Sisters Olive Trees of Noah

Three of the Sisters Olive Trees of Noah.

The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah are a grove of sixteen olive trees in the Lebanese town of Bcheale.[1]

According to local folklore, the trees are at least 5,000 years old, perhaps even 6,000 years old or older.[2][3] However in 2024 a study using carbon dating found the oldest tree to be only 1,162 years old, plus or minus 131 years. This makes it the oldest known olive tree in the world.[4]

Folk legend also ascribes The Sisters as the source of the olive branch returned to Noah's Ark at the waning of the Biblical Flood.[5][6] The trees still produce olives, and a preservation effort was undertaken by the non-profit organization Sisters Olive Oil, which marketed oil from these olives.[6]

See also

• List of individual trees
• List of oldest trees

References

1. Linda Pappagallo (January 8, 2013). "The World's Oldest Living Olive Trees Are Lebanese". Green Prophet. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
2. Ingo Helbig (February 14, 2013). "Rare variants and olive trees". Beyond the Ion Channel. EuroEPINOMICS. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
3. Carol Drinkwater (2011). The Olive Tree. Orion. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-0-297-85750-1. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
4. Camarero, J. Julio; Touchan, Ramzi; Valeriano, Cristina; Bashour, Isam; Stephan, Jean (April 2024). "Dating the Noah trees to improve age estimates in centennial and millennial olive trees". Dendrochronologia. 84: 126181. Bibcode:2024Dendr..8426181C. doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2024.126181. hdl:10261/354303. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
5. Dima Sharif. "Olive Oil Ice Cream & The Ultra Premium EV Olive Oil Harvested From The Oldest Living Olive Trees On Earth". Dima Sharif, Bringing Food to Life. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
6. T.K. Maloy (October 31, 2012). "Bechealeh's ancient trees still producing high-end olive oil". The Daily Star (Lebanon). Retrieved April 28, 2013.

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