Aging and fossilization of wood

Aging and fossilization of wood are the exceptions in nature since the bulk of the organic matter is destroyed by microbial decomposition in the course of time. The biochemical subunits of plants are recycled and incorporated into new life in an eternal succession. Sometimes wood contains some antimicrobial compounds which prevent the usual destruction. The oldest samples of air-kept wood are dated to 290000 years while water-logged specimens from ship wrecks, bulwarks and posts are supposed to be as old as 8500 years [98]. Different physical and chemical techniques were applied to the analysis of archaeological wood and to the estimation of appropriate conservation means for the future [99], but TA is rare. 

In a recent line of thermoanalytical experiments Wiedemann [103] investigated wood samples taken from ancient Egyptian coffins and compared them with correspondmg samples of modem origin. Looking at these results one has to keep in mind that a severe scarceness of useful wood was typical for all periods of Egypt, that trees like sycamore, date and dum palm, tamarisc and acacia posses only poor quality for board production and that good material like cedars had to be imported. Only wealthy people could effort such coffins, the others had to be 

Besides these papers and the investigations of Wiedemann on 2000 year old sequoia wood [48] or ancient paper and its plant origin [104] (see below) no further publications were found in the literature. The present authors are sure that an interesting and stimulating field of research is waiting here for DSC and 

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