This preserved wood was discarded by a peat extraction company when they exhausted 5 meters depth of peat, reaching the layer of forest that existed c.3000BC.
This is the third iteration of this installation, which changes according to where and when it is.
Around the tree chalk drawings examine real, speculative and alternate timelines between then and now.
One of these timelines explores the journey from the domestication of wild horses to the invention of the combustion engine through to our uncertain future. Another imagines a timeline in which we succeed in our response to the climate crisis.

This pine subfossil was unearthed 5m down from ground level during commercial peat extraction at Lindow Moss, Cheshire. Having reached the layer of trees, the site is exhausted and the perfectly preserved wood will rot quickly now exposed to the elements
It is exhibited with a gaffer tape timeline representing the 5000 years since the tree lived.
The viewer is offered a peaty whisky and dark chocolate whisky truffles and invited to taste the effects of time and peat.
Chalked around the pine reads:
“5000 years ago recorded history began with the development of cuneiform script; a widespread climate shift changed the Sahara from a verdant landscape to a barren inhospitable desert; the stone age gave way to the bronze age; humans began to use chocolate; an extinct pine forest thrived on what is now Lindow Moss”