Dr. Elaine Soloway germinated a sapling -- she named Methuselah -- from a 2,000 year old date seed that was found in Masada, Israel during excavations in the 1970s. Not only is it the oldest seed ever to germinate, but it's also the only plant like it.
Last week, Methuselah underwent chronological testing, using the radioactive isotope Carbon-14, which confirmed that the tree grew from a seed that lived when the Romans ruled the land.
If the sapling continues to flourish, Soloway believes they will be able to renew a species of date that grew in the Kingdom of Judea at that time. Soloway says the type of date grown by ancient Judeans disappeared in the centuries following the repression of the revolt.
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