This wood is widely sought after due to the beauty of the petrified stone and the beliefs of feng shui.

The Chu A Thai mountain range (Phu Thien district, Gia Lai) is known as a fossil wood kingdom. People from Chu A Thai community as well as visitors from all around have flocked there to harvest valuable fossil logs. As a result, in recent years, fossil wood has steadily depleted, leaving fewer huge fossil wood trees on Chu A Thai mountain.

Chu A Thai commune (Phu Thien district, Gia Lai) is located on the Chu A Thai mountain range. Green rice fields at the mountain's base have fed generations of Jrai descendants. The mountain is also the location of the majority of Gia Lai's fossil wood.

Chu A Thai mountain was once a primeval forest. The forest was drowned in mud as a result of geological action. The wood's organic components disintegrated. At this point, minerals and silicon began to enter the roots and replaced the organic materials. Fossil wood evolved over hundreds of millions of years. The petrified wood is brought to the surface by weathering and erosion, and is picked up by people to exhibit or sell.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nguyen (32 years old, King Peng village, Chu A Thai commune, Phu Thien district, Gia Lai) was working hard in the blazing noon heat recently to collect fossil wood at the foot of Chu A Thai mountain. "For decades, Mount Chu A Thai has been referred to as the "capital" of fossil wood. Because fossil wood is so precious, many people travel to the mountains in search of it. During lunch break, locals travel around the mountain to collect little wood pellets. If you have a large collection, you may sell it for a few VND million dong or simply a few hundred thousand, depending on the size and quality of the stone,” Nguyen said.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Chuan (29 years old, Dlam village, Chu A Thai commune, Phu Thien district, Gia Lai) was grazing his cows at the foot of Chu A Thai mountain when he extracted a lovely red-brown fossil wood pellet weighing around 10 kilograms.

Mr. Chuyen said: "Today, I was fortunate to come upon a fossil wood pellet with such a lovely hue. This stone, in my opinion, will be quite valuable. Hopefully, I'll be able to sell it for a good price and use the proceeds to buy school supplies for my children."

Mr. Chuyen said that many years ago, there was fossil wood all throughout Chu A Thai mountain, but no one cared to collect it, mistaking it for typical stone. Many people thought it was wonderful, so they took it home to wash and use it as a decoration. 

"A guy near my house once discovered a fossil wood weighing several kilos while working in the fields. Many days later, individuals from Pleiku city came to inquire about purchasing it, but they only sold a few million dong. Currently, the cost of a log Fossil of that size is in the hundreds of millions of dong,” Chuyen said.

Previously, from 2005 to 2015, individuals from all over around flocked to the Chu A Thai mountain in search of fossil wood to sell. Petrified wood is currently acquired by dealers for 5,000 to 6,000 VND/kg, while exquisite stone is marketed at 10,000 VND/kg. The big boulders are priced based on their form, color, and size, and can cost tens of millions of VND.

The fever for fossil wood drew people from all over the world to the highlands to look for it. Chu A Thai's regenerating woods likewise progressively dried up. Large and tiny holes were excavated in a haphazard manner. People in Chu A Thai commune had to install concrete pillars directly at the village gate to prevent huge trucks from entering to buy fossil wood.

Manufacturing 

For more than a decade, the skill of grinding fossil wood has flourished in Phu Thien town. Mr. Do Van Ngoc (28 years old, Phu Thien town, Phu Thien district, Gia Lai) has been manufacturing fossil wood stone for more than eight years.

In the late afternoon, we traveled to Mr. Ngoc's fossil wood studio. We, from afar, could observe him working with a machine to grind bright, eye-catching and appealing fossil logs.

Mr. Ngoc said that he has been interested in fossil wood since 2014. He was a plumber at the time. In the afternoon, he noticed man near his house hard at work polishing raw petrified logs into gleaming, imaginative stone sculptures that he sold to consumers in Ho Chi Minh City for high prices.

"Because fossil wood comes in a variety of hues, its economic worth varies. The soft outer shells, with a jade-colored inside (jewelry wood), cost millions of dong per kilogram. If it is small and in normal color, the cost is around 10,000 VND/kg," Ngoc said.

To create an artistic product, the manufacturer must select the precise area where, when polished, you will notice the stone as the most attractive hue. If you place the stone incorrectly, the output will be less than artistic.

As a result, Mr. Ngoc is diligent at each stage of the job, which necessitates meticulousness, cleverness, and a pretty high aesthetic sense in order to accomplish the glistening and beautiful work. His petrified wood creations have all been refined for a long period.

In addition to the little stone, Mr. Ngoc owns a large amount of fossil wood discovered tens of meters down, having a diameter of 0.5 m and a height of 1.5 m. The pills weigh 2 to 3 quintals and are worth at least 300 million VND. Mr. Ngoc grinds the rare fossil wood extremely carefully. Mr. Ngoc believes that because each petrified wood pellet is a work of nature, it does not need to be carved or chiseled too much.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thanh and her husband (Phu Dong ward, Pleiku city) have a fondness for fossil wood and frequently ride motorbikes for 70 kilometers down Chu A Thai mountain to purchase back stones from individuals who dig them up. Thanh and her husband now have about one hundred blocks of fossil wood of all sizes.

"My family frequently purchases stones from the Chu A Thai and Da Lat mountains to. Previously, the family would buy fossil wood and then engage experts to make it gleam. My spouse purchased the machine to self-study and create stone due to the hefty expense. The family also sells some fossil wood in order to purchase more precious things," Ms. Thanh said.

Fossil wood riches depleted

The fossil wood in Chu A Thai mountain is nearly depleted after decades of extensive mining. Only stones measuring less than 0.5 kg may currently be found in the Chu A Thai mountain range. People who want to locate enormous stones employ excavators to dig deep, fortunately uncovering precious stones.

Nearly a dozen stores offer fossil wood along National Highway 25 in Phu Thien Town (Phu Thien District, Gia Lai Province). The valuable wood blocks for sale weigh between 3 and 5 kilograms, while the fossil stone block costs between 500,000 VND and several million VND after polishing. According to a store owner in Phu Thien who specializes in selling fossil wood goods, the fossil wood in Chu A Thai mountain has more beautiful hues than other regions, making it highly popular with people in Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi. This stone is frequently used in fengshui, jewelry, and fine art... Currently, fossil wood is being steadily depleted, and the supply of commodities is becoming rare and expensive.

Mr. Phung Chung Toan, Chairman of the Chu A Thai Commune People's Committee, stated that the drive to uncover fossils in the commune blossomed decades ago. However, fossil wood has become uncommon in recent years and is found deep beneath many mantles of soil. As a result, the search is limited to a few households cultivating near the Chu A Thai mountain range.

"Local governments also frequently promote, restrict and prosecute numerous incidents of unlawful logging of fossil wood. Simultaneously, communal functional forces patrol to discover fossil stone mining in the region and the mixing of stones from other locations into the area in order to fetch a high price," Toan said.

Fossil wood is becoming increasingly popular not only in Gia Lai, but throughout the country. Several fossil wood blocks with enormous diameters are on exhibit at many cultural venues around the country for visitors to enjoy nature's creations. I believe that the government will need to come up with a variety of options in order to establish an exhibition foundation to house this historic stone for future generations.

Mai Lan