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Fossilized Olive Leaves Found on Santorini, Greece

Fossilized olive leaves from a tree that was alive 60,000 years ago on the island of Thira (the modern Santorini) are immortalized in the volcanic ash that encased them after an eruption.

The exquisite fossils were discovered at an old pumice quarry on the outskirts of Thira, a town on Santorini; in addition, three new plant fossil sites were also located in abandoned quarries nearby on the island, which was almost completely destroyed in a later eruption that occurred in the year 1650 BC.

Blowing apart the island that at that time was called Thira by its Minoan inhabitants, all that was left was a rim of land encircling a caldera; now known as Santorini, the crescent-shaped island marks one of the most cataclysmic eruptions that has ever taken place within recorded history.

The fossilized olive leaves are now exhibited at the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in the capital Fira on Santorini.