Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. CBN News got its first look ten years ago when Methuselah was still in the lab. And then I realized that many of these species had actually disappeared. [20] The genomes of these Judean date palms germinated from ancient seeds were sequenced and analyzed. BEST OF 2021: Forests of Judean date palm trees once covered ancient Israel, from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea. 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. 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. [3] Modern studies have been done in an attempt to confirm their medicinal value. The seeds were held in storage for 40 years at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan.[10][11]. 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). [6] Andrea Moresino-Zipper contests that in the former case, it is the woman who symbolises the defeated Judaea and the towering, dominating palm stands for victorious Rome, while in the latter case the palm tree does represent Judaea.[6]. The dates flavor is similar to medjool, semi-dry with honey tones. In the Shephelah region or the Judean foothills of south-central Israel, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a Seleucid Hellenistic fortress that was burned by Hasmonean (Judean) conquerors Israeli archaeologists have revealed the secrets behind the Assyrian siege ramp that conquered the ancient Judean town of Lachish. Available at: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Seed-of-extinct-date-palm-sprouts-after-2-000-2628668.php, Sallon, S. et al. Modern day studies have shown dates benefit digestion, lower cholesterol, improve memory, increase blood production, have aphrodisiac properties, and strengthen the nervous system. They were the first dates to ripen from date palms grown from seeds that are more than 2,000 years old. Its possible that they brought the seeds with them on their return to Zion, she said. 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. The tree and its fruit are mentioned in the Song of Songs and Psalms and featured on coins throughout the region. 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. Ancient sources have suggested that the Judean date palm tree had many unique medicinal properties no longer found in todays palm varieties. 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. 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). 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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. She lives in Ashland, Ohio, with her husband, Brandon, and their four children, Lydia, Elvis, Henry, and Izzy (their Westie). 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. 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. YWAM Founder Loren Cunningham Diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. Germinated ancient Judean date seedlings. But I will secretly plant one of the seeds from Hannah here and hope that in another 20 years, it will produce fruit.. 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. Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? Specimen Pindo Palm Tree can be seen on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, GA. The Bible is our guidebook of ancient species, Sallon told CBN News. Luckily two of the subsequent. One was separated out as a control. 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. Thanks Jo. 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. All kinds of trees for food will grow up on both banks of the stream. Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies with the tree named 'Judith. The experiment worked. Judean date palms were wiped . Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. 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. Younger Methuselah. Judean date palm in 2012. Date palm cultivation is thought to be up to . 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. This week the Arava Institute celebrated the first Judean Dates ever to be grown into fruit since the time of King Herod." [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. Those date palms of modern day Israel are modern and they were imported after the founding of the State in the 1950s. Judith and Hannah were female, but only Hannah flowered. 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. On Friday, an unusual ceremony was held on a hilltop overlooking the Old City in Jerusalems Abu Tor neighborhood. Methusaleh and all the ancient date trees can be visited by contacting Keren Kolot. I am sure you are familiar with his legend which states that he was born in a manger surrounded by shepherds, about Herod the Greats Alabaster Bathtubs, about Seleucid Sling Stone Sheds New Light on Jewish Hannukah Story, about Rogue Priest Second Temple Silver Coin Found By Girl in Jerusalem, about Evidence of Hannukah Story Found in Razed Hellenistic Fortress, about New Study Reveals How Legendary Assyrian Siege Ramp Overcame Lachish, about Mesopotamian Superpowers Laying Waste To The Ancient Near East, For Sale In Britain: A Small Ancient Man With A Colossal Penis, Sacred Marvels: 17 Cathedrals That Will Take Your Breath Away, In Pictures, Egyptologists Reveal a Lost Chamber in the Great Pyramid With Cosmic Rays, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Unleashing the End of the World. At the heart of the ceremony was a small package of dates. 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. In the Kingdom of Judea it was a source of food, shelter, medicine, and shade. SEE ALSO: Bottoms Up: Israeli Scientists Brew Beer With Resurrected Yeast From 5,000 Years Ago. Between 2011 and 2014 Ms. Solowey planted the seeds and six more have sprouted over the years. Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. Available at: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/6/eaax0384, Whelan, E. (2020) Fabled Palm Trees Reborn From Ancient Seeds In Israel. Ancient Origins. Photo: CBN News, Error: There was an internal error submitting your form. 32 additional intact seeds were chosen, out of which 6 sprouted. 