Judean date palm

Cultivation of dates in the region almost disappeared after the 14th century AD from a combination of climate change and infrastructure decay but has been revived in modern times.

[4] In ancient times, date palms were used for their supposed medicinal properties to cure many diseases and infections, promoting longevity and acting as a mild aphrodisiac.

It is sometimes claimed that date growing as a commercial fruit export stopped at the end of 70 AD, when the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans.

Goor only detects a decline in date cultivation through the period of Early Arab rule and especially during the Crusades, when he notes that the devastation of the region was particularly hard on the palm plantations.

However, despite this, extensive cultivation persisted in Jericho and Zoara, until the agrarian economy collapsed during Mamluk rule around the 14th century, which he attributes to a change in the climate.

During 1963–1965, excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada, Israel, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar.

[12][13] Dr. Sarah Sallon came up with the initiative to germinate some ancient seeds[14] and persuaded the archaeological storage at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to share some.

[15] She challenged her friend, Dr. Elaine Solowey from the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, with the task[16] and in 2005 Solowey managed to sprout several seeds, after slowly hydrating them in a common baby bottle warmer, then pretreating them in an ordinary solution of fertilizer and growth hormone.

[23] As of 2019, altogether thirty-two Judean date palm seeds have been grown from locations in the Dead Sea area, and six saplings have survived; Hannah from Wadi Makukh, Adam from Masada, and Jonah, Uriel, Boaz and Judith from Qumran.

[29] Researchers at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura plan to grow dates resurrected from seeds found at archaeological sites in the Judaean Desert and Masada in large quantities using tissue culture, and then establish them in commercial plantations.

[31] In addition to its honoured place in the history of Judea, the palm may contribute useful characteristics, such as environmental tolerance and disease resistance, to modern date cultivars.