Scientists in Israel have grown a date palm from a seed thought to be about 2,000 years old – the oldest seed ever to germinate, reports ScienceNow Daily News. The seeds were found 40 years ago by scientists excavating at Masada in the Judean desert. Using carbon dating on two of the seeds they found one was 2,110 years old and the other 1,995. In those days the Dead Sea region was famous for its dates, the report says. But the region’s vast date forests disappeared hundreds of years ago. A third seed, which the scientists decided to plant, germinated. The little date plant has been named Methuselah.
Ancient date seed germinates
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