To read about Dr. Soloweys work to protect other endangered plant species click here. The Judean date palm is a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grown in Judea. 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. 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. 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. 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. The species has earned the new name Judean date palm, along with the scientific name Phoenix dactylifera. 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. Solowey planted some three thousand of them on Kibbutz Ketura, where each tree produces around 350 pounds of dates a year. These unique dates are currently being kept cool in storage. Call it Canaan, the Levant or the Ancient Near East; the region has always had a troubled history of warfare and invasions. Eventually, Hannah produced 111 dates weighing between 15 and 18 grams each. 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. 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. 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. Microsatellite genotyping of germinated seeds indicates that exchanges of genetic material occurred between the Middle East . YWAM Founder Loren Cunningham Diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. Sallon has a hypothesis regarding Hannahs ancestors. Source: Haaretz, Holloway, A. 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. Watch the video below to learn more about the resurrection of this formerly extinct Judean date palm tree. But 800 years ago, crusaders destroyed the last Judean palm and rendered the plant extinct. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.. Mudlarker Finds Bronze Age Shoe on a UK Riverbank Dated 2,800 Years Old! . In 2011, the plant produced its first flowers and today, the living archaeological treasure continues to grow and thrive. And though shes just nine-years-old, she carries an ancient heritage. 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. 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. CBN Partners provide hope to those who are suffering! The Bible is our guidebook of ancient species, Sallon told CBN News. And then I realized that many of these species had actually disappeared. This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. In the paper published by Science Advances, the scientists say the genetic relationships between the ancient date and current varieties show Methuselah and Adam close to eastern modern varieties Fardh4 and Khalass, respectively, assigned to current Arabian Gulf varieties; Hannah and Judith related to modern Iraqi varieties Khastawi and Khyara, respectively; and Uriel, Boaz, and Jonah, the most western genotypes, related to modern Moroccan varieties, Mahalbit, Jihel, and Medjool, respectively.. The species of palm was thought to be extinct for 800 years but hundreds of seeds of Phoenix dactylifera were collected from Judean desert archaeological sites such as an ancient palace-fortress built by King Herod and caves located in southern Israel at Masada, Qumran, Wadi Makukh, and Wadi Kelt, located in the Judean desert between the Judean Hills and the Dead Sea. ', 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. symbolized ancient Judah and was mentioned in the Bible but when the nation it symbolized was conquered and sent into exile in 70 CE. The tree and its fruit are mentioned in the Song of Songs and Psalms and featured on coins throughout the region. 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. Herod the Great was renowned for his ambitious projects and extravagant tastes. Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. It is chronicled in the Bible, Quran, and ancient literature for its diverse powers. They are similar in taste and form to the modern day zahidi dates. Its fruit was a staple of the Judean Desert and grew in thick forests along the Dead Sea and Jordan River valley. The date was so important to the region that it featured on ancient coinage, and even on Israel's 10-shekel coin today. Climatic conditions at the Dead Sea may have contributed to the longevity of this oldest, directly dated, viable seed. Elaine Solowey, Desert Plant Pioneer, successfully grew an extinct Judean Date Palm tree from a 2000 year old seed. We are planting our second, female date tree, who was sprouted from an ancient seed. They became symbols of "beauty, precious shade and succulent plenty," Kershner wrote. 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. Years ago at Masada, archaeologists found a jar of those ancient date seeds. The Pindo Palm Tree is cold tolerant to USDA Zone 7. Methuselah, Adam, and Hannah date back to the first to fourth centuries BCE. You can view our live recording of the harvesthere. The first of the ancient date seedlings, Methusaleh, is named for the oldest person mentioned in the Bible. Long the only lonely representative of its kind, the Judean palm in now reproducing and giving researchers a unique glimpse back in time. What is the origin of the legend of the Christed Son who was born of a virgin on December 25th? Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved. In this age of global warming and species loss, I thought its important to try and bring back to life these ancient varieties. Luckily two of the subsequent. 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. It was a harvest that grabbed a global media spotlight. So, in 2005, Sallon turned to Solowey, an expert on arid agriculture, for help. [18] By May 2015, the palm was 3.0 metres (9.8ft) tall and was producing pollen. 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. Judean date palms were wiped . Solowey soaked the seeds in enzymatic water and fertilizer and planted them in sterile potting soil in pots in a greenhouse. 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According to historical sources, the taste of them was something splendid. The Judean Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is known from historical accounts for its sweet, large fruit, which even had medicinal properties. 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. Five years ago. Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? [3] Modern studies have been done in an attempt to confirm their medicinal value. . Medieval Sea Monster Was Likely a Whale, New Research Reveals, What is Shambhala? This has been reissued in recently years as a 10 shekel coin. [17] By November 2011 it was 2.5 metres (8ft 2in) high, having been transplanted from pot to earth. The researchers conducted a series of tests to verify the age of the seeds, and it was confirmed through carbon 14 dating that they were more than 2,000 years old. 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. 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. Available at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/palm-tree-0013259. They were then dosed with Gibberellic acid, a growth-promoting plant hormone, and enzymatic fertilizer. The date palms are named for Biblical figures. 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 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). Following this success, six further preserved seeds were sprouted.[2]. Like Methuselah, they have all been given Biblical names. (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). 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. They had experienced a very dry and sheltered environment for millennia. By Benjitheijneb (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons Get out the cigarsMethuselah, a. But they're not the original date tree that grew here, Sallon said. We are committed to delivering quality independent Christian journalism you can trust. 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. 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. I wanted to see how medicinal the flora of Israel was and what it had been used for and so on. 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. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. 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. Methuselah was chosen to father the fruit and pollen from his plant was placed onto Hannah's flowers. However, its value was also the source of its demise and eventual extinction. (DtoF) Boaz (54 months), Judith (47 months), and Hannah (88 months). ***Please sign up forCBN Newslettersand download theCBN News appto ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***. They selected 34 seeds they thought were the most viable. And here we are actually planting history at the Arava Institute. 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. SEE ALSO: Israeli DNA Study Unveils Reconstructed Face Of Mysterious, Long-Lost Human Relative. So valued was the tree that it became recognized as a symbol of good fortune in Judea. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. In ancient times the Judean date palm was a staple source of food, shelter, and shade. As part of this endeavor, Dr. Solowey succeeded in germinating one of these ancient date seeds in 2005, initially thought to be botanically impossible. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! Why does Judaism matter and how is it connected to Christianity? 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? [17][20] By 2015 Methuselah had produced pollen that has been used successfully to pollinate female 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. The remaining 32 seeds were planted in a quarantined site at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop. 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. Palm trees in the ruins of Babylon. For the next four decades, the ancient seeds were kept in a drawer at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University. 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. Ages in months at time of photograph (AtoC) Adam (110 months), Jonah (63 months), and Uriel (54 months). (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). But then, in 2005, botanical researcher Elaine Solowey decided to plant one and see what, if anything, would sprout. 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. One was separated out as a control. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. Sign up to our free daily newsletter today to get all the most important stories directly to your inbox. These plants are called Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, and Hannah. And we knew what there was, because it's mentioned in the Bible. Spanish conquistadors couldn't believe their eyes while exploring the rugged terrain of the Andes during their invasion of Peru. Extensively described in antiquity, its image appeared on coins and synagogues as a symbol of the region while its fruits were famous for their taste, large size and medicinal . Especially now, I think that people need that. 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. This is something that came from the past and is still alive.. 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! [16] Methuselah flowered in March 2011 and is male. It takes time for seedlings to become seed-bearing trees, but eventually, that time came. The Judean dates from the time of Christ had long been considered extinct. 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. 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.