Oldest viable seed
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There are several candidates for the oldest viable seed:
- The oldest carbon-14-dated seed that has grown into a viable plant was a Judean date palm seed about 2,000 years old, recovered from excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada in Israel. It was germinated in 2005. [1]
- If the 2,000 year old Judean date palm seed longevity claim is confirmed by a report in a refereed scientific journal, then the second oldest viable seed would be the carbon-14-dated 1,300-year-old sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China. [2][1]
- There is a persistent myth that seeds from Egyptian tombs with ages of over 3,000 years were viable [3]. The myth was reportedly started by scam artists selling "miracle seed" designed to capitalize on European Egyptomania of the 1800s. In 1897, the claims were tested by the British Museum's director of Egyptian antiquities, E. A. Wallis Budge. Budge provided genuine 3,000-year-old tomb-seeds to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to plant under controlled conditions. The test resulted in none germinating.
