( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ) So valued was the tree that it became recognized as a symbol of good fortune in Judea. BEST OF 2021: Forests of Judean date palm trees once covered ancient Israel, from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea. The first of the ancient date seedlings, Methusaleh, is named for the oldest person mentioned in the Bible. They called him Methuselah after the oldest person in the Bible. Dates tree grown by a 2,000-year-old seed retrieved from archaeological sites in the Judean Desert, in Ketura, Israel, September 2, 2020. An ancient Israeli coin depicted a palm tree with two baskets of fruit beneath. cultivation of dates in the region began to decline. Seeds found in Judean desert are male and female, leading to hopes of producing dates. God is everywhereeven in the news. [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. And then I realized that many of these species had actually disappeared. Dr. Elaine Solowey, director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture of the Arava Institute, and Dr. Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center of Hadassah Hospital, harvested these ancient dates in the culmination of an ambitious, decades-long experiment to raise the biblical-era Phoenix dactylifera date palm from the dead. Scientists Resurrect Mysterious Judean Date Palms From Biblical Era Methuselah the tree was grown from a 2,000-year-old seed found at Masada. [13] She challenged her friend, Dr. Elaine Solowey from the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, with the task[14] and in 2005 Dr. Solowey managed to sprout several seeds, after slowly hydrating them in a common baby bottle warmer, then pretreating them in an ordinary solution of fertilizer and growth hormone. [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. After 2,000 years, the formerly extinct Judean date palm was brought back to life by two women scientists in 2005. 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. Holy Land Uncovered on location special from Kibbutz Ketura, where 2 female scientists created a Miracle!! Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, "New Life, From an Arctic Flower That Died 32,000 Years Ago", "After 2,000 Years, These Seeds Have Finally Sprouted", "2000-Year-Old Date Pit Sprouts In Israel", "2,000-Year-Old Seed Sprouts, Sapling Is Thriving", "Extinct Judean Date Palm Grows After 1500 Years", "1.4.8 The Crusader period and Little Ice Age, 1.0 ka to 0.4 ka BP, and 1.4.9 The Moslem-Ottoman period, 0.4 ka to 0.1 ka BP", "From Extinction to Resurrection: The Judean Date Palm Tree", "Origins and insights into the historic Judean date palm based on genetic analysis of germinated ancient seeds and morphometric studies", "Researchers confirm age of "Methuselah" tree", "2000-Year-Old Date Pit Sprouts in Israel", "Medicinal date palm from oldest known seed planted", "Date palm grown from 2,000-year-old seed is a dad", "Israeli researchers grow new date plants from 2,000-year-old seeds", "The genomes of ancient date palms germinated from 2,000 y old seeds", "Scientists Resurrect Mysterious Judean Date Palms From Biblical Era", "Extinct tree from the time of Jesus rises from the dead", How King Solomon and the Romans Shaped the Judean Date Palm, "Germination, Genetics, and Growth of an Ancient Date Seed", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judean_date_palm&oldid=1142182782, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018, Articles with disputed statements from July 2018, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 23:58. Ancient Judean date palm trees resurrected from ancient seeds. 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. Morphology of six germinated ancient Judean date seeds before planting. 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. Long the only lonely representative of its kind, the Judean palm in now reproducing and giving researchers a unique glimpse back in time. During 19631965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. Dr. Solowey - and that at least one is a female! 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. 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. No. This has been reissued in recently years as a 10 shekel coin. Now I need to buy some and try them! Sallon has a hypothesis regarding Hannahs ancestors. The seeds were germinated by warming and hydrating them slowly and gradually. 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. ( Marcos Schonholz ). I think thats why weve got such a tremendous response to bringing these dates back from extinction, she says. And here we are actually planting history at the Arava Institute. 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. . 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. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. 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. DF_JST1058_2000_Year_Old_Date_Palms_HD1080_0_273, Date palms from 2000-Year-Old Date Seeds. Eventually, Hannah produced 111 dates weighing between 15 and 18 grams each. 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? The Judean date palm was once common in ancient Judea. One was separated out as a control. To donate to Dr. Soloweys ancient dates research project, click here. The remaining 32 seeds were planted in a quarantined site at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. Collect date seeds. ***Please sign up forCBN Newslettersand download theCBN News appto ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***. During Yigal Yadins excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s, ancient date seeds were discovered beneath rubble at the Northern Palace approach. These plants are called Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, and Hannah. The seedlings would later be moved to Kibbutz Ketura. Trees are like humans in that you need the pollen from a male tree to pollinate the flowers of a female plant. Until Sallon initiated a project aimed at germinating ancient seeds to reintroduce extinct plants previously grown in the region and learn about their qualities. 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. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. A date harvest from 2000-year-old seeds. [26] They may have shared the same wild ancestor. Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? An ancient date seed (Phoenix dactylifera L.) excavated from Masada and radiocarbon-dated to the first century Common Era was germinated. Like Methuselah, they have all been given Biblical names. 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. Ms. Solowey chose Methuselah to be the father, and she moved pollen from him onto Hannahs flowers. The tree itself was a source of shelter, its fruit . 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. The date palm was even used as a symbol for Israel. I too wonder if this is a specific species as date palms have been cultivated forever. One that disappeared centuries ago was the Judean date. Nevertheless, the taste and shape of these revived dates are consistent with the history of the dates that the two women have derived from their genetic research. 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. Fifteen years ago, the first tree Solowey sprouted was a male. About 100 ripe, tasty dates were cut from Hannah. So, in 2005, Sallon turned to Solowey, an expert on arid agriculture, for help. Available at: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Seed-of-extinct-date-palm-sprouts-after-2-000-2628668.php, Sallon, S. et al. Specimen Pindo Palm Tree can be seen on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, GA. Ancient sources have suggested that the Judean date palm tree had many unique medicinal properties no longer found in todays palm varieties. Hundreds of seeds were collected between 1963 and 1991. 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. 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? Then, two things happened: either Chaos or Gaia created the universe as we know it, or Ouranos and Tethys gave birth to the first beings. 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. In June of 2020, Hannah became the first Judean date palm tree, resurrected from the dust of ancient seeds, to bear fruit. Photo: CBN News, Error: There was an internal error submitting your form. The first dates to ripen came from a palm tree named Hannah, which was grown from a seed about 10 years ago. More than 850,000 date trees grow in Israel. Buried beneath the rubble, Yadin unearthed a small stockpile of seeds stowed in a clay jar dating back 2,000 years. 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. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop. If you dont look back to the history you will not see the future. SEE ALSO: Bottoms Up: Israeli Scientists Brew Beer With Resurrected Yeast From 5,000 Years Ago. Now a major discovery has come regarding these projects, from of all places, his bathtub. She was planted in 2019. 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. 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. 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. 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. So, for the kibbutz, it's a big venture, Sallon said. CBN News got its first look ten years ago when Methuselah was still in the lab. On August 23rd, 2021, Arava Institute staff harvested three bunches of dates from our world-famous ancient date palms. 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. [17][20] By 2015 Methuselah had produced pollen that has been used successfully to pollinate female date palms. NoCamels.com is the leading news website covering breakthrough innovation from Israel for a global audience. ( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ). It was a harvest that grabbed a global media spotlight. 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. Groves of Judean dates once flourished in Israel, as described by Pliny and Josephus, and were famous across the Roman Empire. After devising a method to sprout them, Solowey succeeded in sprouting seeds found in other places such as the Qumran caves in the area where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. 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. Years ago at Masada, archaeologists found a jar of those ancient date seeds. The species of palm was thought to be extinct for 800 years but hundreds of seeds of. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! Why does Judaism matter and how is it connected to Christianity? Ancient Origins 2013 - 2023Disclaimer- Terms of Publication - Privacy Policy & Cookies - Advertising Policy -Submissions - We Give Back - Contact us. "I assumed the food in the seed would be no good after all that time. In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. Female plants need male pollen to produce fruit, and all six of the new date palm trees are female, Sallon explains. Growth and development of the seedling over 26 months was compatible with normal date . 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. 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. They selected 34 seeds they thought were the most viable. But now, after 2,000 years, the Judean date palm is back and the sweet ancient fruit has been harvested once again. 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 . Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from lands around Iraq. We hope that one day these trees that came from 2,000 years ago will be the hope of peace in our region, Abu Hamed said. 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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. The Pindo Palm Tree is cold tolerant to USDA Zone 7. 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. 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 . However, its value was also the source of its demise and eventual extinction. Who Destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria? The first of the ancient date seedlings, Methusaleh, is named for the oldest person mentioned in the Bible. 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. 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. 2023 The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., A nonprofit 501 (c)(3) Charitable Organization. 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.

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