Climate change, terrible typhoons, and hurricanes. But they're not the original date tree that grew here, Sallon said. ( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ) So valued was the tree that it became recognized as a symbol of good fortune in Judea. YWAM Founder Loren Cunningham Diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. Shes the fifth such tree to be planted there after Methuselah, Adam, Jonah and Hannah. 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. A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Germinated From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds Dr. Sallon, who researches natural medicine, is one of the few lucky ones to have had the opportunity to taste one of the 111 ancient Judean dates harvested in September at Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. You can view our live recording of the harvesthere. In ancient times, date palms were used for their supposed medicinal properties to cure many diseases and infections, promoting longevity and acting as a mild aphrodisiac. Judean date palm in 2012. Because several seedlings are female, it is hoped that it will be possible to pollinate one or more of the female Judean date palms with the pollen from Methuselah. This seed, among others, was found during the excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s. 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. Female plants need male pollen to produce fruit, and all six of the new date palm trees are female, Sallon explains. A previous experiment with the seeds produced a single male plant that sprouted in 2005 which the researchers named Methuselah. Scientists Grew Palm Trees From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds Judean dates were once renowned for their size and flavor Brigit Katz Correspondent February 7, 2020 These palms are a modern variety. ', Israeli Researchers Mate 2,000-year-old Date Seeds, Hope for Fruit, Canaanite Palace Built on a Fault Was Destroyed by Quake 3,700 Years Ago, Scientists Find New Way Climate Change Can Ruin Life as We Know It. In early 2019, three of the six trees named by Dr. Solowey Adam, Jonah and Hannah were moved out of their greenhouse home to be planted outdoors at the Arava Institutes Daniel Fischel & Sylvia Neil Research & Visitors Park. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! Already in the fifth century BC, Herodotus noted that the greatest importance of the Judean dates was that they were drier and less perishable than those from Egypt and thus suitable for storage and export, which is still an important distinction today. The species of palm was thought to be extinct for 800 . Researchers revived a 2,000-year-old palm from seeds found inside an ancient Judean jar. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. (2015) Extinct Tree Resurrected from Ancient Seeds is now a Dad. Ancient Origins. The Romans eventually succeeded and by 500 AD the once plentiful date palm had almost completely disappeared, driven to extinction for the sake of conquest. [8] Asaph Goor, in his 21-page article History of the Date through the Ages in the Holy Land, never mentions any such Roman devastation of the date palms, but rather cites numerous contemporary accounts attesting to the continuing extent of date cultivation through the Roman period. Date palm cultivation is thought to be up to . Aided by Modern Ingenuity, a Taste of Ancient Judean Dates [16] Methuselah flowered in March 2011 and is male. Hannah was the first female tree. Why? 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. It became the Jews symbol of grace and elegance and was often bestowed by them to women. For example, Davids beautiful daughter was named Tamar. Call (800) 700-7000 or request prayer. The date palms are named for Biblical figures. But these werent ordinary dates. 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 33 were carefully soaked in water and fertilizer to encourage germination. Available at: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/6/eaax0384, Whelan, E. (2020) Fabled Palm Trees Reborn From Ancient Seeds In Israel. Ancient Origins. Dates were one of the seven species listed as special to the land of Israel, described in the bible as honey., A land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; Deuteronomy 8:8. Judean Date Palm Revived from Extinction by Emily Frances - i24, Sept. 14th, 2020 "Dr. Elaine Solowey, Desert Plant Pioneer, successfully grew an extinct Judean Date Palm tree from a 2000 year old seed. About 100 ripe, tasty dates were cut from Hannah. The Judean date palm is a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grown in Judea. This years harvest from Hannahproduced almost 700 dates (after 111 during last years first harvest), which were pollinated by Methuselah and two other ancient date palms named Adam and Jonah. Though it was disputed for many years, there is conclusive evidence that Neanderthals bred with modern humans (Homo sapiens). But it takes a lot of hard work, time, and money to do what we do. Trees are like humans in that you need the pollen from a male tree to pollinate the flowers of a female plant. The first tree, Methuselah, was discovered to be male. But all was not lost, because in 1963, the late archeologist Yigael Yadin began excavating Masada, a mountaintop fortress built over 2,000 years ago on the shore of the Dead Sea, where King Herod built a spectacular palace. The skin of the fruit is light brown and it is reported to be less sweet, and more fibrous and chewy than the Medjool date commonly grown in Israel today. 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. The Judean dates from the time of Christ had long been considered extinct. In February of this year, the latest scientific paper published about the germination of these seeds inScience Advances,revived new interest in these dates, says Sallon. Exodus 15:27. They were very dry. Dr. And here we are actually planting history at the Arava Institute. Solowey soaked the seeds in enzymatic water and fertilizer and planted them in sterile potting soil in pots in a greenhouse. 