The Ancient Judean Date Project showed for the first time it was possible to wake up ancient seeds which had been dormant for over 2000 years.
After the germination of “Methuselah”, Dr. Sarah Sallon, From 2007 to 2012 procured 32 additional ancient seeds discovered during excavations at Masada and Judean desert caves. Of these, 6 were successfully germinated by Dr. Elaine Solowey including: 2 females “Hannah” and “Judith” (4th -1st century BCE) and 4 males “Adam” (2nd-1st century BCE) and “Boaz”, “Uriel” and “Jonah” (1st – 2nd century CE). These trees possess a fascinating heritage.
Using sophisticated genetic tools, scientists from the Date Palm Unit at the Institute of Research in Montpellier, France showed these ancient date palms have connections to Arabian, Iraqi, and North African varieties of date palms. However research also showed that these ancient seeds are significantly larger than those of modern date varieties.
More recent studies sequencing the genomes of the seven Judean dates palms at NYU in an approach known as “resurrection genomics”, show some important differences to modern date palm populations.
Says Dr. Sallon, “… these findings mirror the Jewish Diaspora and trading links around the Mediterranean thousands of years ago – an ancient ‘snapshot’ of history and migrations at this crossroads of continents.”
Dr. Solowey: “…After years of effort, these very special trees have been ‘reborn’. A real connection to our past history. Germinating and nurturing the ancient date palms has been an impressive challenge.”
Today “Hannah”, “Jonah”, “Adam”, “Judith”, “Boaz” and “Uriel” have been transferred from the greenhouse where they were first germinated and replanted in the special Ancient Date Palm enclosure at Kibbutz Ketura, opposite “Methuselah’s” enclosure.
In 2020 Hannah was pollinated by “Methuselah”, producing the first Judean dates in 2000 years!
Dr. Sallon: “In this age of climate change and species loss, these unique trees show nature`s incredible resilience, a beacon of light in difficult times.”
Picture by Nadav Soloway
Picture by Marcos SchÖnholz
