Redwood Cross-Section of Time

Mill Valley, California

A giant coastal redwood tree lived for over a thousand years before it came crashing down, was sliced up, and a slab was put on display as a calendar of historical events marked by tree rings. The Cross-Section of Time has been a landmark in Muir Woods National Monument since 1930.

Attentive and older return visitors may notice changes to the giant slice. Milestones of European white men have been removed or relabeled, a triumph of some politically corrected government committee in the early 1990s.

Compare it with an old post card: Now "Columbus Sails to America" without conquering, or even discovering it. The signing of the Magna Carta (1215) is left to some big tree in England to crow about. In its place is "1325 - Aztecs begin construction of Tenochitlan, Mexico." So glad they didn't let that milestone pass unnoticed.

The Battle of Hastings (1066), another apparent embarrassment of Anglo-centrism, is now "1100 - Building of cliff dwellings begins, Mesa Verde." The thinking is to highlight accomplishments in the Americas, but these weird nods to ancient builders smacks of urban development perfidy.

The old labeled slice made an appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo.