“that trees could “self-mummify” in humid climates”
This is an example of a CITY BORN LIBTARD JUNK SCIENTIST.
Every country-boy from the forest knows that if trees fall in a very lush environment with just the right soil and drainage, their resin (in especitally pine trees) turns them into the so called “mummies”.
This is a common enough occurance we send our young ones out to find these “mummies” and chop them into small kindling, because they have such a high resin content, they light with a match, burn hot and never go out.
Some places call this “fat wood”. If a tree dies in place (rather than falling), during the summer months, the resin will run to the bottom and preserver the roots and stump area almost 100%. If the tree falls first, then the resin settles to the bottom of the tree and you often get a half-moon shape.
These things can be VERY old - they are almost as hard as rocks - you can dull an axe trying to cut one - if you try a chainsaw, it will be dull after 1-2 minutes. The only way to deal with it is to split it.
I guess next these guys will discover bears shit in the woods.
After, of course, the get a 5M$ grant......
These trees are around 2 million years old. Not actually fossils, the wood has been preserved - mummified - in clay. They were discovered in the 1970s during quarrying near Avigliano Umbra (Umbria). They were a type of sequoia,and some of them lived for 3000 years (before then surviving the next couple of million!).