Why Hunting For 20-Million-Year-Old Petrified Wood Is So Dangerous In Indonesia | Risky Business
Petrified wood is one of the most sought after materials in the world for both its aesthetic value as furniture and its scientific value as a fossil. But, in Indonesia, miners who risk their lives to dig it up barely make enough to get by.
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Why Hunting For 20-Million-Year-Old Petrified Wood Is So Dangerous In Indonesia | Risky Business
It's so soul crushing to see how often the hard working people who make all these industries possible get the least out of them. They risk the most for the smallest return..
It's simple economics fella
@@1Slamalama1my nephew mines copper here in the US, does not own the mine, puts in long hours and just bought himself a new F250 thanks to overtime. Then there’s my wife’s Norwegian cousin who just retired from being a truck driver at age 55. His place is hytte (cabin) is in southern coast of Norway and he’s taken me fishing in Sweden for cod. It’s not just “simple economics” fella. It’s exploitation.
I agree with you. Unfortunatelly.
I think the dirty secret Americans don't like being faced with is that our way of life and standard of living is based on the exploitation of people and resources all over the world.
@@thelostone6981 Retirement age in Norway is 65 though, not sure if he retired extremely early. Truck drivers have a decent pay, but they can get a lot of extra pay. If they are doing long-hauls (international) they drive for days and they can't just leave their truck halfway to Germany and go back home, so then they might have to be away from their family for a week. They get more depending on what they transport. But unlike say Indonesia, they need a high-school education or long experience and follow a ton of regulations. So truck drivers that drive stuff into Norway, might get paid less than the Norwegian ones doing the same job, but guess what they probably have half the regulations and requirements. Every damn winter foreign trucks come in to Norway without winter tires (required by law), thinking they were gonna cheat system until they inevitably slip on ice. So if the IQ is that low to be a truck driver in foreign countries, I think it's good that they are paid well here and I don't see how that is exploitation. That is how it is supposed to be. However there is plenty of jobs even in Norway that pay exploitative wages like nurses, farmers and so on.
The mining process is ludicrously dangerous. A 4 ton piece of this is $480?? crazy cheap for the effort.
too many intermediaries, workers like those get fucked because they have no capital and can't organize, they can only sell at whatever price they are given to feed themselves, but make no mistake, their labour line the pockets of countless middlemen. I'm not saying these intermediaries add no value at all, but given the imbalance in information and negotiating power, they still get a massively unfair share of the wealth
Just like anything that comes from third world it’s modern day imperialism.
$480 is quite big money in the area, but ofc it might not be worth the effort for some ppl
Make no mistake... $480 dollar to Indonesian Rupiah is 7.7 million... And that's a lot for them... I'm not from Indo but the amount $480 is worth of at least 2 months of minimum wage of a worker... So yep, it can definitely feed his family for sure...
You need to count for "Mc Donald Index" or something similar. Everything in Indonesia is cheaper, but the income is also smaller. 200 US$ is enough for average life in Indonesia. Even many GPs often have around 400-500 a month. Of course, the story changes when we need imported goods, like cars or phones. But 200 is enough to survive on local commodities.
Just imagine if Business Insider paid these guys standard performance rates for the video. They could probably retire on that amount of money.
Annual salary is like $8k usd. Even so, they should pay them properly. Knowing BI it's probably chump change compared to interviewing someone from the US.
I wonder if Business insider pays people who they make documentaries about at all. They definitely should!
@@YokoFuongAnh I wish they did but I don't think they do. i remember a piece about a middle eastern potter a while back who was going out of business because of poor local business demand, and the video had tons of people wanting their wares and clamoring to buy them internationally because of the BI video, but someone commented back after a while that the place went out of business shortly after the documentary was filmed. if BI was paying these people even a fraction of what american/european interviewees get paid then I doubt the business would have shut down.
I wonder how much it would be for a performer in this single video with that standard rate?
Exposing how bad the poor are at business , Business insider CEO”thats business baby!” :puffs cigar’
Mining amber here in Poland is done with a really high pressure water stream, pieces of petrified wood often comes along with it. It's depressing too see such poor working conditions. My heart goes to everyone there.
