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. In biblical times, the Judean date palm was revered throughout the region for its medicinal qualities. And it is blossoming on Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava region, 40 minutes north of Eilat. ', 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. Judean date palms were wiped . Both seeds have been dated to between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C.E. The Judean date disappeared entirely, and this site is also in terrible danger of destruction. Germinated ancient Judean date seedlings. The Pindo Palm produces an edible date fruit used to make jelly, and is also known as the Jelly Palm. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. Dr. Solowey - and that at least one is a female! Dubbed Methuselah it was the oldest seed ever grown attracting wide international attention. In June of 2020, Hannah became the first Judean date palm tree, resurrected from the dust of ancient seeds, to bear fruit. Nature has this immense power to renovate itself, to rejuvenate itself. It became the Jews symbol of grace and elegance and was often bestowed by them to women. For example, Davids beautiful daughter was named Tamar. 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. But the plant went extinct due to waves of conquest and intentional destruction. A date harvest from 2000-year-old seeds. 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. [17] By November 2011 it was 2.5 metres (8ft 2in) high, having been transplanted from pot to earth. The first complete mapping of a Neanderthal genome took place about five years ago - supporting the human-Neanderthal hook-up and also showing that Neanderthal DNA in humans is a thing. Date palms generally thrive in hot arid regions and in Biblical times, were cultivated in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea 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. Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? 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. 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). Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from lands around Iraq. Sallon is hopeful that Hannah, a female date tree, will flower this year and the plant could be pollinated by Methuselah - a tree the team grew from a 1,900-year-old Judean date palm seed in 2008. Archaeobotanical records suggest that the earliest exploitation and consumption of dates is from the Arabian Neolithic some 7000 years before the present., The plump, golden-brown dates hanging in a bunch just above the sandy soil were finally ready to pick., The answer, Im happy to say, is sweeter than you think. CBN Partners provide hope to those who are suffering! They are similar in taste and form to the modern day zahidi dates. [1] The palm, a male tree, was named Methuselah (not to be confused with a bristlecone pine tree of the same name). 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. 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. Thank God for the faithfulness of his people though the ages - to leave these seeds, and to find and nurture one to grow. This has been reissued in recently years as a 10 shekel coin. 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. What is the origin of the legend of the Christed Son who was born of a virgin on December 25th? In ancient times the Judean date palm was a staple source of food, shelter, and shade. 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. (Guy Eisner / Sciencemag). Hannahs DNA is reminiscent of that of ancient trees from Mesopotamia, todays Iraq, as is the modern zahidi variety, which is considered an Iraqi species. According to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Radiocarbon dating at the University of Zurich confirmed the seeds dated from between 155 BC to 64 AD. ( Marcos Schonholz ). Hannah wassprouted from a 2,000 year-old seed, and pollinated by another Ancient Judean date tree. These semi-dry dates with a reddish blonde color were recently harvested. Children today are the stewards of this planet. 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. Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? A Blazing Weapon: Unraveling the Mystery of Greek Fire. Other date seeds were found in caves near the Dead Sea. But I will secretly plant one of the seeds from Hannah here and hope that in another 20 years, it will produce fruit.. The Bible is our guidebook of ancient species, Sallon told CBN News. The Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is an important symbol in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Methuselah represents a variety of date palm that was grown in ancient Judea but disappeared many hundreds of years ago. Judith and Hannah were female, but only Hannah flowered. The Judean date palm is a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grown in Judea. Morphology of six germinated ancient Judean date seeds before planting. Methuselah happens to be a male Judean date palm, so the team of scientists planted a few more seeds from the cache of ancient seeds unearthed in Herods palace excavation to see if they could propagate a bride for Methuselah. 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. 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. . We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. And though shes just nine-years-old, she carries an ancient heritage. 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. It took me some time to figure out how I might do it because you only have one chance with each seed, Dr. Elaine Solowey, who runs the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Kibbutz Ketura, says in an Israeli Foreign Ministry video made back in 2016 before it was known whether these trees would even bear fruit. 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. There are two groups of date species eastern and western. Years ago at Masada, archaeologists found a jar of those ancient date seeds. 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. 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. This is the second year of harvesting fruit from this previously extinct tree, brought back to life by Dr. Elaine Solowey. It played a significant role in the Judean economy for about two millenniaat the least from the fifth century B.C.E. She writes and talks about the creativity and innovation taking place in Israel and beyond. Five years ago. All kinds of trees for food will grow up on both banks of the stream. She lives in Ashland, Ohio, with her husband, Brandon, and their four children, Lydia, Elvis, Henry, and Izzy (their Westie). The fruit of the tree symbolised life and prosperity and was praised in ancient . 