Upcoming Webinar: 🔍 What Is It? Trying to Identify Fossil Wood

Join us for the next Seminar in the FFF Webinar Series with Dr. Elisabeth Wheeler!

We’re excited to announce the next FFF webinar, tackling one of the most frequently asked questions when people saw fossil wood this May 31, 2025, 10:00 AM EDT / 9:00 PM ICT

Meet Our Speaker: Dr. Elisabeth Wheeler!

• A paleoxylotomist with decades of experience studying fossil wood anatomy

• Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Emeritus, N.C. State University

• Founder of the InsideWood Database and InsideWood Facebook Page

Dr. Wheeler will introduce the fundamentals of fossil wood identification and discuss common challenges that researchers and collectors face. Want a sneak peek? Read the abstract below!

"What Is It? Trying to Identify Fossil Wood"

The approaches to identifying fossil wood are the same as those for identifying present-

day wood. Except there are more challenges with fossil wood. The preservation of the

fossil may not be good enough to see important diagnostic features. The older the

fossil, the less likely its features will match a present-day genus or family. There are a

few woods that can be identified with just a handlens (loupe), but generally microscopic

features are needed. The wood anatomical database now available on the InsideWood

web site was started in the 1980s specifically to help with identifying Eocene woods.

Some basics of wood anatomy, wood identification, and how-to-use InsideWood are

reviewed. Also, a few examples are given for trying to answer “What Is It? For the fossil

woods from Yellowstone National Park (Eocene) and the Vantage Fossil Forests

(Miocene), so satisfying, some frustrating.

✅ The live online seminar on May 31st was free and open to the public.

🎥 Missed it? The recording is available to FFF members.

Join our growing community to access the recording and other member benefits during your active membership year.

👉 Become a member today: https://www.fossilforests.org/getinvolved