He said the product that he finds is too good for his house and then he laughs. It is a sad cruel world
Sad
cry a river. there are people who have no food, this guy doesnt have petrified wood furniture? OH MY GOD HE SO POOR AWW POOR GUY
@chrisvibz4753 how can people really be happy without 50k furniture made from tree rocks?
@@chrisvibz4753isn't the guy in this video poor? Isn't this comment sad that the stuff that HE gets out from the ground, HIMSELF can't afford it?
@@chrisvibz4753Hey maybe take time off the internet and spend sometime on reading and English comprehension.
too many intermediaries, workers like those get fucked because they have no capital and can't organize, they can only sell at whatever price they are given to feed themselves, but make no mistake, their labour line the pockets of countless middlemen. I'm not saying these intermediaries add no value at all, but given the imbalance in information and negotiating power, they still get a massively unfair share of the wealth
make more $$ by adding more value.
Happens to farmers too
What makes you think shipping a 4-ton halfway across the world, turning them into furniture, and convincing people to buy them add no value?
They dont exactly do the shipping either. And as he said, its not as if they add no value, but in what place is it fair that the person risking his life gets $20 but the person selling the table gets $20,000@@khangto7886
It's valuable because fossils are rare and difficult to obtain, not because it was a drop in the bucket of a container ship. The most labor intensive aspects of any given enterprise are typically deflated in cost by those that control an industry. It's like an upside down pyramid. It's done to prop up consumerism in service economies as a mechanism of social control. A person can see that everywhere if they bother to look.
Even before this video, I wasn't interested in petrified wood. Now I want petrified wood even less than before.
A better idea is to buy from certified suppliers or directly from the artists
I have some petrified wood for you!
You don’t want to buy something that someone risked their life for? Everything that was ever made has risk.
@@thomaswright1657More pizza delivery drivers die than cops
Wanting it more will make the price rise
The people who do the most labor get the least
Always been that way. Its what countries like Russia and China use to make countries dislike the global order and it works because its a fair criticism
agree
Indonesian moss agate is my fav gemstone and it is the most beautiful scenic agate to me. These people work hard mining this stuff and don't get near the credit they should.
Yeah too many intermediate persons and the miners only get small amounts of money😢
Is this the one they mining?
@@Sayakesal // no, moss agate and petrified wood is different thing
All support to this man and others like him everywhere. What's saddening is always witnessing individuals striving and toiling, only for others to reap the greater benefits.
Sounds like capitalism
If you ever complain about your commute to work, watch this video. It will quickly put your life into perspective.
Australian coal mines in the Bowen & Stuart Basins all full of the stuff. As well as petrified leaves imprinted in the fault lines of rock, like a perfect black and white 'stamp' of various leaves, ferns etc. Entire petrified trees are routinely seen in the rock (strata) above the coal seams. (overburden) But sadly it is all simply destroyed by the large earthmoving equipment and loaded into trucks and sent to the tip face to be dumped, buried and forgotten as though it is no different to the other rock covering the coal seams. Extraordinary sight seeing the material falling away from a dig face and seeing the branches of a tree, made from rock, slowly emerge and hamg in the air, before being destroyed as the bucket of the loading unit grabs another scoop from that area. Stuff is surprisingly heavy too. Attempts to put pieces aside for retrieving later by light vehicle are usually fruitless as the pieces put aside are usually discovered to be far to heavy to lift by hand. Such a shameful waste
I find small pieces in the creeks and such. Never would have guessed people search for it and dig it up for a living. Crazy af, I put that shit in my flowerbeds
It's indonesia. Ppl often talk about amazon rainforest. But they forgot that indonesia is like second or third mosr biodiverse region on earth. So many trees. So many fossilized organism of course. And coal.
Great video. Indeed it is soul-crushing.
Mad respect for the miner and wood worker. They provide their family a decent life with their diligence. Like this video explain, casualty on this mining operation is exist but a rare case.
These poor miners deserve more. All of us prefer branded products instead of buying from original producers or makers.
I like the phrasing "no one can afford my living expenses" for no one's paying high enough wages.
