Getting a Date Could Save Your Life 3000 Years Ago
Posted: Wednesday, November 02, 2011
by Christofer French
Rain Dancer Associates, LLC
The worst calamity that could befall a tribe or family in pre-history was to lose possession and ownership of the date gardens upon which it depended. Always near a source of life-giving water, human activity and conflict was always buzzing around these essential plants.
Thus an unending series of raids and battles flared up around all of the more strategic date groves that marked the water holes in that desert country.
To destroy a date palm bearing fruit was unthinkable. There was no 'scorched earth' policy here.
The most life destroying act, even in a war where both sides were destroying each other, would be to destroy the date palms themselves, for then NO ONE could live there, and the entirety of the thread of civilization and the thread of life would be rubbed out, and have to move to new locations.
So important to everyone, though, was the date palm, that conquering armies as well as bands of raiding Bedouins carefully avoided injuring them. Whoever might win the battle, the date palm trees remained, for upon them life itself always depended.
Assyrian Empire Based on the Strength Imparted by the Date Palm and its Virtues
The indisputable foundation of the might of Assyria was based on their early control of the productive date gardens, interplanted with other types of fruit, vegetables and grain. The Assyrian soldier could remain in the field for months at a time without the necessity of maintaining lengthy supply lines, for his basic supplies accompanied him in the form of hundreds of beasts of burden, loaded with dried dates and other food, and herds of sheep and goats to provide milk, meat and clothing. Since these supply units were tended by the wives and children of the warriors, family life of a sort was maintained.
Under these conditions a body of troops could remain absent from the home oasis for years at a time, living off the natural increase of their herds and the scattered date oasis through which they laid down their trails. The Prophet Mohammed, years later declared that dates and milk were a complete and nutritious diet.
"What is the date palm?" He said, "The date palm was one of the first plants to be cultivated, and has been grown for at least four thousand years along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It has been for ages, and is still, the most important food plant of the great deserts of the Old World, and many regions in Arabia and in the Sahara would not be habitable were it not for this tree. Not only does it yield a delicious fruit of great food value, but it also furnishes, in many regions, the only timber suitable for use in the construction of houses and for making a thousand and one necessary objects.
Food, Shelter and Shade for Thousands of Years in Judea
The date palm was considered a staple in the Judean Desert , as it was a source of food, shelter and shade for thousands of years, and became a recognized symbol of the Kingdom of Judea . It grew around the Dead Sea in the south, to the Sea of Galilee and Lake Hula in the regions in the north. The tree and its fruit caused Jericho to become a major population center and are praised in the Hebrew Bible in Psalms and Song of Solomon.
It was even said by some to have medicinal properties, supposedly curing many diseases and infections, promoting longevity and acting as a mild aphrodisiac. Its likeness was engraved on Shekalim, the ancient Hebrew monetary unit. According to historical sources, the taste of them was something splendid. Pliny the Elder, a Roman Naturalist of the 1st century AD, wrote that Judea’s dates were known for their succulence and sweetness.
When the Romans invaded ancient Judea, heavy, thick forests of date palms towering up to 80 feet (24 m) high and 7 miles (11 km) wide covered the Jordan Valley from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the shores of the Dead Sea in the south. The tree so completely and thoroughly defined the local economy, that Emperor Vespasian celebrated the conquest by minting the “Judea Capta” a special Bronze Coin that showed the Jewish state as a weeping woman beneath a date palm.
Recent Germination of a 2000 Year Old Date Seed
During 1963-1965, excavations at Herod’s Great Palace on Masada, Israel revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. They had experienced a very dry and sheltered environment for centuries. Radio carbon dating confirmed the seeds dated from between 155 BC to AD 64. The seeds were held in storage for 40 years at Bar-Ilan University at Jerusalem, until in 2005, the seeds were pretreated in a fertilizer and hormone-rich solution.
Three of the seeds were subsequently planted at Kibbutz Ketruah in the Arabah desert in southern Israel. Eight weeks later one of the seeds had sprouted, and by June 2008, the tree had nearly a dozen fronds and was nearly 1.4 m (4 ft) tall. By the summer of 2010, the sapling stood at about 2 meters tall.