32 additional intact seeds were chosen, out of which 6 sprouted. Hannah grew for six years, then flowered. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. 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 big; they were sweet. I am reminded of the prophecy of Israel returning to itshomeland before the End of Days, and this resurrected tree, past symbol of Israel seen on shekel coins, seems to best epitomize that ancient prediction. Researchers celebrate and sample the first fruit of palm trees germinated from ancient seeds from the Judean desert. But all was not lost, because in 1963, the late archeologist Yigael Yadin began excavating Masada, a mountaintop fortress built over 2,000 years ago on the shore of the Dead Sea, where King Herod built a spectacular palace. The tree and its fruit are mentioned in the Song of Songs and Psalms and featured on coins throughout the region. 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.. Specimen Pindo Palm Tree can be seen on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, GA. Remove the seeds from the fruit, and wash them to remove any excess fruit particles. 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. The eastern ones are all the species from Arabia and Iraq, and the western ones are from North Africa, Sallon explained. Climatic conditions at the Dead Sea may have contributed to the longevity of this oldest, directly dated, viable seed. 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. Until Sallon initiated a project aimed at germinating ancient seeds to reintroduce extinct plants previously grown in the region and learn about their qualities. 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. Understanding the Mysterious Kingdom of Shambhala, Alleged Sighting of the Mythical Manananggal in the Philippines Causes Public Anxiety, The Green Children of Woolpit: Legendary Visitors from Another World, The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt, Caesars Savage Human Skewers Unearthed In German Fort. By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. The fruit sprouted from seeds 2,000 years old. A little, young-looking palm tree named Judith was planted on Kibbutz Ketura recently. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. By the age of 10, most children in the United States have been taught all 50 states that make up the country. The species is widely cultivated and is naturalized in . After eight weeks, a small green shoot emerged from one seed, producing a sapling no one had seen in centuries and becoming the oldest known tree seed to germinate. [10] The plant was nicknamed "Methuselah" after the longest-lived person listed in the Bible. The Judean date palm was once common in ancient Judea. Available at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/palm-tree-0013259. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop. Long the only lonely representative of its kind, the Judean palm in now reproducing and giving researchers a unique glimpse back in time. I wanted to see how medicinal the flora of Israel was and what it had been used for and so on. ( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ) So valued was the tree that it became recognized as a symbol of good fortune in Judea. 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. In 2011, the plant produced its first flowers and today, the living archaeological treasure continues to grow and thrive. 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. Between 2011 and 2014 Ms. Solowey planted the seeds and six more have sprouted over the years. Now a major discovery has come regarding these projects, from of all places, his bathtub. 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. We are going to be testing those dates in the future to see actually what they do and whether they differ from other commercial varieties of modern dates. Later this fall, the Arava Institute plans to offer a limited number of dates for sale at the Kibbutz Ketura guesthouse. After this process, one seed was found to be damaged and was subsequently discarded. Sallons near future plans include learning more about the new-old dates, how to reintroduce the Judean date to the market, and continue to research the medicinal properties of these dates. [26] They may have shared the same wild ancestor. Scientists determined that Methuselah was of the Hayany breed originally from Egypt. Fifteen years ago, the first tree Solowey sprouted was a male. Though it was disputed for many years, there is conclusive evidence that Neanderthals bred with modern humans (Homo sapiens). (Guy Eisner) Scientists have cultivated plants from date palm seeds that languished in ancient ruins and caves for 2,000 years. An ancient date seed (Phoenix dactylifera L.) excavated from Masada and radiocarbon-dated to the first century Common Era was germinated. Now You Can, Thanks to These Israeli Researchers Researchers celebrate - and sample - the first fruit of palm trees germinated from ancient seeds from the Judean desert Dates tree grown by a 2,000-year-old seed retrieved from archaeological sites in the Judean Desert, in Ketura, Israel, September 2, 2020. Credit: Marcos Shonholtz Nir Hasson We are planting our second, female date tree, who was sprouted from an ancient seed. Ancient sources have suggested that the Judean date palm tree had many unique medicinal properties no longer found in todays palm varieties. Out of the changes from natural weather shifts, new life can grow again. People are disturbed. The experiment worked. ( Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ). 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. [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. You can help bring hope today! Methuselah, Adam, and Hannah date back to the first to fourth centuries BCE. 