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. Both seeds have been dated to between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C.E. [24], Researchers at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura plan to grow dates resurrected from seeds found at archaeological sites in the Judaean Desert and Masada in large quantities using tissue culture, and then establish them in commercial plantations.[25]. In coming years, the team hopes to increase the size of the grove (and the yield) so that more people can give them a try., 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. In the future, the hope is for Methuselah, a male tree, to be bred with a female to produce the same date variety eaten commonly in ancient Judea, where it was valued as much for its delicious flavor as for its medicinal properties., We all know the resurrection story from 2,000 years ago described in the pages of the Christian bible. Two of . 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). It grew around the Dead Sea in the south, to the Sea of Galilee and the Hula Valley regions in the north. This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. I think the biggest problem is hydrating them because if you hydrate them too quickly, you kill them and you only get one crack at each seed, Solowey told CBN News. 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. 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. CBN Partners provide hope to those who are suffering! 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 findings suggest that it might be a good option for examining the lifetime of plant seeds. How Credible Are the Superstitions Surrounding the Mystical Irish Fairy Trees? Collect date seeds. During 19631965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. People are disturbed. I clicked on the link from Facebook because I remember date palms being grown and harvested in the San Diego area in the early 60's. Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. Elaine Solowey, Desert Plant Pioneer, successfully grew an extinct Judean Date Palm tree from a 2000 year old seed. Both Adam and Jonah have produced flowers. 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. In 2011, the plant produced its first flowers and today, the living archaeological treasure continues to grow and thrive. It is interesting to note that the Ezekiel prophesied that in the Messianic era, a river would flow from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, revitalizing the saline water, transforming it into a thriving ecosystem. The Judean date palm was once common in ancient Judea. Dr. Available at: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/6/eaax0384, Whelan, E. (2020) Fabled Palm Trees Reborn From Ancient Seeds In Israel. Ancient Origins. It is not clear whether there was ever a single distinct Judean cultivar, but dates grown in the region have had distinctive reputations for thousands of years, and the date palm was anciently regarded as a symbol of the region and its fertility. 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. The first of the ancient date seedlings, Methusaleh, is named for the oldest person mentioned in the Bible. They were big; they were sweet. 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. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there existcountless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts thathave yet to be discovered and explained. They were given the names Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, Hannah, and Adam. [22][23], As of June 2021, dates have grown from the pollination of Hannah, one of the female specimens, by Methuselah. The characteristics of the Judean date palm may shed light on aspects of ancient cultivation that contributed to the quality of its fruit and is thus of potential relevance to the agronomic improvement of modern dates, the authors write. It was a harvest that grabbed a global media spotlight. 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. Wed have to take his word for it if it werent for the hard work of two women scientists. But I will secretly plant one of the seeds from Hannah here and hope that in another 20 years, it will produce fruit.. There are two groups of date species eastern and western. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. An ancient coin design depicting a date palm and two baskets full of dates has been reused for the front side of the modern Israeli ten-shekel coin. 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. No. By Benjitheijneb (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons Get out the cigarsMethuselah, a. The tree itself was a source of shelter, its fruit . . She has another goal she hopes to accomplish as soon as possible: Publishing a childrens story she wrote to encourage childrens curiosity with science. Uriel and Jonah date back to the first to second centuries CE. We know from the Talmud that the Jews exiled to Babylonia [in Mesopotamia] cultivated date groves. The Judean date palm is a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grown in Judea. Call us at 1 315 4971058. In daily prayers, we note how the righteous (tzadik) will grow. Back in the 1960s, famed Israeli archeologist Professor Yigal Yadin discovered thousands of date seeds buried under rubble during his excavations of Masada. A team led by Sarah Sallon, which planted these six trees, first tried in 2005 to germinate a 2,000-year-old seed from the . Morphology of six germinated ancient Judean date seeds before planting. Now I need to buy some and try them! She was soon proven wrong. Ages in months at time of photograph (AtoC) Adam (110 months), Jonah (63 months), and Uriel (54 months). Dates tree grown by a 2,000-year-old seed retrieved from archaeological sites in the Judean Desert, in Ketura, Israel, September 2, 2020. They were the first dates to ripen from date palms grown from seeds that are more than 2,000 years old. The harvested dates are undergoing study regarding their properties and nutritional values. The fruit of the tree symbolised life and prosperity and was praised in ancient . An ancient date seed (Phoenix dactylifera L.) excavated from Masada and radiocarbon-dated to the first century Common Era was germinated. Cultivation of dates in the region almost disappeared after the fourteenth century CE from a combination of climate change and infrastructure decay but has been revived in modern times. 