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2,500-year-old olive tree burned down in Evia fires in Greece
- Tsiklon 5y agoThat tree was planted in the era of Classical Greece; if it could speak of the epochs and people it saw, it would have had many tales to tell. This is as much a cultural loss as it is an economic loss. I have no connection to Greece or it’s people, but this saddens me.
- ardit33 5y agoTalking about old: There is another tree in Crete that is 4k old.... (yes, 4,000 years old). It even pre-dates the Greeks, as they arrived in the area only around 1400-1450bc. It was planted by the Minoan people... and it is still there today making olives.
- adventured 5y agoThey're not sure how old it is. The best guess range is 2,000 to 4,000 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_tree_of_Vouves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_tree_of_Vouves
- app4soft 5y agoBoth, Olive tree of Vouves (aka "Elia Vouvon", 2000-5000 y.o)[0] & 'Olive tree burned in Eva fire' (unnamed, 2000 y.o.)[1], are in the List of oldest trees (with estimated ages) on Wikipedia. Here is photo of 'Olive tree burned in Eva fire', uploaded on Jan 19, 2004 (photo taken not later than that date).[2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees#cite_ref-51 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees#cite_ref-... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees#cite_ref-53 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees#cite_ref-... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20110827125521/http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1112373016000956548XWTyLN https://web.archive.org/web/20110827125521/http://outdoors.w... [img] https://web.archive.org/web/20121027221058im_/http://image09.webshots.com/9/7/30/16/112373016XWTyLN_ph.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20121027221058im_/http://image09...
- wutangson1 5y agoWell, that English chap Ventris proved that the Myceneans were in fact Greek, as per his “Greek nightmare”, but was killed before he could prove that Linear A & hence the Minoans were Greek. But the majority of scholars contend that King Minos etc were Greek
- Tagbert 5y agoThe Myceneans were likely ethnically Greek and seem to have spoken an early version of Greek. I have not seen anything to indicate if the Minoans (who were distinct from Myceneans) were ethnically Greek, but their language does not appear to be Indo-European. If it were, it would be easier to translate. If the Minoans were ethnically Greek, that suggests that there were a population of people on the mainland and on Minos that spoke a non-Indo-European language and that that language was larger displaced on the Greek mainland by Indonesia-European immigrants who transferred their language to the native people and that evolved into the various kinds of Greek language.
- wutangson1 5y agoIt's really hard to follow your logic, especially your version of the 'facts'. The Myceneans are proven to be Greek beyond doubt, and their writing system Linear B is Greek- is a settled among scholars. The Minoans, outside of their homeland of Crete, had colonies in mainland Greece, other Aegean islands (Santorini), Sicily, and as far as Spain. Using the indo-european language is a tortured logic thread
- lettergram 5y agoNot sure how olive trees work, but perhaps it can regrow from the root system?
- enchiridion 5y agoHow hardy are olive trees? I wonder if it'll grow back from the stump
- ComputerGuru 5y agoThey’re extremely hardy but not in that sense. They’re hardy by being drought resistant and by growing absolutely massive (but stout) and incredibly strong. Figs on the other hand are rather flimsy but regrow from roots all the time.
- enchiridion 5y agoGood to know! I actually had fig trees in mind when I asked the question, so good analogy. To bad then. Hopefully they've done something to propagate it in the past.
- Knajjars 5y agoBut climate change is a hoax, right? It was pure coincidence that the tree never caught fire in 2500 years
- RobRivera 5y agoi dont think anyone ever said climate change was a hoax in this discussion.
- junon 5y agoA bit pedantic. I agree the GP doesn't add much to the conversation but they're clearly referencing the hoard of people who still think climate change is a hoax.
- ComputerGuru 5y agoI know that was a poor attempt at sarcasm but very poor logic. There could have been thousands that have been winnowed over the years due to other fires.
- esalman 5y agoAsk me in 2500 years... I kid you not, this is the exact answer I got from an IEEE panel member. It was right after the TX winter storm earlier this year- I asked them if we should take extra preparations for extreme weather events. He was like scientists are divided on this so...
- dang 5y agoPlease don't take HN threads into flamewar. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- jonpo 5y agotragic, the tree is gone but maybe we can plant its children. maybe the next 2500 years will be kinder?
- m00dy 5y agoI'm so glad that Turkey has just sent full equipped planes to help Greece.
- pepperonipizza 5y agoI read just some days ago that Turkey couldn't even take off their canadair because they didn't maintained them, and has leased planes from Poland and other countries.
- warent 5y agoA strange thought just occurred to me... they said that it was fertile with olives until it was destroyed by the fire. Plants grow and create fruit through cellular division, right? How is it possible for a plant to live for 2500 years without spontaneously developing a malignant mutation / cancer? Is it possible for plants to have cancer?
- ceejayoz 5y agoCancer isn’t even guaranteed in animals. Naked mole rats are notable for being mammals largely immune to tumors. They’re fascinating in other ways, especially their eusociality. Cancer-like growths in trees exist, but they don’t have the problems with metastases animals do.
- lordnacho 5y agoHow have we observed enough naked mole rats to be confident of this? How did cancer rates in them become an object of study in the first place? Is there a reason to think they don't get cancer?
- akiselev 5y agoIt’s not just naked mole rats. Some sharks, turtles, and other animals exhibit the same phenomenon. They’re not immune to cancer, but their defenses (mostly multiple layers of contact inhibition) prevent tumors from establishing themselves and metastasizing or growing to a dangerous size in their natural environment. The adaptations themselves tend to be mutation resistant so the probability that a cell will become malignant and lose those layers of protection is astronomical, whereas most animals have many single points of failure, so to speak. Naked mole rats reportedly develop cancer when living in zoos where they are exposed to much more oxygen than they’re used to. Their genetics naturally prevent cancers when they’re living in a hypoxic underground environment but when exposed to the oxidative stresses of living above ground, the mutation rate can overcome their natural defenses
- lordnacho 5y ago