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. In this age of global warming and species loss, I thought its important to try and bring back to life these ancient varieties. They became symbols of "beauty, precious shade and succulent plenty," Kershner wrote. In Scripture, Hannah prayed and prayed for a child, promising that if God would answer that prayer, she would dedicate her child to a life of serving the Lord. Available at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/palm-tree-0013259. Ancient Origins 2013 - 2023Disclaimer- Terms of Publication - Privacy Policy & Cookies - Advertising Policy -Submissions - We Give Back - Contact us. Understanding the Mysterious Kingdom of Shambhala, Alleged Sighting of the Mythical Manananggal in the Philippines Causes Public Anxiety, The Green Children of Woolpit: Legendary Visitors from Another World, The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt, Caesars Savage Human Skewers Unearthed In German Fort. It took me some time to figure out how I might do it because you only have one chance with each seed, Dr. Elaine Solowey, who runs the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura, says in an Israeli Foreign Ministry video made back in 2016 before it was known whether these trees would even bear fruit. In experiments praised by the Dalai Lama, for example, Dr. Sarah Sallon has shown that ancient Tibetan cures for cardiovascular disease really do work. During Yigal Yadins excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s, ancient date seeds were discovered beneath rubble at the Northern Palace approach. The Bible is our guidebook of ancient species, Sallon told CBN News. In 2011, the plant produced its first flowers and today, the living archaeological treasure continues to grow and thrive. Need prayer? Date Palm Sprouted from Ancient Seed Gives Fruit Like That of Bible Times, Jerusalem Dateline: 8/4/17 How the Dead Sea Is Giving Life, Revival Goes Nationwide, Hits Theaters After 'Jesus Revolution' Film as Well as ORU, Portland, Ohio State, Teen Witch Collapses on Church Doorstep, Finds Freedom from 'Torment' After Deal with the Devil, 'Great Peace in Jesus': Kelsey Grammer Gets Real About His Faith Journey with Jesus. Archaeobotanical records suggest that the earliest exploitation and consumption of dates is from the Arabian Neolithic some 7000 years before the present., The plump, golden-brown dates hanging in a bunch just above the sandy soil were finally ready to pick., The answer, Im happy to say, is sweeter than you think. After this process, one seed was found to be damaged and was subsequently discarded. Call it Canaan, the Levant or the Ancient Near East; the region has always had a troubled history of warfare and invasions. This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. The Judean Date Palm symbolized ancient Judah and was mentioned in the Bible but when the nation it symbolized was conquered and sent into exile in 70 CE, cultivation of dates in the region began to decline. 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. Ancient Date Palm - Arava Institute for Environmental Studies And I look at the plantations on Ketura. Palm trees in the ruins of Babylon. Dubbed Methuselah it was the oldest seed ever grown attracting wide international attention. And though shes just nine-years-old, she carries an ancient heritage., Its possible to divide the world in two: the part that venerates the humble-seeming fruit known as the date, and the part that does not. The Date Palm - Way of Life [20] The genomes of these Judean date palms germinated from ancient seeds were sequenced and analyzed. Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit I wanted to see how medicinal the flora of Israel was and what it had been used for and so on. The tree so defined the local economy that it became a prime resource for the invading Roman army to destroy. The Date Trees Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds - The Atlantic Get email notification for articles from Nir Hasson. When compared with three other cultivars of date palm, genetic tests showed the plant to be closely related to the old Egyptian variety Hayani, 19% of its DNA[clarification needed] being different, and an Iraqi cultivar (16% different DNA). After being kept in storage for over 40 years, a project initiated by Dr. Sallon, aimed to germinate ancient seeds found on archaeological sites in an effort to reintroduce extinct plants previously grown in the region. They called him Methuselah after the oldest person in the Bible. Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. The tree and its fruit are mentioned in the Song of Songs and Psalms and featured on coins throughout the region. But centuries ago, the land that is now the United States was a very different place As Greek mythology goes, the universe was once a big soup of nothingness. Now more have been grown and genetic analysis finds a twist in the origin story of the 'Judean date' A resurrected Judean date palm tree called Adam. The genome sequences of the ancient Judean date palms were compared to those of 110 contemporary Phoenix dactylifera varieties and other wild Phoenix species . Methuselah the Judean Date Palm is still going strong even after sprouting from a 2,000-year-old seed. Long the only lonely representative of its kind, the Judean palm in now reproducing and giving researchers a unique glimpse back in time. The findings suggest that it might be a good option for examining the lifetime of plant seeds. 'The Resurrection of 2000-Year-Old Ancient Date Seeds': New Fruit (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). And we knew what there was, because it's mentioned in the Bible. (DtoF) Boaz (54 months), Judith (47 months), and Hannah (88 months). The same is true for date palms. There are other types of dates in the world, but according to Pliny the Elder (writing in the first century AD), none were as succulent or as sweet as the Judean date palm. ( Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ). Submitted by escamp on August 31, 2015 - 3:04pm. