A seed smaller than a fingernail was carried by a bird or critter and deposited into a cave in Israel 1,000 years ago but germinated into a tree after modern archeologists discovered and planted it. In it lies a mystery: A Bible verse mentions a tree of its description; could it be the venerated Judean Balsam tree, whose fragrant sap once served as medicine and was highly treasured?
The Three Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus—so the Bible says. The latter two resins, prized for their scent, have been known to ooze forth from punctured bark on trees of the Commiphora genus. While some species of Commiphora still grow, others are believed to be long extinct, gone since Biblical times. However, in the late 1980s, an archeological dig may have unearthed a lost Biblical secret: the aforementioned seed, well-preserved in a cave in a desert valley.
Archeologists from Hebrew University in Jerusalem collected this tiny seed while excavating a cliff riddled with karstic cavities in the Dead Sea-Jordan Rift Valley in the Northern Judean Desert. Many caves here were once monks’ cells and refuges during Judea’s wars with Rome. Found in this particular cave were man-made artifacts—beads, pieces of cloth, woven ropes—and 35 adult and child skeletons. Also found was a “visually intact” seed, just 1.8 centimeters long, weighing 0.565 grams, which scientists believe an animal carried inside.
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