And then I realized that many of these species had actually disappeared. 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. So, for the kibbutz, it's a big venture, Sallon said. Sallon, a medical doctor, started this project more than 15 years ago after becoming interested in natural medicine. And lo, it came to pass that out of the earth Hannah and Judith sprouted. They nicknamed the tree Methuselah after Noahs grandfather, the oldest person who ever lived. Credit: Sarah Sallon Ruth Schuster May 6, 2021 Israeli scientists found out, The Resurrection of 2000-Year-Old Ancient Date Seeds: New Fruit Sprouts from Bible Times Source. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. Shes the fifth such tree to be planted there after Methuselah, Adam, Jonah and Hannah. (Guy Eisner) Scientists have cultivated plants from date palm seeds that languished in ancient ruins and caves for 2,000 years. Really? Judean date palms are praised in the Bible. Younger Methuselah. 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. No. This is something that came from the past and is still alive.. "I assumed the food in the seed would be no good after all that time. 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. And Solowey and Salone are hoping eventually to add the revived Judean dates to the harvest. The Pindo Palm produces an edible date fruit used to make jelly, and is also known as the Jelly Palm. There are two groups of date species eastern and western. Solowey soaked the seeds in enzymatic water and fertilizer and planted them in sterile potting soil in pots in a greenhouse. Especially now, I think that people need that. The tree itself was a source of shelter, its fruit . [17] By November 2011 it was 2.5 metres (8ft 2in) high, having been transplanted from pot to earth. In daily prayers, we note how the righteous (tzadik) will grow. Like Methuselah, they have all been given Biblical names. Who Destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria? I am reminded of the prophecy of Israel returning to itshomeland before the End of Days, and this resurrected tree, past symbol of Israel seen on shekel coins, seems to best epitomize that ancient prediction. On Friday, an unusual ceremony was held on a hilltop overlooking the Old City in Jerusalems Abu Tor neighborhood. Dates were famous in antiquity for medicinal value, said Solowey. In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. A previous experiment with the seeds produced a single male plant that sprouted in 2005 which the researchers named Methuselah. And though Sallon compares the taste of these ancient Judean dates to the Medjool, she reiterates that she is not a food expert and simply happens to eat the Medjool variety. So valued was the tree that it became recognized as a symbol of good fortune in Judea. It played a significant role in the Judean economy for about two millenniaat the least from the fifth century B.C.E. The eastern ones are all the species from Arabia and Iraq, and the western ones are from North Africa, Sallon explained. BEST OF 2021: Forests of Judean date palm trees once covered ancient Israel, from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea. (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). Call (800) 700-7000 or request prayer. This is the second year of harvesting fruit from this previously extinct tree, brought back to life by Dr. Elaine Solowey. During Yigal Yadins excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s, ancient date seeds were discovered beneath rubble at the Northern Palace approach. In time, Hannah gave birth to a son, Samuel, who was the nazirite that chose Saul and David, the first two kings of Israel, for Gods people (1 Samuel 1). Its a childrens story about the science and what it represents., Viva Sarah Press is a journalist and speaker. They are drier and sweeter than the medjool date and taste like natural honey. [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. Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. Israel365 News is the only media outlet reporting on it. Elaine Solowey, Desert Plant Pioneer, successfully grew an extinct Judean Date Palm tree from a 2000 year old seed. They had experienced a very dry and sheltered environment for millennia. About 100 ripe, tasty dates were cut from Hannah. The other date palms to have sprouted from these ancient seeds are known as Adam, Hannah, Judith, Jonah, Boaz and Uriel. CBN News got its first look ten years ago when Methuselah was still in the lab. Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. The open hilltop, which is known as the Hill of Evil Counsel, is at the center of a battle that the neighborhood residents, including Sallon, are fighting against a construction project that they say will obliterate it. They called him Methuselah after the oldest person in the Bible. In ancient times, the classical writers described in detail, the dates of ancient Judea. The proud parents are date palms grown from ancient seeds uncovered in archeological excavations in Israel., Not as sweet as the Medjool date, 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., So what do 2,000-year-old dates taste like? Methuselah the Judean Date Palm is still going strong even after sprouting from a 2,000-year-old seed. In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. 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. Call it Canaan, the Levant or the Ancient Near East; the region has always had a troubled history of warfare and invasions. She was planted in 2019. [20] The genomes of these Judean date palms germinated from ancient seeds were sequenced and analyzed. What cured here, she thinks, were some traditional herbal remedies., The date palm has a historical distribution stretching from Mauritania in the west to the Indus Valley in the east. Soak them in a bowl of cool water for 48 hours. The fruit sprouted from seeds 2,000 years old. In the mid-1900s, archaeologists discovered date palm seeds stored in an ancient jar in the ruins of the palace of Herod the Great in Masada, Israel. This has been reissued in recently years as a 10 shekel coin. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47:12. Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? 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. During 19631965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. Mudlarker Finds Bronze Age Shoe on a UK Riverbank Dated 2,800 Years Old! By June 2008, the tree had nearly a dozen fronds and was nearly 1.4 metres (4ft 7in) tall. 