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. 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. 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. 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Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. Who would have thought seeds thousands of years old would germinate?!? During 19631965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. According to historical sources, the taste of them was something splendid. Because they were famous. I wrote about the date, from the point of view of the date, he goes to sleep during the siege of Masada and literally wakes up in a laboratory. 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? Thank God for the faithfulness of his people though the ages - to leave these seeds, and to find and nurture one to grow. She has a rich and varied career, ranging from teaching Read More. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. They are drier and sweeter than the medjool date and taste like natural honey. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. Phoenix dactylifera and over 1000 other quality seeds for sale. Sponsored by the Asper Foundation and Reichman University. Herod the Great was renowned for his ambitious projects and extravagant tastes. So far, we have five males and two females seven altogether, and I've tried lots of seeds and most of them are deader than door nails, Solowey said. During Yigal Yadins excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s, ancient date seeds were discovered beneath rubble at the Northern Palace approach. 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. Top Image: Methuselah is a Judean date palm grown from a 2,000-year-old seed found at Masada. The ancient fruit made tonics for longevity, laxatives, and aphrodisiacs; lore claims they could cure infections. Solowey planted some three thousand of them on Kibbutz Ketura, where each tree produces around 350 pounds of dates a year. The first leaves were plagued with white spots, which the researchers put down to insufficient nutrients, and it was thought that the plant would never survive. After this process, one seed was found to be damaged and was subsequently discarded. 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 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. 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. See how the latest updates in Jerusalem and the world are connected to the prophecies we read in the Bible. Methuselah is and for a long time researchers believed that this was the only Judean date palm they would ever see. The Bible says that it is not good for man to be alone. Researchers revived a 2,000-year-old palm from seeds found inside an ancient Judean jar. Submitted by escamp on August 31, 2015 - 3:04pm. Female plants need male pollen to produce fruit, and all six of the new date palm trees are female, Sallon explains. The date was so important to the region that it featured on ancient coinage, and even on Israel's 10-shekel coin today. A previous experiment with the seeds produced a single male plant that sprouted in 2005 which the researchers named Methuselah. The Judean Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is known from historical accounts for its sweet, large fruit, which even had medicinal properties. But they're not the original date tree that grew here, Sallon said. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! Out of the changes from natural weather shifts, new life can grow again. However, its value was also the source of its demise and eventual extinction. Plants have been produced from date palm seeds that have been buried for 2,000 years in old ruins and caves. Hannah wassprouted from a 2,000 year-old seed, and pollinated by another Ancient Judean date tree. So, for the kibbutz, it's a big venture, Sallon said. In 2011, the plant produced its first flowers and today, the living archaeological treasure continues to grow and thrive. The seven ancient Judean date palm accessions originate from the germination of date palm seeds collected during archaeological excavations of three sites in the Judean desert (21, 22). [10] The plant was nicknamed "Methuselah" after the longest-lived person listed in the Bible. A 15-year effort to germinate 2,000-year-old seeds from an ancient date palm is finally bearing fruit. We know from the Talmud that the Jews exiled to Babylonia [in Mesopotamia] cultivated date groves. 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. NoCamels.com is the leading news website covering breakthrough innovation from Israel for a global audience. 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. ( Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ). 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. Some of the fruit were tasted, and some were sent for further research. [9] A 1974 study blames the 15th-century disappearance of date palms from the Jericho-Ein Gedi region on human activity, but Goor raises the possibility that the climate change led to the springs in the area delivering less water, which harmed the water-intensive cultivation of date palms.[9]. Shes the fifth such tree to be planted there after Methuselah, Adam, Jonah and Hannah. 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. 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. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 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. And we knew what there was, because it's mentioned in the Bible. 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 findings suggest that it might be a good option for examining the lifetime of plant seeds. It is sometimes claimed that date growing as a commercial fruit export stopped at the end of 70 AD, when the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. 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.