[7] A team of scientists from Russia, Hungary and the United States recovered frozen Silene stenophylla seeds and remains from the Pleistocene in 2007, while investigating about 70 ancient ground squirrel (genera Urocitellus and Geomys ssp) hibernation burrows or caches, hidden in permanently frozen loess-ice deposits[1][2] located at Duvanny Yar, on the right bank of the lower Kolyma River in Sakha Republic, northeastern Siberia, in the plant's present-day range.

[10] The Duvanny Yar section exposes the yedoma ice complex or suite and is studied by many scientists as it represents a key strategic cross-section of Late Quaternary East Siberian stratigraphy[2][11][12] and "an important key section for the palaeo-environmental history of the Late Pleistocene Beringia Land, the non-glaciated landmass between the Taymyr Peninsula and Alaska.

"[13] Near Duvanny Yar is the Pleistocene Park, (Russian: Плейстоценовый парк), a nature reserve on the Kolyma River south of Chersky where an attempt is being made to recreate the northern subarctic steppe grassland ecosystem that flourished in the area during the Last Glacial Period.

[14] In February 2012, a team of scientists from the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced they had successfully regenerated specimens from fruit that had been frozen for 31,800 (±300) years according to their radiocarbon dating.

[9][15] The accomplishment surpasses the previous record for the oldest plant material brought back to life, of 2000 years set by Judean date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) seeds.

[10] According to Robin Probert of the Millennium Seed Bank, the demonstration is "by far the most extraordinary example of extreme longevity for material from higher plants" to date.

[9] They also noted that DNA damage caused by gamma radiation from natural ground radioactivity at the site was unusually low for the plant material's age and is comparable to levels observed in 1300-year-old lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) seeds proven to germinate.