The plant was nicknamed "Methuselah," after the longest-lived person in the Bible. In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. In biblical times, the Judean date palm was revered throughout the region for its medicinal qualities. She has another goal she hopes to accomplish as soon as possible: Publishing a childrens story she wrote to encourage childrens curiosity with science. [18] By May 2015, the palm was 3.0 metres (9.8ft) tall and was producing pollen. Researchers revived a 2,000-year-old palm from seeds found inside an ancient Judean jar. How Credible Are the Superstitions Surrounding the Mystical Irish Fairy Trees? Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. Date Palm Sprouted from Ancient Seed Gives Fruit Like That of Bible Times In the middle of Israel's Arava Desert, a farming community is bringing trees back to life that's bearing fruit from the time of the Bible. The remaining 33 were carefully soaked in water and fertilizer to encourage germination. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. trees were revealed by DNA testing as females, and one of them, Hannah, has borne one bunch with 111 dates, which were harvested in early September. Photo: Marcos Schonholz, What Do 2,000-Year-Old Ancient Judean Dates Taste Like? It is sometimes claimed that date growing as a commercial fruit export stopped at the end of 70 AD, when the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. But they're not the original date tree that grew here, Sallon said. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. As soon as the ancient Judean date palm had grown into a tree, Ms. Solowey used genetic testing on it to confirm if it was indeed male and thus incapable of producing fruit. Available at: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/science/.premium-israeli-researchers-mate-2-000-year-old-date-seeds-hope-for-fruit-1.8503447, Kalman, M. (2005) Seed of extinct date palm sprouts after 2,000 years. SFGATE. You can help bring hope today! Thick forests of the ancient date palms towering up to 80 feet (24.38 meters) and spreading for 7 miles (11.27) covered the Jordan River valley from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the shores of the Dead Sea in the south. Dr. . Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Interesting Engineering reports that Recently, Hannah's fruit was harvested for the first time.. Two beautiful bathtubs Hanukkah or the Jewish Festival of Lights is celebrated in memory of the recovery of the Second Temple in Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. Call it Canaan, the Levant or the Ancient Near East; the region has always had a troubled history of warfare and invasions. The eastern ones are all the species from Arabia and Iraq, and the western ones are from North Africa, Sallon explained. The date palms are named for Biblical figures. Changes in weather and growing conditions combined with human activity are likely to blame for the disappearance of the Judean date palm sometime in the Middle Ages. Its mentioned in the Bible as one of the seven species found in the ancient Land of Israel. The species has earned the new name Judean date palm, along with the scientific name Phoenix dactylifera. Why? [4], Its likeness was engraved on shekalim, the ancient Hebrew unit of currency. Very much like the lyrics of the famous She may be ancient Egypts most famous face, but the quest to find the eternal resting place of Queen Nefertiti has never been hotter. Fruit of the date palm was considered a staple food in the Judaean Desert, as it was a source of food and its tree of shelter and shade for thousands of years, and became a recognized symbol of the Kingdom of Judah. Germination of 2000-year-old seeds of Phoenix dactylifera from Judean desert archaeological sites provides a unique opportunity to study the Judean date palm, described in antiquity for the quality, size, and medicinal properties of its fruit, but lost for centuries. For conservation, Sallon, who moved from England to Israel, tells NoCamels. Ancient Judean date palm trees resurrected from ancient seeds. Thegoal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe. In this age of global warming and species loss, I thought its important to try and bring back to life these ancient varieties. You can view our live recording of the harvesthere. Researchers hold a date tree grown by a 2,000-year-old seed retrieved from archaeological sites in the Judean Desert, in Ketura, Israel, September 2, 2020. During 19631965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. Radiocarbon dating at the University of Zurich confirmed the seeds dated from between 155 BC to 64 AD. The Israeli scientists and horticulturists are now trying to find a way to use the tissue culture and make hundreds of thousands of exact replicas of Hannah, the date-palm tree germinatedfrom a seed dating back two millennia. The tree and its fruit are mentioned in the Song of Songs and Psalms and featured on coins throughout the region. Actually, this one came from Qumran -- was found in the caves -- and much to our astonishment, she also sprouted, said Elaine Solowey, the botanist who coaxed the seeds to grow. ( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ) So valued was the tree that it became recognized as a symbol of good fortune in Judea. Dr. Solowey - and that at least one is a female! Recently, Hannahs fruit was harvested for the first time. Of these, six of the seeds successfully sprouted. In 2005, a team of scientists sprouted a preserved 2,000-year-old seed, the oldest seed germinated with human-assistance (with the claim in 2012 of a 32,000-year-old arctic flower involving fruit tissue rather than a seed). The Iliad can provide new insights on the role of motherhood among the ancient Greek gods, and by extension, amongst ancient mortal Greek women themselves. This is the second year of harvesting fruit from this previously extinct tree, brought back to life by Dr. Elaine Solowey. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. What is the origin of the legend of the Christed Son who was born of a virgin on December 25th? Date palms generally thrive in hot arid regions and in Biblical times, were cultivated in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea region. Israeli Scientists Found Out, Bottoms Up: Israeli Scientists Brew Beer With Resurrected Yeast From 5,000 Years Ago, Israeli DNA Study Unveils Reconstructed Face Of Mysterious, Long-Lost Human Relative. In ancient times the Judean date palm was a staple source of food, shelter, and shade. www.vivaspress.com. Both Adam and Jonah have produced flowers. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.. Date palm cultivation is thought to be up to . To read the full paper on Origins and insights into the historic Judean date palm based on genetic analysis of germinated ancient seeds and morphometric studies by Sarah Sallon et al., please refer to Science Advances. Solowey planted some three thousand of them on Kibbutz Ketura, where each tree produces around 350 pounds of dates a year. The date was so important to the region that it featured on ancient coinage, and even on Israel's 10-shekel coin today. The other date palms to have sprouted from these ancient seeds are known as Adam, Hannah, Judith, Jonah, Boaz and Uriel. One was separated out as a control. sarahmariewells.com, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Methusaleh and all the ancient date trees can be visited by contacting Keren Kolot. This week the Arava Institute celebrated the first Judean Dates ever to be grown into fruit since the time of King Herod., They were given Biblical names: Adam, Boaz, Hannah, Jonah, Judith and Uriel. She has grown plants and herbs used in Tibetan, Chinese, and biblical medicine, as well as traditional folk remedies from other cultures to see whether their effectiveness can be scientifically proved. The findings suggest that it might be a good option for examining the lifetime of plant seeds. They were very dry. [5], When the Roman Empire invaded ancient Judea, thick forests of date palm up to 80 feet (24m) high and 7 miles (11km) wide covered the Jordan River valley from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the shores of the Dead Sea in the south. I am sure you are familiar with his legend which states that he was born in a manger surrounded by shepherds, about Herod the Greats Alabaster Bathtubs, about Seleucid Sling Stone Sheds New Light on Jewish Hannukah Story, about Rogue Priest Second Temple Silver Coin Found By Girl in Jerusalem, about Evidence of Hannukah Story Found in Razed Hellenistic Fortress, about New Study Reveals How Legendary Assyrian Siege Ramp Overcame Lachish, about Mesopotamian Superpowers Laying Waste To The Ancient Near East, For Sale In Britain: A Small Ancient Man With A Colossal Penis, Sacred Marvels: 17 Cathedrals That Will Take Your Breath Away, In Pictures, Egyptologists Reveal a Lost Chamber in the Great Pyramid With Cosmic Rays, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Unleashing the End of the World. This extraordinary achievement demonstrates the kernels' long-term vitality after being nestled in succulent Judean dates, a fruit variety that has been lost for millennia. The remaining 32 seeds were planted in a quarantined site at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. Top Image: Methuselah is a Judean date palm grown from a 2,000-year-old seed found at Masada. Following this success, six further preserved seeds were sprouted.[2]. Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked! The first complete mapping of a Neanderthal genome took place about five years ago - supporting the human-Neanderthal hook-up and also showing that Neanderthal DNA in humans is a thing. The fruits from these seven species were the only acceptable plant offerings in the Temple and their first fruits were brought to be eaten in Jerusalem. France's University of Montpellier conducted genetic testing on the Judean date and found that it shares some qualities with the Iraqi Zahidi date as well as other date varieties that were once grown in ancient Mesopotamia, Arabia, and Pakistan.