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. The seeds were held in storage for 40 years at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan.. Many books and videos show depictions of vast work forces hewing blocks of stone in the hot desert sun and carefully setting them into place. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop. Photo: CBN News, Error: There was an internal error submitting your form. . Of these, six of the seeds successfully sprouted. Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from lands around Iraq. Those date palms of modern day Israel are modern and they were imported after the founding of the State in the 1950s. They were the first dates to ripen from date palms grown from seeds that are more than 2,000 years old. Two of . She lives in Ashland, Ohio, with her husband, Brandon, and their four children, Lydia, Elvis, Henry, and Izzy (their Westie). Solowey has nurtured more than 100 rare or near-extinct species back to life as part of a 10-year project to study plants and herbs used as ancient cures. If you dont look back to the history you will not see the future. In the middle of Israels Arava Desert, a farming community is bringing trees back to life thats bearing fruit from the time of the Bible. Most of the dates will go to research, but those that were tasted had, as Dr. Soloway said, a honey or caramel aftertaste., Methuselah is a date palm that Dr. Elaine Solowey sprouted from a 2,000-year-old date seed. Five years ago. The two stories are related, she said, because people destroyed the trees and now the land. God is everywhereeven in the news. As a result, the tithing ceremony was held on Friday. The Judean date palm was once common in ancient Judea. Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? Both seeds have been dated to between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C.E. Archaeologists have been able to take a closer look at one of the United Kingdoms most famous shipwrecks. In 2005, Dr. Sarah Sallon challenged her friend and fellow scientist, Dr. Elaine Solowey from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, to see if they could get any of the date palm seeds to grow. 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. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. Sallon explained that the taste is very close but not exactly the same as what the residents of the country would have eaten 2,000 years ago since in ancient times dates were grown from shoots from the best producing trees rather than by pollinating date palm flowers. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail; they will yield new fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the Temple. Israeli scientists found out, The Resurrection of 2000-Year-Old Ancient Date Seeds: New Fruit Sprouts from Bible Times Source. In addition to its honoured place in the history of Judea, the palm may contribute useful characteristics, such as environmental tolerance and disease resistance, to modern date cultivars. Methuselah is and for a long time researchers believed that this was the only Judean date palm they would ever see. The part that does is home to hundreds of millions of people, from the Atlantic coast of Morocco across North Africa and Egypt to Mesopotamia and east to India., TEL972-8-6356618FAX972-8-6356634EMAILinfo@arava.org, 1320 Centre Street, Suite 206Newton Centre, MA 02459, USATEL1-617-266-7100EMAILinfo@friendsofarava.org, Their names are Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, and Hannah, and their ages are well, actually, this ones a bit complicated., Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, Energy Security: The Role of Renewable Energy Sources, Practical Challenges of Photovoltaic Systems in the Rural Bedouin Villages in the Negev, Center for Transboundary Water Management, Evidence-based wastewater monitoring and policy for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, Decentralized Wastewater Management and Governance, Long Term Ecological Monitoring (LTER) in Wadi Shita, Offshore Zionism: Israel-Africa and Green Development, Jordan-Israel Center for Community, Environment & Research, Research in Political Ecology in the Middle East, The Last Straw: Conservation, Control, and the Eco-Political Life of Camels in the Negev Highlands, Sense of Place in an Era of Metabolic Rift, Daniel Fischel & Sylvia Neil Research & Visitors Park, Origins and insights into the historic Judean date palm based on genetic analysis of germinated ancient seeds and morphometric studies, The Albert B. Glickman Peace-building Leadership Seminar, Daniel Fischel & Sylvia Neil Outdoor Research & Visitors Park, Arava Alumni Peace & Environmental Network, Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy, Applied Environmental Diplomacy: Pathways to Sustainability in the Jordan River Basin, Annual Cross-Border Environmental Cooperation Conference, Annual Reports, Financial Statements & Publications, After 2,000 Years, These Seeds Have Finally Sprouted, Scientists in Israel grow date plants from 2,000-year-old seeds, Dates Like Jesus Ate? In biblical times, the Judean date palm was revered throughout the region for its medicinal qualities. While waiting for the results of cross-pollination with the Egyptian 'date' ;-) I pray that more seeds be given to the researcher (and proud mama!) Methuselah was grown from a seed that was discovered at the archaeological excavations at Masada, while Hannah is from a seed discovered a little further north along the Dead Sea at Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Dr. Sarah Sallon came up with the initiative to germinate some ancient seeds[12] and persuaded the archaeological storage at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to share some. Scientists Revive Ancient Trees From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds, Aided by Modern Ingenuity, a Taste of Ancient Judean Dates, Scientists pick