Rose Ahyas

In 2019, workers excavating land for a geothermal power plant near Ngāwhā, New Zealand uncovered a giant kauri tree buried nearly 30 feet underground.

The tree was enormous, stretching almost 65 feet long and more than 8 feet wide. Scientists later discovered it had lived through the Laschamp Excursion around 42,000 years ago, a period when Earth’s magnetic field weakened dramatically and cosmic radiation flooded the planet.

Locked inside its 1,600 growth rings was a year by year record of that event. Researchers believe the tree may preserve evidence of intense solar storms, atmospheric upheaval, expanding ice sheets, violent weather shifts, and a world experiencing extreme environmental stress.

Some scientists even suggest this period may have contributed to widespread megafauna extinctions and the collapse of Neanderthal populations.

For over 42,000 years, the tree remained buried in silence, preserving what may be one of the most detailed natural records of an ancient global catastrophe ever discovered.

I designed and 3D printed this tool. It lives in the compartment.