2023 The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., A nonprofit 501 (c)(3) Charitable Organization. Climatic conditions at the Dead Sea may have contributed to the longevity of this oldest, directly dated, viable seed. 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. About 100 ripe, tasty dates were cut from Hannah. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. 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. Submitted by escamp on August 31, 2015 - 3:04pm. Sign up to our free daily newsletter today to get all the most important stories directly to your inbox. The Pindo Palm Tree is cold tolerant to USDA Zone 7. These plants are called Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, and Hannah. The Bible is our guidebook of ancient species, Sallon told CBN News. They are similar in taste and form to the modern day zahidi dates. Last week, when the first dates ripened, a harvest was organized. cultivation of dates in the region began to decline. [19] As of February 2020, Methuselah had reached 3.5 metres (11ft). During the Byzantine and Arab periods (4th to 11th century AD) the Judean date palms were barely holding on and the continued waves of conquest and destruction meant that by the 19th century, no traces of these historic plantations remained, according to a study conducted about the trees in 2020. Architecture of the Floating (Or Sinking) City: How Was Venice Built? Ancient Origins 2013 - 2023Disclaimer- Terms of Publication - Privacy Policy & Cookies - Advertising Policy -Submissions - We Give Back - Contact us. Of these, six of the seeds successfully sprouted. The conditions were dry and arid enough to preserve the seeds for 2,000 years. It has allegedly served as both an aphrodisiac and a contraceptive, and as a cure for a wide range of health issues including cancer, malaria, and toothache. Sallon, who lives in Jerusalem, offered one to a friend, but because she is an observant Jew, she couldnt accept it because it wasnt properly tithed, as Jewish religious law requires. Benjitheijneb/CC BY SA 3.0 (Creative Commons ) A tree grown from a 2,000-year-old seed may bring its sub-species back to Israel, where it once flourished, after a . After eight weeks, a small green shoot emerged from one seed, producing a sapling no one had seen in centuries and becoming the oldest known tree seed to germinate. They are drier and sweeter than the medjool date and taste like natural honey. "I assumed the food in the seed would be no good after all that time. But now, after 2,000 years, the Judean date palm is back and the sweet ancient fruit has been harvested once again. 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. Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies with the tree named 'Judith. The site of the ceremony was not happenstance. 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. After six years of growth Hannah flowered and researchers got excited at the possibility of resurrecting the Judean date after 2,000 years. 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. Studies indicate. We are committed to delivering quality independent Christian journalism you can trust. Judith and Hannah were female, but only Hannah flowered. She lives in Ashland, Ohio, with her husband, Brandon, and their four children, Lydia, Elvis, Henry, and Izzy (their Westie). [7] However, study of contemporary sources indicates that the date industry continued in Judea throughout the Roman period and that, indeed, the Roman Imperial treasury collected a good deal of the profits. 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. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? symbolized ancient Judah and was mentioned in the Bible but when the nation it symbolized was conquered and sent into exile in 70 CE. 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. 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. Thats why we view every news story through the lens of faith. After all, date palms are praised in the Bible as well as in Islam, Greek and Roman civilizations as symbols of beauty, fertility, peace, and victory. See how the latest updates in Jerusalem and the world are connected to the prophecies we read in the Bible. It would be interesting if they were used back then for the same reasons, she tells NoCamels during a phone call from her Jerusalem home. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist of the 1st century AD, wrote that Jericho's dates were known for their succulence and sweetness, though he distinguished a considerable variety of them and discussed several different varieties by name. At the heart of the ceremony was a small package of dates. She has a rich and varied career, ranging from teaching Read More. A 15-year effort to germinate 2,000-year-old seeds from an ancient date palm is finally bearing fruit. Growing in a greenhouse for the last nine years,Judith was recently transplanted in what Kibbutz Ketura calls the Ancient Judean Date Orchard. Stay informed with the latest from CBN News delivered to your inbox. They selected 34 seeds they thought were the most viable. In March of this year, she was pollinated using pollen from Methuselah. And lo, it came to pass that out of the earth Hannah and Judith sprouted. Out of the changes from natural weather shifts, new life can grow again. Antibiotics didnt help. The researchers discovered that the seeds were up to 30 percent larger than date seeds today, which probably meant the fruit was larger, too. 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You can help bring hope today! The species has earned the new name Judean date palm, along with the scientific name Phoenix dactylifera. I wanted to see how medicinal the flora of Israel was and what it had been used for and so on. Its fruit was a staple of the Judean Desert and grew in thick forests along the Dead Sea and Jordan River valley. Sallons near future plans include learning more about the new-old dates, how to reintroduce the Judean date to the market, and continue to research the medicinal properties of these dates. We are going to be testing those dates in the future to see actually what they do and whether they differ from other commercial varieties of modern dates. Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. [18] By May 2015, the palm was 3.0 metres (9.8ft) tall and was producing pollen. Scientists determined that Methuselah was of the Hayany breed originally from Egypt. For the next four decades, the ancient seeds were kept in a drawer at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University. The two researchers pollinated the flowers from Hannah with those of Methuselah to reconstruct the taste of ancient date palms to the maximum extent possible. The species of palm was thought to be extinct for 800 years but hundreds of seeds of. Hannah grew for six years, then flowered. The Bible says that it is not good for man to be alone. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.. Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. 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. After this process, one seed was found to be damaged and was subsequently discarded. Trees are like humans in that you need the pollen from a male tree to pollinate the flowers of a female plant. On Friday, an unusual ceremony was held on a hilltop overlooking the Old City in Jerusalems Abu Tor neighborhood. Phoenix dactylifera and over 1000 other quality seeds for sale. Dr. Sarah Sallon, the director of the Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah University Hospital, and Dr. Elaine Solowey, who runs the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura, have so far successfully managed to germinate seven seeds, among dozens that they have attempted to revive. Long the only lonely representative of its kind, the Judean palm in now reproducing and giving researchers a unique glimpse back in time. The ancient fruit made tonics for longevity, laxatives, and aphrodisiacs; lore claims they could cure infections. Why does Judaism matter and how is it connected to Christianity? Especially now, I think that people need that. (2020) Origins and insights into the historic Judean date palm based on genetic analysis of germinated ancient seeds and morphometric studies. Science Advances Vol 6. ', 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. Sarah M. Wells is the author ofThe Family Bible Devotionaland two collections of poems,Between the Heron and the MossandPruningBurning Bushes. 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. Not as sweet as the Medjooldate, not sticky at all, and with a pleasant honey aftertaste is how Dr. Sarah Sallon describes the taste of a date sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed. 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. Researchers celebrate and sample the first fruit of palm trees germinated from ancient seeds from the Judean desert. Please check your information and try again or call us at 1-800-759-0700. [13][15] Three of the seeds were subsequently planted at Ketura, Israel, in the Arabah in southern Israel. After all, it took 15 years of patience, hope, anticipation, and ground-breaking agriculture techniques to make the seemingly botanically impossible feat possible. [citation needed] The tree so defined the local economy that the Roman emperor Vespasian celebrated the reconquest after the First Jewish Revolt (6670 AD) by minting Judaea Capta coinage, a series of coins sometimes depicting Judaea as a mourning woman beneath a date palm. Nefer Say Nefer - Was Nefertiti Buried in the Valley of the Queens? [26] They may have shared the same wild ancestor. Eventually, Hannah produced 111 dates weighing between 15 and 18 grams each. 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. 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. ***Please sign up forCBN Newslettersand download theCBN News appto ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***. In ancient times the Judean date palm was a staple source of food, shelter, and shade. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). In experiments praised by the Dalai Lama, for example, Dr. Sarah Sallon has shown that ancient Tibetan cures for cardiovascular disease really do work. Plants have been produced from date palm seeds that have been buried for 2,000 years in old ruins and caves. Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked! her team just so happens to have one other Judean date palm on hand in . 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. Years ago at Masada, archaeologists found a jar of those ancient date seeds. Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, led a team that included Elaine Solowey, and Nathalie Chabrillange. Its possible that they brought the seeds with them on their return to Zion, she said. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. The species is widely cultivated and is naturalized in . While the scientific and agricultural communities celebrated this landmark harvest, only Sallon, Solowey, a handful of the other scientists involved in the revival project and a few kibbutz members got to sample bits of this long-lost variety of dates, last tasted back in the times of Jesus and the Maccabees. 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. 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. References to it are made in the Bible, the Koran, and other ancient literature. 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. The dates flavor is similar to medjool, semi-dry with honey tones. It played a significant role in the Judean economy for about two millenniaat the least from the fifth century B.C.E. The seedlings would later be moved to Kibbutz Ketura. Scientists determined that Methuselah was of the Hayany breed originally from Egypt. [dubious discuss] Goor quotes several later, Ottoman-period travellers to the area as to the rarity of date palms, including Pierre Belon, who in 1553 scoffed at the idea that the region could have ever produced the bounty of dates reported in ancient sources. 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. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, led a team that included Elaine Solowey, and Nathalie Chabrillange. For conservation, Sallon, who moved from England to Israel, tells NoCamels. According to Jewish tradition, the Children of Israel came out of Egypt with date palm saplings that were eventually planted in the land of Israel. 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?
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