and taste ancient dates for first time since the Second Temple, Dates from time of Maccabees & Jesus are revived, bring Jewish, Arab unity, Date Seeds Unearthed From the Time of Jesus Are Revived, Adding Fruit to Jewish, Arab Unity, Scientists grow fresh dates from a 6th BCE seed, What do 2,000-year-old Ancient Judean Dates taste like? Six Ancient Plants From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds Have Been Grown - Newsweek In 2005, several of these seeds were obtained by the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center of the Hadassah Medical Organization, which gave them to Dr. Elaine Solowey at the Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Eventually, Hannah produced 111 dates weighing between 15 and 18 grams each. The dates flavor is similar to medjool, semi-dry with honey tones. Researchers celebrate and sample the first fruit of palm trees germinated from ancient seeds from the Judean desert. There are two groups of date species eastern and western. We need a lot of data to do research on, to work out the properties, what the nutritional value is, says Sallon, a pediatric gastroenterologist who directs the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, as to why the bulk of the date harvest was taken to research labs. They dont read science journals, she tells NoCamels, noting that her friend, Jane Goodall, wrote the introduction to her unpublished childrens book. The remaining 32 seeds were planted in a quarantined site at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. Date palms generally thrive in hot arid regions and in Biblical times, were cultivated in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea region. The tree itself was a source of shelter, its fruit . Methuselah happens to be a male Judean date palm, so the team of scientists planted a few more seeds from the cache of ancient seeds unearthed in Herods palace excavation to see if they could propagate a bride for Methuselah. Methusaleh was even given the Guinness WorldRecords designation as the oldest seed cultivated. Hundreds of seeds were collected between 1963 and 1991. Scientists Resurrect Judean Date Palms From Biblical Era - Science They selected 34 seeds they thought were the most viable. We're talking about the resurrection of 2000-year-old plus ancient date seeds that come from the Judean Desert and from Masada and which are part of a scientific experiment, said Sarah Sallon, Director and Founder of The Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization, Jerusalem. [21], As of 2019, altogether thirty-two Judean date palm seeds have been grown from locations in the Dead Sea area, and six saplings (Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, and Hannah) have survived. Dates were famous in antiquity for medicinal value, said Solowey. In March of this year, she was pollinated using pollen from Methuselah. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved. By Benjitheijneb (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons Get out the cigarsMethuselah, a. In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. Watch the video below to learn more about the resurrection of this formerly extinct Judean date palm tree. Nefer Say Nefer - Was Nefertiti Buried in the Valley of the Queens? The harvest of the much-extolled but long-lost Judean dates was something of a scientific miracle. 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. The fruit of the tree symbolised life and prosperity and was praised in ancient . A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. Now I need to buy some and try them! A previous experiment with the seeds produced a single male plant that sprouted in 2005 which the researchers named Methuselah. Scientists Revive Ancient Trees From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds, Scientists successfully grew plants from 2,000- year- old seedstes Like Jesus Ate? The date palm was even used as a symbol for Israel. Pollinated by Methuselah, Hannah had around 100 dates last year and this year she had more than 600 dates. 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). From Extinction to Resurrection: The Judean Date Palm Tree Hannahs DNA is reminiscent of that of ancient trees from Mesopotamia, todays Iraq, as is the modern zahidi variety, which is considered an Iraqi species. BEST OF 2021: Forests of Judean date palm trees once covered ancient Israel, from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea. This is something that came from the past and is still alive.. Five years ago, National Geographic reported that Methuselah was over ten-feet tall and had been used to pollinate a wild modern female date palm. The tree and its fruit caused Jericho to become a major population center and are praised in the Hebrew Bible possibly several times indirectly, such as in Psalms (Psalms 92:1215), "The righteous himself will blossom forth as a palm tree does", and date clusters (Hebrew: .mw-parser-output .script-hebrew,.mw-parser-output .script-Hebr{font-family:"SBL Hebrew","SBL BibLit","Taamey Ashkenaz","Taamey Frank CLM","Frank Ruehl CLM","Ezra SIL","Ezra SIL SR","Keter Aram Tsova","Taamey David CLM","Keter YG","Shofar","David CLM","Hadasim CLM","Simple CLM","Nachlieli",Cardo,Alef,"Noto Serif Hebrew","Noto Sans Hebrew","David Libre",David,"Times New Roman",Gisha,Arial,FreeSerif,FreeSans}) are mentioned in the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 7:8). In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. The date palm is one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees in the world and is highly symbolic in parts of the Middle East, as well as the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths. The Judean dates harvested from Hannah have a light brown skin, fibrous and chewy honey-colored flesh, and is less sweet than the popular Medjool date. Really? This has been reissued in recently years as a 10 shekel coin. She was also interested in how plants can be used for medicine.

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