More petrified trees on Lemnos this time

In the central part of the island of Lemnos, an eight-meter-long petrified tree trunk has been unearthed.

Together with Lesbos, Lemnos is one of those rare sites where petrified trees have been found on a regular base. This example was discovered during maintenance works outside the Petrified Forest of Lemnos, which covers a surface of approximately 4.5 hectares.

[Picture from The Greek Reporter.] 

The tree is estimated to be some 20 million years old and believed to be a sequoia. Nowadays we know the giant sequoia trees from the protected forest in California, the sole place where this tree is still “alive” today. The scholars are very excited about the sequoia bark which is so well-preserved.

Further study has revealed that standing and lying petrified trees have also been discovered at the bottom of the sea between the island of Lemnos and Lesbos.

I can’t help wondering whether petrified wood was on the botany charts of Aristotle, hence whether Alexander knew about them as I mentioned earlier after my own discovery in Tychero, Thracia (see: About petrified trees in Greece). It may be asking too much, however, for how would they know about the subtropical climate with palm trees that existed in that area more than 20 million years ago?