In 1963, archaeologists discovered 2,000-year-old date palm seeds inside an ancient jar at Masada in Israel. The seeds stayed in storage for decades until researchers planted some of them in 2005. One seed sprouted into a Judean date palm later nicknamed Methuselah, a type of tree that had disappeared from the region for about 1,800 years. The discovery showed that an ancient seed could survive for millennia and still grow when given the right conditions.
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