Visitors to the office of CMI-Australia’s Managing Director (CEO), Dr Don Batten, might notice a curious, round ornament on his desk. Picking it up, one notices its heaviness—around 4½ kg (10 lb). It soon becomes apparent, turning it over in the hands and examining the shape and texture, that it’s actually a coconut—but made of solid rock!

It was found on the northwestern shore of the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands (near the capital Honiara) in the 1980s and given to a missionary couple living there. Crops are grown under coconut palms by villagers in the area, and the coconut was likely buried at shallow depth, and subsequently found again years later, during the digging of crops. The missionaries used the heavy coconut as a doorstop for many years, and recently gave it to Don.

It is completely petrified (turned to stone). There doesn’t appear to be a single fragment left of the original woody tissue. Also, there are no signs of decay, weathering, or animal activity. Thus, it must have been changed into stone very quickly—before there was time for any of these things to occur.

Normally, coconuts that aren’t eaten simply rot away. However, dissolved rock minerals in the ground water petrified this coconut during the time it was buried. There is what looks like a relatively sharp cut mark on the coconut. That would suggest its origin is likely after steel knives and machetes were introduced to the region, i.e. rather recent.

This helps demonstrate once again that petrification is a rapid process—as has been confirmed many times. Millions of years are definitely not needed to turn organic remains into solid stone!