All That Grows Beneath the Date Palm’s Leaves
Its leaves furnish a partial shade, under which it is possible to cultivate other fruit trees which could not exist were they exposed to the direct rays of the sun and the burning winds in the desert; thousands of fig, almond, pomegranate and peach trees and grapevines, forming veritable orchards, are cultivated in the palm-covered oasis, especially in the northern Sahara. For centuries the transportation of dates has been the chief motive for the formation of the great caravan routes which run in every direction through the deserts in Africa and Arabia."
When people consider buying dates, it is mainly for use in a fruit cake or cookies, but dates are also a wonderful alternative to a fruit snack. While many people don't often consider eating a couple dates for a snack, if they only knew what was packed inside these small fruits, they would probably begin adding them to their diets. In fact, researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services in London referred to them the "almost perfect food," based upon their nutritional content and possible health benefits.
Minerals
One of the top notations made by the London researchers is the mineral content of dates. A minimum of 15 were listed. Potassium is needed by the body to help fight high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease, and to assist kidney function, and one cup of chopped dates contains 964 mg of potassium, which is 28 percent of the RDA. According to Colorado State University, the way this works is that as the amount of potassium in the body increases, it encourages the excretion of sodium, thus lowering blood pressure.
Of the minerals listed, one cup of chopped dates contains 4.4 mcg of selenium (6 percent of the RDA); 63 mg magnesium (16 percent RDA); 0.3 mcg. copper (15 percent RDA); and 57 mg calcium (6 percent RDA).
Antioxidants
The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports that dates are an excellent source of antioxidants, primarily carotenoids. Carotenoids are listed as pigment compounds that help produce vitamin A in the body, build the immune system, and protect the cells from damage.
Antioxidants are continually being studied for their positive effects on cancer protection.
Fiber and More
There are many more benefits packed into this tiny fruit. As noted by the London researchers, dates have a high fiber content. Fiber is needed for elimination of toxins from the body and to help lower the risk of many digestive disorders, even colon cancer. The Mayo Clinic also lists fiber as being necessary to control weight, blood sugar and cholesterol.
Moslem Appreciation of the Date Palm Tree
So ancient is the date palm that tradition even places it in the Garden of Eden. The Prophet Mohammed of Islam said, "There is among the trees, one tree which is blessed - it is the date palm, for it was created from the earth left over from the creation of Adam." Moslem tradition definitely regards the date palm as the legendary "Tree of Life" mentioned in the Genesis story. And, as some writers have said, the date palm is like man. It is tall and erect. It is separated into male and female, and the female must be pollinated. If its head is cut off, it dies. If its heart is strained, it perishes. If its leaves are cut off, it cannot grow others in the same place, and it is covered with a fiber very like the hair of human beings.
"What is the date palm?" He said, "The date palm was one of the first plants to be cultivated, and has been grown for at least four thousand years along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It has been for ages, and is still, the most important food plant of the great deserts of the Old World, and many regions in Arabia and in the Sahara would not be habitable were it not for this tree. Not only does it yield a delicious fruit of great food value, but it also furnishes, in many regions, the only timber suitable for use in the construction of houses and for making a thousand and one necessary objects.
Domestication Took Time But Made All the Difference
The date palm 'Phoenix dactylifera', was one of the first fruit trees to be domesticated. Credit for the accomplishment of domestication must be given to the Sumerians. About 3000 BC, representations of the date palm, often with fruit, began to appear on pottery and cylinder seals, and within a few hundred years references in cuneiform recorded that date gardens had become very extensive, that a number of varieties were cultivated, and that the crop afforded one of the staple foods of the people.
The presence of uncultivated date palm throughout the zone where we find it at the dawn of history can be accounted for by the probability that over a period of several thousand years preceding cultivation of the date palm, prehistoric man utilized its fruit and thus greatly extended the area over which it originally occurred, aiding unconsciously in the evolution of better edible fruit. Dates are easily transported and seeds grow readily in moist soil in a favorable climate.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/17923-nutritional-value-dates
http://www.somethingquiteodd.com/Dates_pg1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm
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