Dated to the early 1200s, the 40 dead Scotch pines were found scattered among living trees in what was once a dense forest that supplied wood for medieval boats and churches. The trees appear to have died from natural causes after living out their several-hundred-year life spans. But somehow the dead trees "survived"—they apparently have never rotted. The mummified trees are different from petrified wood, a kind of fossil created when wood is replaced with minerals over thousands of years. The find astounded researchers, since most dead trees decay as they are eaten by tiny organisms, said research leader Terje Thun, a biologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. [...]