Methuselah

     More Letters From Paradise
           Methuselah

 Perhaps you may already know the terrible true story of Masada. In brief, it is the story of how a number of Jews revolted against Roman rule. They chose to make a last stand, atop a thousand foot cliff fortress named Masada. As a student of history I must resist to relate all the details. If interested just look it up.

One part of the story has become very important for us today. When the Roman ramp had almost reached the top, the Jews piled up all of their possessions in a warehouse, and set it on fire. The walls then collapsed on top of everything. Following this, they all committed suicide, rather than face Roman  slavery. Today Masada is one of the top sites for tourists visiting Israel.

The debris pile was left undisturbed for the next 2,000 years. But in 1960, archaeologists unearthed a large number of  ancient shekels, which made coin collectors very happy. In addition there was grain, salt, olive oil, wine, pomegranates and date palm seeds.

Dates were their most famous crop, mentioned in the Bible and the Koran. Some of the date seeds still had scraps of fruit on them.

The question was, would these ancient seeds still have any life in them? Surprise! The answer is yes! In 2005 a lone shoot was seen growing. Today the ten foot tall date palm tree named "Methuselah," has a gate around it with watering system, burglar alarm, and security camera. The tree was named for the oldest character in the Hebrew Bible. Other seeds are also now being tested, but the results are not yet released to the public.

So ancient seeds will sometimes grow. When there was a craze in Egypt during the 19th century for ancient Egyptian things, wise salesmen were selling "King Tut peas." I don't know if this was true, but it could have been, who knows?

We do know for a fact that seeds from a silk tree brought to London in 1793 sprouted when a German bomb hit a green house during during WWII.

Canna lily seeds from a 600 year old American rattle germinated. Botanists have been pushing back the record for seed longevity.

You may be interested to  learn that we have a seed storage vault located on the edge of the Colorado State University campus. Sometimes called the Doomsday Vault, it was built to withstand any kind of disaster. There is also a seed storage vault located in the Norwegian Arctic.

Work is continuing to adapt seeds to changing climate changes. The International Space Station carried basil seeds in the cold vacuum of space for a year, and they sprouted successfully.  

Why am I so interested in seeds? It is because of classes I had in botany at the University of Michigan way back in 1962.  I could go on and on, but your best bet if interested, is to read a new book "The Triumph of Seeds," by Thor Hanson. And all those coconuts we have here in Hawaii, are just big seeds.

         Aloha
         Grant