Because they aren't employees. Eli is technically the business owner (grey area legally too). Business owners dont get a wage.
that table for 3800$ is crazy cheap, if it were at a retail furniture store it would be well over 20k$
That's expensive where we live😌
@@itoxotaxatix compared to where i live for a $3800 i can get a simple hardwood table set with some carving on it.. which feels liek a scam. but i guess its where the buyer/seller are doing business at that makes the price of it
Indonesia is a 3rd world country
Worked in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. near the river.. tons of petrified wood there. Though those pieces were smaller and ranged to only 30-40 millions years old. I have a bunch of pieces in my office. Very cool
no ventilation shafts for the 10' deep mine...
I thought the same, then remembered my brother had to help me out of a tunnel we dug as kids. It was about a metre deep and two metres long. Nearly flaked out down there. We found all sorts of sand layers
Like sawing off the branch you're sitting on
Plenty in the Eastern part of Central Australia. I don't think you can take it anymore but I got a large amount of it decades ago. It does look great when sliced and polished. It is on the surface here as it is much older that 20 million years and has been weathered to the surface.
In australia they have alot of these !!! Try working with the mining sites 👌
I never knew petrified woods are that valuable and beautiful.😮
Not much beautifull than you
that park is kind of mesmerizing
Imagine the shroom trip in there, what those 20million year old trunks will tell you.
@@CruiseWavy1388 200 million.
I live in India and we find this wood in tons in coal mines. My grandfather used to drive coal trailers to carry them to factories for processing. He used to say that it was a huge loss to the coal corporations. Petrified wood consists mostly of wood converted to quartz which doesn't burn at all and is thrown away or often workers take good specimens home for use . Once he told us that a huge petrified tree( probably was Himalayan cedar as identified from the fossilized leaves) was found . It was to be thrown away. But grandpa brought that huge stump and got a table built from it and a couple chairs. Nowadays, it is illegally shipped to the international market, and excavation of this stuff is banned.....
It is still found in huge amounts in Southern India and in the Raan of Kutch.
At least the man looks happy, god blessed him!!
the man is risking his life, so is the cameraman
Elly appears to be relatively happy, despite his work and living conditions. If not happy, then, at least good natured. I think someone that can afford those high end pieces, could probably afford to go directly to the miners to shop for what they want. This would allow the miners to see a bigger piece of the profits to upgrade their working conditions. I'm guessing even after arranging for shipping and finished production the buyer would save money. A vacation written off their taxes as a business expense. A travel agency could book specific buying tours to wherever and whatever their wealthy clients are interested in.
0:46 that was dangerous...
What?
@@kingminilogoyou can click the 0:46 to go to the time in the video. At that time he entered the pit he dug. Dangerous.
This is why I always stay away from any luxurious stuffs. Most of the time, the core ingredients of those things are acquired in such a dangerous way and the workers get almost nothing compare to the end market valuation. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Buy Virgin Valley Nevada opalized logs then try to afford labor in Biden land.
Nothing beats the color and beauty of Americas petrified wood in Arizona, Oregon, and other places. The agatized wood comes in so many colors it's like a rainbow and they are absolutely beautiful when polished, hell they are beautiful even when they are not.
I don't think you have seen petrified wood from all over the world.
@@canesugar911 Google Virgin Valley Nevada Precious Opal Petrified LOGS. The boulder opal logs look like choco bars in comparison.
I’d love a set of plates! 😊 so cool
Why not just add some simple wood reinforcement?? With planks? How is this dude still alive?
That's the dilemma. Just as BI explained the mining operation most likely illegal and the land they mined is leased by the owner combined with low paycheck they received, they couldnt afford proper mining gear let alone mineshaft reinforcement as the mine could be raided by authorities for illegal mining operation making them greatly at loss.
200 Million dollars of petrified wood in arizona is actually nothing in the scale of the world of commodities, i know must of us won't ever see even a million dollars or close but its cause monopolies exist and people who have the power to change the world don't to better us as a whole. My 95 year old nana says it "you can't take money with you so why not benefit those around you" and if we all thought like this the world would be different place
Im taking this quote ❤
That quote is so beautiful omg🥹
_"you can't take money with you so why not benefit those around you"_ Tell your nana that the government already takes around 40% of my money (income/property/sales tax) and literally gives it away to people that do nothing for themselves.
A 45kg petrified fully furnished cost around 25kusd. I Just googled it. They found a 4ton and they got paid for 480usd?
It's cruel how this world works.. every process it goes through will mark up the price..
