Israeli scientists have grown a tree from seeds that are more than a thousand years old. Artnet reports this.
The seeds were discovered by archaeologists in the late 1980s in caves in the northern Judean Desert. Scientists suggest that animals could have brought them there.
The seeds were kept in the Department of Archeology at the Hebrew University until 2010, when the director of natural medicine research was a researcher at the Hadassah medical organization in Jerusalem. Sara Sallón He took them in the hope of discovering a new species. Sallon has already had a successful experience of this type: in 2005, together with an expert in desert plants Elaine Solowi He germinated and planted 2000 year old date seeds. The Judean date palm was previously extinct, but grown from ancient seeds it produced fruits that are 30% larger than modern ones.
The current study, Sallon said, is a continuation of that project. After carbon dating, DNA sequencing and analysis, it was determined that the seed could be dated between 993 and 1202 AD. and which is a unique member of the Commiphora family, a flowering plant known for its aromatic resins.
“When we discovered it was commiphora, I thought it might be the famous Jewish balm from ancient times. Historically, it was cultivated around the Dead Sea for about a thousand years, but disappeared in the 8th century. – said Sallón.
The plant was named Sheba. The long-extinct Balsam of Judah is believed to have originated in southern Arabia or eastern Africa and was valued for its aromatic properties as a perfume and incense. This is one of the reasons it took Sallon almost 15 years to publish the results: he was waiting to see if Sheba would have that scent. Unfortunately, Sheba did not live up to expectations, although, as stated in a paper published in Communications Biology, this comparison is still significant.
Now Sallon has a new hypothesis: he believes the plant could be used in ancient medicine.
