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. She was also interested in how plants can be used for medicine. 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. Hundreds of seeds were collected between 1963 and 1991. You can help bring hope today! During 19631965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. How Credible Are the Superstitions Surrounding the Mystical Irish Fairy Trees? 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. CBN Partners provide hope to those who are suffering! Archaeologists have been able to take a closer look at one of the United Kingdoms most famous shipwrecks. About 100 ripe, tasty dates were cut from Hannah. 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. This amazing date tree was grown from a seed preserved since - Medium Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? Dates were one of the seven species listed as special to the land of Israel, described in the bible as honey., A land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; Deuteronomy 8:8. Radiocarbon dating of the fragments of the seed shells still clinging to the roots of the plants confirmed the seeds date back to between 1,800 and 2,400 years ago. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. The date palm was even used as a symbol for Israel. On August 23rd, 2021, Arava Institute staff harvested three bunches of dates from our world-famous ancient date palms. Aided by Modern Ingenuity, a Taste of Ancient Judean Dates 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. Throughout the history of civilization, the concept of the apocalypse has been ever present, in one way or another. The Pindo Palm Tree is cold tolerant to USDA Zone 7. The Judean date palm was once common in ancient Judea. Two beautiful bathtubs Hanukkah or the Jewish Festival of Lights is celebrated in memory of the recovery of the Second Temple in Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. Dates were famous in antiquity for medicinal value, said Solowey. 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. 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. 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. 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. According to the researchers, they look similar to the Medjool date, but have a sweeter, honey-like flavor. 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. Extinct Tree Grows Anew From Ancient Jar of Seeds - Treehugger 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. Yes, the New York Times justbroke the storyof the children of Methuselah and Hannah, biblical date trees (that didnt meet on JDate) with some impressive history and something to teach at this perilous time as a lead up to the Jewish New Year., Just 30 miles north of the Red Sea, in the Negev Desert, scientists from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies travelled back in time two millennia, becoming the first people to pick and sample dates from trees with roots stretching back to the days of Jesus and the Maccabees., Dr. We need a lot of data to do research on, to work out the properties, what the nutritional value is, says Sallon, a pediatric gastroenterologist who directs the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, as to why the bulk of the date harvest was taken to research labs. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. Sponsored by the Asper Foundation and Reichman University. 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. All kinds of trees for food will grow up on both banks of the stream. [22][23], As of June 2021, dates have grown from the pollination of Hannah, one of the female specimens, by Methuselah. The remaining 32 seeds were planted in a quarantined site at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel. Scientists in Israel grow date plants from 2,000-year-old seeds 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. A date harvest from 2000-year-old seeds. Researchers celebrate and sample the first fruit of palm trees germinated from ancient seeds from the Judean desert. Call it Canaan, the Levant or the Ancient Near East; the region has always had a troubled history of warfare and invasions. The genome sequences of the ancient Judean date palms were compared to those of 110 contemporary Phoenix dactylifera varieties and other wild Phoenix species . [16] Methuselah flowered in March 2011 and is male. Now you say well, but we see dates all the way along here, palm trees and all the kibbutzim are growing plants. A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Has Been Grown - ScienceAlert But now, after 2,000 years, the Judean date palm is back and the sweet ancient fruit has been harvested once again. [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]. Need prayer? 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. Spanish conquistadors couldn't believe their eyes while exploring the rugged terrain of the Andes during their invasion of Peru. After the successful germination of the first seed, Dr. Solowey and Dr. Sallon took to replicating the experiment. But 800 years ago, crusaders destroyed the last Judean palm and rendered the plant extinct. Other date seeds were found in caves near the Dead Sea. Theres a resurrection story you probably havent heard coming out of Judea. Home Judean Date Palm Grown From 2,000 Year Old Seed Bears Fruit. 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. Hundreds of seeds were collected between 1963 and 1991. As a result, the tithing ceremony was held on Friday. Scientists Resurrect Judean Date Palms From Biblical Era - Science Studies indicate. Also available on most smart TVs and streaming services. This is something that came from the past and is still alive.. This seed, among others, was found during the excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s. The Bible is our guidebook of ancient species, Sallon told CBN News. 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. The age of the seeds range from some of the oldest germinated seeds in the world - Methuselah, Hannah, and Adam with a carbon date to the first to fourth centuries BC, to the mid-second century BC to mid-first century AD plants known as Judith and Boaz, to the youngest of the Judean date palms - Uriel and Jonah are the youngest (first to second centuries AD). 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. The ancient fruit made tonics for longevity, laxatives, and aphrodisiacs; lore claims they could cure infections. ( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ). 