After a 2,000-Year Rest, a Seed Sprouts in Jerusalem

NY TIMES ^ | JERUSALEM, June 11

[TheOtherOne]

JERUSALEM, June 11 - Israeli doctors and scientists have succeeded in germinating a date seed nearly 2,000 years old.

The seed, nicknamed Methuselah, was taken from an excavation at Masada, the cliff fortress where, in A.D. 73, 960 Jewish zealots died by their own hand, rather than surrender to a Roman assault. The point is to find out what was so exceptional about the original date palm of Judea, much praised in the Bible and the Koran for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, but long ago destroyed by the crusaders.

[TheOtherOne]

I'll believe this story when this woman takes off her hate suit.

I have no idea what you are talking about, but I know who S. Crane is without google!

[ArmedNReady]

"...but long ago destroyed by the crusaders.
NT Times had to get in the obligatory shot at Christians and Western Civilisation."

Those darned Paleocons.....always were destroying the environment.

[EternalVigilance]

Absolutely awesome!

[sonofatpatcher2]

Bump for later read

[Old Professer]

To start, she claims to be an agriculturalist who became disillusion by modern means of propagation and systematic weakening of strains and somehow gleans the greening of the ancient of the ancients with only a snippet of a seed pod and a dubious leaf as evidence, but a chip on her shoulder so large that Paul Bunyan would have been mightily pressed to cleave from the signature sequoia itself.

[TheOtherOne]

To start, she claims to be an agriculturalist who became disillusion by modern means of propagation and systematic weakening of strains and somehow gleans the greening of the ancient of the ancients with only a snippet of a seed pod and a dubious leaf as evidence, but a chip on her shoulder so large that Paul Bunyan would have been mightily pressed to cleave from the signature sequoia itself.

That's a mouthful. Okay, if you say so. But I still think it's cool.

[dervish]

Ping!

acid for germinating a seed. Interesting.

[mucrospirifer]

And against men -

"But it is the female date that is considered holy, and that bears fruit. "Men are rather superfluous in the date industry", Dr. Sallon said.

HA! I'd like to see them say that about asparagus or eggplant!

(Male eggplant are preferred as they have few seeds compared to the female, & generally only all-male varieties of asparagus are grown.)

[Fatalist]

"It is praised as a tonic to increase longevity, as a laxative, as a cure for infections and as an aphrodisiac..."

Two functions I would expect to be mutually exclusive.

[TheOtherOne]

"It is praised as a tonic to increase longevity, as a laxative, as a cure for infections and as an aphrodisiac..."

I think it was these two that were supposed to be read together.

[Polybius]

The point is to find out what was so exceptional about the original date palm of Judea, much praised in the Bible and the Koran for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, but long ago destroyed by the crusaders.

I never heard of crusaders destroying a species of vegetation. Can someone help me out?

Bush's fault........ The Christians' fault.

You name a problem, the New York Times will say that it's their fault.

[familyop]

Awesome!

[Robert Drobot]

Thanks for the ping. A very interesting story, if true.

Please overlook my cyber cynicism. I do truly hope the story is not a fabrication.

[pageonetoo]

An old red one...

[Mamzelle]

Plant one of these in Potter's Field! That'd be cool...

[Mamzelle]

They've also reintroduced other "antique" versions of foodstuffs in the US. You can get the seeds off the internet. A recent interesting one is in the Lowcountry of SCaro and GA--a kind of black-eyed pea grown and eaten by subsistence farmers, Indians, and slaves.

Varieties of tomatoes are particularly interesting, and make for gorgeous fresh salsas. I'm trying to grow a white tomatoe this summer.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks FairO' for the ping. Fascinating germination. Will ping the list when I get home.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[monkeyshine]

Yes, here in California after the big rains many desert flowers bloomed that haven't in decades - they were in hibernation all that time. And the same is true in the Negev desert, when I toured in the spring of 1992 they had a lot of rain that year and seeds that had been in hibernation for over 100 years flowered in the desert. Some seeds definitely can stay protected for a long time - they are "designed" to be that way, or shall we say, they evolved to be the kind of seed that could survive - the ones that couldn't just turned to dust.

[SunkenCiv]

Just a bit of catch-up pinging to do from the past two or three days. Sorry for the temporary volume.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[dread78645]

A recent interesting one is in the Lowcountry of SCaro and GA--a kind of black-eyed pea grown and eaten by subsistence farmers, Indians, and slaves.

Crowder pea?