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. [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. Read more: Date palm grown from 2,000-year-old seed is a dad . Phoenix dactylifera date or date palm is a flowering plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. After all, it took 15 years of patience, hope, anticipation, and ground-breaking agriculture techniques to make the seemingly botanically impossible feat possible. The ancient fruit made tonics for longevity, laxatives, and aphrodisiacs; lore claims they could cure infections. In ancient times, the classical writers described in detail, the dates of ancient Judea. until the 11th century C.E.but then it went extinct centuries ago. It is chronicled in the Bible, Quran, and ancient literature for its diverse powers. Eventually, Hannah produced 111 dates weighing between 15 and 18 grams each. Learn more here. I think thats why weve got such a tremendous response to bringing these dates back from extinction, she says. Dr. Solowey successfully germinated one of these seeds, which sprouted into a young date palm today, Methuselah has a permanent home in the Arava Institute research park on Kibbutz Ketura. The plant was nicknamed "Methuselah," after the longest-lived person in the Bible. Soak them in a bowl of cool water for 48 hours. Date palm cultivation is thought to be up to . 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. Great piece I had no idea about such amazing botanical work going on. The harvested dates are undergoing study regarding their properties and nutritional values. According to Jewish tradition, the Children of Israel came out of Egypt with date palm saplings that were eventually planted in the land of Israel. The genome sequences of the ancient Judean date palms were compared to those of 110 contemporary Phoenix dactylifera varieties and other wild Phoenix species . References to it are made in the Bible, the Koran, and other ancient literature. Dr. 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. Sallon says the dates seem to offer hope in todays world of uncertainty. The species has earned the new name Judean date palm, along with the scientific name Phoenix dactylifera. A 15-year effort to germinate 2,000-year-old seeds from an ancient date palm is finally bearing fruit. After 2,000 years, the formerly extinct Judean date palm was brought back to life by two women scientists in 2005. 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. Sarah M. Wells is the author ofThe Family Bible Devotionaland two collections of poems,Between the Heron and the MossandPruningBurning Bushes. At the heart of the ceremony was a small package of dates. Cultivation of dates in the region almost disappeared after the fourteenth century AD from a combination of climate change and infrastructure decay but has been revived in modern times. Call it Canaan, the Levant or the Ancient Near East; the region has always had a troubled history of warfare and invasions. Methuselah is and for a long time researchers believed that this was the only Judean date palm they would ever see. Judith and Boaz date back to approximately mid-second century BCE. And I look at the plantations on Ketura. Why? Government Bouncers on Your Church's Front Door? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [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. The first dates to ripen came from a palm tree named Hannah, which was grown from a seed about 10 years ago. Solowey planted some three thousand of them on Kibbutz Ketura, where each tree produces around 350 pounds of dates a year. Were theonlyPop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. Shes the fifth such tree to be planted there after Methuselah, Adam, Jonah and Hannah. Photo: CBN News, Error: There was an internal error submitting your form. Solowey soaked the seeds in enzymatic water and fertilizer and planted them in sterile potting soil in pots in a greenhouse. Growing in a greenhouse for the last nine years,Judith was recently transplanted in what Kibbutz Ketura calls the Ancient Judean Date Orchard. How could it be?" 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. 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. Groves of Judean dates once flourished in Israel, as described by Pliny and Josephus, and were famous across the Roman Empire. For more information and/or interview requests, please contact Institute Deputy Director Eliza Mayo. ( The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ). 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. Uriel and Jonah date back to the first to second centuries CE. said Solowey. Some of the fruit were tasted, and some were sent for further research. During the Byzantine and Arab periods (4th to 11th century AD) the Judean date palms were barely holding on and the continued waves of conquest and destruction meant that by the 19th century, no traces of these historic plantations remained, according to a study conducted about the trees in 2020. Hannah was the first female tree. Please check your information and try again or call us at 1-800-759-0700. 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. Call (800) 700-7000 or request prayer. 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. But as time progressed, the leaves began to look healthier. 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., [email protected], 1320 Centre Street, Suite 206Newton Centre, MA 02459, [email protected], 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? Sallon has a hypothesis regarding Hannahs ancestors. Germination of 2000-year-old seeds of Phoenix dactylifera from Judean desert archaeological sites provides a unique opportunity to study the Judean date palm, described in antiquity for the quality, size, and medicinal properties of its fruit, but lost for centuries. Now you say well, but we see dates all the way along here, palm trees and all the kibbutzim are growing plants. Methusaleh was even given the Guinness WorldRecords designation as the oldest seed cultivated. Thanks Jo. Methuselah the Judean Date Palm is still going strong even after sprouting from a 2,000-year-old seed. 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. Trees are like humans in that you need the pollen from a male tree to pollinate the flowers of a female plant. Both Adam and Jonah have produced flowers. That allowed them to be exported all over the Roman empire and they had medicinal qualities, Sallon said. The seedlings would later be moved to Kibbutz Ketura. Collect date seeds. Microsatellite genotyping of germinated seeds indicates that exchanges of genetic material occurred between the Middle East . After six years of growth Hannah flowered and researchers got excited at the possibility of resurrecting the Judean date after 2,000 years. When compared with three other cultivars of date palm, genetic tests showed the plant to be closely related to the old Egyptian variety Hayani, 19% of its DNA[clarification needed] being different, and an Iraqi cultivar (16% different DNA).