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. [5], Climatological research has proven that immediately after 1000, the climate became colder and more humid, reaching a peak around 1600, followed by a century of severe heat and drought, and then again by colder times with more rainfall. Following this success, six further preserved seeds were sprouted.[2]. Antibiotics didnt help. References to it are made in the Bible, the Koran, and other ancient literature. Hannah was the first female tree. 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. Most people know of the great construction achievements of the dynastic Egyptians such as the pyramids and temples of the Giza Plateau area as well as the Sphinx. Once the Roman Empire took control of the kingdom in 70 AD, the date palms were destroyed in an attempt to cripple the Jewish economy. 3 min read. Phoenix dactylifera date or date palm is a flowering plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Elaine Solowey, Desert Plant Pioneer, successfully grew an extinct Judean Date Palm tree from a 2000 year old seed. Its fruit was a staple of the Judean Desert and grew in thick forests along the Dead Sea and Jordan River valley. 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. Genesis 5:25-27 says that Methuselah lived 969 years! The Bible says that it is not good for man to be alone. One was separated out as a control. There are two groups of date species eastern and western. Sallon says the dates seem to offer hope in todays world of uncertainty. In early 2019, three of the six trees named by Dr. Solowey Adam, Jonah and Hannah were moved out of their greenhouse home to be planted outdoors at the Arava Institutes Daniel Fischel & Sylvia Neil Research & Visitors Park. Solowey soaked the seeds in enzymatic water and fertilizer and planted them in sterile potting soil in pots in a greenhouse. [1] The palm, a male tree, was named Methuselah (not to be confused with a bristlecone pine tree of the same name). This is the second year of harvesting fruit from this previously extinct tree, brought back to life by Dr. Elaine Solowey. Methusaleh was even given the Guinness WorldRecords designation as the oldest seed cultivated. See how the latest updates in Jerusalem and the world are connected to the prophecies we read in the Bible. The Judean Date Palm: Extinct Tree Resurrected from Ancient Seeds (2023) Thats why we view every news story through the lens of faith. 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. 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. So, in 2005, Sallon turned to Solowey, an expert on arid agriculture, for help. Methuselah is and for a long time researchers believed that this was the only Judean date palm they would ever see. 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. Six Ancient Plants From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds Have Been Grown - Newsweek Sallon has a hypothesis regarding Hannahs ancestors. DF_JST1058_2000_Year_Old_Date_Palms_HD1080_0_273, Date palms from 2000-Year-Old Date Seeds. Prophecy from the Bible is revealing itself as we speak. The harvest of the much-extolled but long-lost Judean dates was something of a scientific miracle. 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). In Egypt and the Land of Israel, the two species come together. 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. As part of this endeavor, Dr. Solowey succeeded in germinating one of these ancient date seeds in 2005, initially thought to be botanically impossible. They all sat in storage for over 40 years. [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. Dr. Solowey - and that at least one is a female! The two stories are related, she said, because people destroyed the trees and now the land. Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. They are drier and sweeter than the medjool date and taste like natural honey. Interesting Engineering reports that Recently, Hannah's fruit was harvested for the first time.. [20], As of 2012, there were tentative plans to crossbreed the male palm with what was considered its closest extant relative, the Hayani date from Egypt, to generate fruit by 2022; however, two female Judean palms have been sprouted since then. On Friday, an unusual ceremony was held on a hilltop overlooking the Old City in Jerusalems Abu Tor neighborhood. During Yigal Yadins excavations of Masada in the mid 1960s, ancient date seeds were discovered beneath rubble at the Northern Palace approach. 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. The seeds were held in storage for 40 years at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan.. 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. More than 850,000 date trees grow in Israel. Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. 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. YWAM Founder Loren Cunningham Diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. The tree and its fruit are mentioned in the Song of Songs and Psalms and featured on coins throughout the region. Who would have thought seeds thousands of years old would germinate?!? Sallon, a medical doctor, started this project more than 15 years ago after becoming interested in natural medicine. They selected 34 seeds they thought were the most viable. We know from the Talmud that the Jews exiled to Babylonia [in Mesopotamia] cultivated date groves. 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. Why does Judaism matter and how is it connected to Christianity? New Fruit from Old Seeds - Biblical Archaeology Society 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? Solowey planted some three thousand of them on Kibbutz Ketura, where each tree produces around 350 pounds of dates a year. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. 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. Over the past 15 years, a project has been underway in Israels southern Arava region to revive ancient species of date palms germinated from seeds found at archaeological digs in the Judean Desert. Medieval Sea Monster Was Likely a Whale, New Research Reveals, What is Shambhala? Dubbed Methuselah it was the oldest seed ever grown attracting wide international attention. 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. 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. 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. However, despite this, extensive cultivation persisted in Jericho and Zoara, until the agrarian economy collapsed during Mamluk rule around the 14th century, which he attributes to a change in the climate.

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