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. Recently, a restoration of life, in a sense, took place in the Holy Landbut with 2,000-year-old dry date seeds from the same region where the religious legends began., Mazal tov to Hannah and Methuselah on their 111 miracle babies! (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). We know from the Talmud that the Jews exiled to Babylonia [in Mesopotamia] cultivated date groves. Microsatellite genotyping of germinated seeds indicates that exchanges of genetic material occurred between the Middle East . Radiocarbon dating at the University of Zurich confirmed the seeds dated from between 155 BC to 64 AD. Submitted by escamp on August 31, 2015 - 3:04pm. ***Please sign up forCBN Newslettersand download theCBN News appto ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***. cultivation of dates in the region began to decline. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. After six years of growth Hannah flowered and researchers got excited at the possibility of resurrecting the Judean date after 2,000 years. By the age of 10, most children in the United States have been taught all 50 states that make up the country. 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. Available at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/extinct-tree-resurrected-ancient-seeds-now-dad-002838, Hassan, N. (2020) Israeli Researchers Mate 2,000-year-old Date Seeds, Hope for Fruit. Haaretz. One that disappeared centuries ago was the Judean date. 3 min read. The species has earned the new name Judean date palm, along with the scientific name Phoenix dactylifera. 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. Judean date palm in 2012. Scientists determined that Methuselah was of the Hayany breed originally from Egypt. Wed have to take his word for it if it werent for the hard work of two women scientists. For the next four decades, the ancient seeds were kept in a drawer at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University. Get email notification for articles from Nir Hasson. The Judean date palm is a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grown in Judea. Why does Judaism matter and how is it connected to Christianity? The genome sequences of the ancient Judean date palms were compared to those of 110 contemporary Phoenix dactylifera varieties and other wild Phoenix species . 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. Goor only detects a decline in date cultivation through the period of Early Arab rule and especially during the Crusades, when he notes that the devastation of the region was particularly hard on the palm plantations. Top Image: Methuselah is a Judean date palm grown from a 2,000-year-old seed found at Masada. The researchers discovered that the seeds were up to 30 percent larger than date seeds today, which probably meant the fruit was larger, too. 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. The site of the ceremony was not happenstance. Back in the 1960s, famed Israeli archeologist Professor Yigal Yadin discovered thousands of date seeds buried under rubble during his excavations of Masada. Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. 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. After this process, one seed was found to be damaged and was subsequently discarded. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. We are planting our second, female date tree, who was sprouted from an ancient seed. Last week, when the first dates ripened, a harvest was organized. 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. Solowey planted some three thousand of them on Kibbutz Ketura, where each tree produces around 350 pounds of dates a year. 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 . It was a harvest that grabbed a global media spotlight. It included the Jewish Sheheheyanu prayer recited on momentous occasions, as well as the traditional offering and tithing ceremony. We are committed to delivering quality independent Christian journalism you can trust. Scientists in Israel grow date plants from 2,000-year-old seeds. They all sat in storage for over 40 years. This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. 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. Hannah grew for six years, then flowered. But now, after 2,000 years, the Judean date palm is back and the sweet ancient fruit has been harvested once again. But then, in 2005, botanical researcher Elaine Solowey decided to plant one and see what, if anything, would sprout. Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? her team just so happens to have one other Judean date palm on hand in . You Can at The Baobab Tree Bar, The Power of the Flying Rowan Tree, Woe of the Witches, https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/extinct-tree-resurrected-ancient-seeds-now-dad-002838, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/science/.premium-israeli-researchers-mate-2-000-year-old-date-seeds-hope-for-fruit-1.8503447, https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Seed-of-extinct-date-palm-sprouts-after-2-000-2628668.php, https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/6/eaax0384, https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/palm-tree-0013259, Seleucid Sling Stone Sheds New Light on Jewish Hannukah Story, Rogue Priest Second Temple Silver Coin Found By Girl in Jerusalem, Evidence of Hannukah Story Found in Razed Hellenistic Fortress, New Study Reveals How Legendary Assyrian Siege Ramp Overcame Lachish, Mesopotamian Superpowers Laying Waste To The Ancient Near East. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop. And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there beside the water. But as time progressed, the leaves began to look healthier. 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. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.. ', 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. Following this success, six further preserved seeds were sprouted.[2]. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. Its mentioned in the Bible as one of the seven species found in the ancient Land of Israel. Both Adam and Jonah have produced flowers. 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. In biblical times, the Judean date palm was revered throughout the region for its medicinal qualities. This study, which confirms the long-term survival of date palm seeds, provides a unique opportunity to rediscover the origins of a historic date palm population that existed in Judea 2,000 years ago. Great piece I had no idea about such amazing botanical work going on. As the researchers hoped would be the case with their revived date palms, plants irrigated from the Jerusalem waters would be uniquely vibrant and grant special medicinal qualities. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! In March of this year, she was pollinated using pollen from Methuselah. [26] They may have shared the same wild ancestor. Dr. Solowey successfully germinated one of these seeds, which sprouted into a young date palm today, Methuselah has a permanent home in the Arava Institute research park on Kibbutz Ketura.