Petrified Log State Rock of Mississippi
Made up of siliceous minerals, the
11-million-year-old southern miss petrified log
was found intact rather than in fragments.
According to Dr. Bobby Irby, then chairperson
of the USM Science Education Department and
coordinator of the acquisition, it was believed
that the petrified artifact was covered in its
location by a stream after having fallen into
an ancient river, where it became waterlogged,
buried in a channel and fossilized." Dr. Irby
noted the log to be 65 feet long, weighing
over 30 tons. Biological examinations of the
fossil wood indicated the log was a walnut-
like hardwood. The petrified log/tree, more
commonly known as the State Rock of
Mississippi, was believed to be one of the
largest Mississippi petrified logs at the time
of its discovery in December 1986 by landowner
William Thomas Johnson of Ovett, Mississippi.
Dedication of the unusual artifact occurred
on October 4, 1987.