Hi there, Brian I live in India and we find this wood in tons in coal mines. My grandfather used to drive coal trailers to carry them to factories for processing. He used to say that it was a huge loss to the coal corporations. Petrified wood consists mostly of wood converted to quartz which doesn't burn at all and is thrown away or often workers take good specimens home for use . Once he told us that a huge petrified tree( probably was Himalayan cedar as identified from the fossilized leaves) was found . It was to be thrown away. But grandpa brought that huge stump and got a table built from it and a couple chairs. Nowadays, it is illegally shipped to the international market, and excavation of this stuff is banned.....
Dealers mark up
@@soumiksaha48thdimension Illegal HOW exactly when its processed and sold in India also?
Dude was hiding the pain behind his laughter you could see it on his face at the end when he was saying the wood he mines everyday is too expensive for him to have in his home.
They should sell it online with no middle man and cash in for themselves!!!!!!!!
yeah some 60 yr old indonesian miner is gonna set up an online shopify store
Unfortunately doesn't work like that. My parents do online retail, it's very difficult to just set up a listing and make profit. Plus it requires experience and knowledge of the market. Supply lines span continents. Without capital and knowledge you can't do it.
@@haadiusman3524😂
many scammers around and they need money ASAP for their daily needs
As a KZheadr once said; “I don’t got online.”
68? My god. Amazing
Those are like marble wood. Wow.
That's interesting!
Mang eli mantep masuk kesini 😂❤❤❤
Excellent
I think he's probably short of breath from smoking all those hand rolled filterless kreteks.
Indeed, and these stories are quite popular. Peace.
dam this material is amazing, id love a table of this
Amazing! Million years old petrified wood
Indus design in Arizona got them in stock always
I work in a coal mine, these things are every where lol. I didn't even know they were expensive. We have them in tonnes.
12:43 A very fascinating sight. A tree that had lived millions of years ago and then toppled. But it "still lives", in petrified form, through the earth's long history since then and reaching into our time. And it will still be around long after all of us are gone.
Using a jackfruit tree for that pulley system is so awesome haha.
beautiful Furniture
I remember my parents bought a kitchen set table chairs,a big ole cabinet night stand and a place for china.The wood is a beautifully yellowish ivory color I recall it said made in Indonesia,for what my parents saved up years to buy it (was in the thousands I'ma say 7-10k) it breaks my heart to see that they can't give them eye pro,proper boots,and a proper damn wage it's not right man.Smdh he's literally finding the wonders of God,those trees tell a tale,just so some corporation can make millions while he risks his life for a few bucks,I'm glad that at least this video is out spreading awareness is the first small step. May the Lord be with them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit.
petrified wood is older in indonesia too, our world doesn't exist because someone create it, it is already here.
AMAZING 😂❤
In the heart of Indonesia's ancient land, Where time's embrace holds fossils in hand, Lies a treasure sought by those bold and brave, But danger lurks in the depths of its cave. Petrified wood, a relic of old, Millions of years, its tale untold. A prized possession, both rare and grand, But the price of its pursuit, hard to understand. For miners descend into earth's deep womb, Where darkness reigns, and shadows loom. Risking their lives for a meager wage, Their toil and hardship, a somber stage. Beneath the surface, where dangers reside, They dig and they delve, with hope as their guide. But landslides and collapses, a constant fear, As they hunt for treasures, so precious and dear. Yet despite the peril, they press on each day, For the promise of profit, a meager pay. Their lives on the line, for fossils of old, Their stories untold, their hardships untold. So let us remember, as we admire the wood, The sacrifice made, for the greater good. For petrified treasures, both ancient and rare, Come with a price, a burden to bear.
He’s risking his life to feed his family. Hats off for their hardwork
They are everywhere out here in mt and wyo
0:24 the subtitle is wrong, he was simply said "I don't understand about that lol" 😂
if only business insider paid them a sum of shares from the video 🤔…
4:44 That log looked mighty clean to have been washed with muddy water... 😏
“This man is risking his life” Cameraman: “what, am I chopped liver to you?”
No, the camera is attached at workers. Take a good look.
Cameraman never dies, therefore doesn't risk anything.
"$60 half minimum wage in Indonesia" . Nah the minimum wages is $308. It's crazy to know that people that live on same island as me work really hard and with very high risk.
