The Dead Wood Library

A couple of times my colleagues at the Prehistoric Museum have asked for help in identifying long dead wood (the wood is not long, but it has been dead for a long time).  These are pieces of wood from archaeological sites that may have been laying there for a thousand years.  I've been able to make some guesses, but I thought we all might do better if we had some known examples to which we could compare the museum pieces.

So, I set about creating a dead wood library.  I don't know whether it will be very helpful?  It is difficult to discern death date when I'm walking around in the woods, so my pieces may have been dead only briefly.  Will they look the same as something that has been dead for centuries?  One sort of goofy thing that I decided to try was the absolute cheapest battery powered chainsaw you can buy at Walmart.  My library wood is only a few inches in diameter and takes just a few seconds to cut, so I don't need a big bar or a tank of gas.  It has actually worked very well.  I don't need to start it, I simply pull the trigger, and, zip, it cuts quickly.  A nice innovation.