona), Madagascar, Indonesia, Argentina.
- How do you tell good Petrified Wood from filler?
- The best material holds crisp cellular structure and bright agatised color. Arizona rainbow wood is legally protected within the national park; collecting there is prohibited, so provenance matters.
- How do you care for Petrified Wood?
- Hard and durable. Soap and water.
See it in person
Photographs only go so far
Both rooms are open six days a week, and there is always someone happy to pull pieces out of the case so you can compare them under the light.