Just wondering, the wood he pulled from underground seems to be sawn at the end. 20 million years old?
I like the idea of learning from this petrified wood. I don't care about the furniture. 😮
a cool channel idea would be to buy these types of items in shops, then trace it back to who ACTUALLY made it and pay them properly for what they did. Like some Mr. Beast style stuff
Deket kampung saya ini di Rangkasbitung😊😊😊 sehat sehat ya pak.. Nikmat iman nikmat sehat gak ada yg menandingi 🙏🙏🙏
Good job🎉❤
``He never lost a friend, but he got injured before`` at least he has friends unlike many rich people.
i'd never understand spending 65 years doing something and not spend 0.0001% of that time which is YEARS into improving the work environment, like the tools or openning bigger entrances to the mines and securing with wood or dunno. primitive state after 65 years is questionable, that's all not to talk about moving up the ladders, be the actual sellers, and actually get more for the effort, which is respectfully HUGE
Easy to say sitting on a computer when your life doesn't depend on you digging out that next chunk of wood. Go look up videos of USA mines. They are barely big enough for men to crouch though. No miners are wasting time making it comfy, they just need to chase the value.
these are illegal mines and illegal miners … as often the case they usually ended up on the short end of the stick from the authorities … they spoke in standard Indonesian and I can understand their language but it was not properly captioned in the clip … as it was illegal, hence the so called low earnings by them and easily taken advantage by the middle men …
"Bertaruh NYAWA demi penghasilan yang tidak SEBERAPA" Inilah INDONESIA, Bapak Eli Suheli adalah gambaran kecil dari para pejuang keluarga yang rela bekerja keras bertaruh nyawa hanya demi sedikit Rupiah yang hanya cukup untuk sekedar menafkahi anak dan istri..
somewhere in Arizona US you can pay to dig on your own and on surface no need to go that deep or in tunels
not to mention petrify wood are are everywhere tbh
@@kenfern2259 true true
You kill the theme with your voice.
1:25 six to midnight anyone? She seemed to relish in that phrasing too😂
i pray that there are good businessmen who share good profit for these low income miners.
Sad thing is even if this man practically running a legally questionable business, the authorities wouldn't care, that's just how it is in wkwkland
their language sounds very similar to visayan. and when he said "kamay ko", in tagalog it means "my hand".
Due their Austronesian root
Bueno como costruyen
Some have it on the surface but prefer to buy from those that risk their lives digging for the petrified wood to survive😢😢
here in batangas philippines my father and colleages digging a cave by the river found an entire tree with its leaves burried under the river its wood is black it is a massive tree.i' m wondering how the tree got buried under the river,its maybe 10 meters under the river bed
Kenapa bentuk kayunya seperti bekas potongan ya?
did they rly ask the dude at the end why he doesnt buy petrified wood items ? his reaction is on point lmaoo
I thought they were going to make more ornate items from it
how ironic that scientists or experts know how it form yet cant make something like it.
How come the fossil like a cut log? It should be long right?
If you want crafts made from fossil wood, you can go straight to Tulungagung, East Java, Indonesia
Datan iso kaselaki yen kebutuhaning urip karo kolo bendu bancana lan kamanungsan tansah iring-iringan pinda mimi lan mintuna, nganti samgangke donya kauntal. Pada iling lan waspada karo kemaruke banda kadonyan
Ijen crater sulfur miners and petrified wood miners are the most dangerous jobs in the world with the lowest pay. Both are in Indonesia.
These pieces look nice, but I refuse to support a business that won’t pay a livable wage to their workers. I guess I’ll keep sticking to marble.
That's so sad. They really could pay then much more
At first there for a sec I thought they were going to load up that table in that small black truck😅😅😅
Sehat selalu bapak,
ini dimana sii
They can try to sell it online! Surely the price just for their own and can br higher
I also collect petrified wood. But those small pieces only.
Di banten banyak beginian.. Ga laku di jual kadang..
Belajar dr org2 yg disini bang. Btw ini dimana ya 😅
How you find this kind of job in Indonesia?
Man this video takes a hard turn into bring 11 minutes in.
i want some petrified wood all of a sudden
Ini lokasi nya di Banten, masyarakat di sana masih banyak sekali yang miskin. Pekerjaan ini terpaksa dilakukan untuk menyambung hidup.