Just as Jesus woke up from the dead some two millennia ago, now a tree known as the Methuselah Tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.), currently extinct, has come back to life from a 2000 year old seed. The Methuselah Tree is currently the record holder for the oldest known seed ever to germinate. The seeds were allegedly discovered during the 1960s in Masada, a cliff-side fortress in Israel, and have been kept in storage up until now, when researchers decided to try and grow them.

Surprisingly, the plan to grow the tree worked and now the 26 month old plant measures nearly 1.2 meters in height. "The medicinal plants from this region are very important because they are historically mentioned in the Bible and the Koran. The Judean date was very valuable and very famous, not just as a source of food but as a source of medicine. When I heard there were ancient seeds found in the archaeological dig, I thought it would be interesting to see if we could try to grow them", said Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at the Hadassah Medical Organization.

The seeds were found in the storage rooms of the fortress, where they were probably stockpiled by the Jews during the siege of the Romans in 73 A.D. It is said that during the siege the Jews killed themselves rather than risk falling in the hands of the Romans and after the fortress was captured it was most likely destroyed by the latter, burying the seeds in the debris only to be found nearly 2000 years later.

As Sallon decided to grow the seeds, she turned to the help of the plant specialist Elaine Solowey from the Institute of the Environment, who treated the seeds with fertilizers and hormone-rich solution, and then planted them. Three seeds were used in the experiment, although only one grew. The age of the seed was determined using control seeds found on the same location and the shell of the seed that sprouted.

Sallon now hopes that the newly revived tree will reveal some of its healing powers and ancient healing techniques. "When we look at ancient sources and Hebrew texts, the dates were used for all kinds of things - pulmonary problems, tuberculosis, dysentery, cancer. We think of it today as just a food. But in fact the date wasn't just a food", Sallon added.