At the time of Nebuchadnezzar II’s rise to the throne of the Neo-Babylonian empire, a bald cypress tree in modern-day North Carolina flourished. At the Black River in North Carolina, experts believe that a bunch of 2,000 year-old trees exist in the area. In fact, there may even be some that exceed 3,000 years in age.
David Stahle of the University of Arkansas is leading the research team studying these trees. In 2017, the team began measuring the ages of the cypress trees along the banks of the river near Bladen on land owned by The Nature Conservancy known as the Three Sisters Swamp. This conservancy is one of a few great old-growth forests left in the world.
How did the team figure out the age of the tree? Well, they examined a sample of the tree and applied the principles of dendrochronology, aka the study of tree rings. As a result, they could radiocarbon date the tree back to 2,624 years ago. This makes the tree the 5th oldest tree in the entire world. It’s also the oldest tree in the Eastern part of the United States.
The research team sampled 110 trees. A few of the others were found to be at least 2,000 years old. If you’re wondering what the value of ancient trees is well it kind of speaks for itself. It gives us insight into tree history and evolution. It also shows us how trees can survive in difficult conditions for millennia which is extremely exciting.
The study of these trees using dendrochronology acts as a valuable resource in the study of climate change. The rings provide a detailed weather report going back thousands of years. This information can be used to helps construct a timeline of drought, flooding and other climactic events.
Stahle runs the Tree-Ring Laboratory. It’s an organization dedicated to helping governments around the world to identify and protect ancient forests. Thus far, their research has taken them all over North and South America. The TRL also works with researchers in studying climate change and provides in-depth studies of tree-ring samples.
Dr. Stahle felt that the discovery of the bald cypress in North Carolina was so significant that he helped establish the Ancient Bald Cypress Consortium whose purpose is to help raise awareness that this old-growth forest is not only 10x larger than previously thought but also contains some of the oldest trees on Earth.
Did you enjoy this article? We sure hope so. We have more articles like this in our knowledge base. Feel free to look through it to learn more about ancient and present-day trees.
