Reconstructing a Royal Garden

October 9, 2012

Among the imported species of trees and plants determined by pollen analysis to have grown in the garden is the citron tree. This pollen is evidence for the first cultivation of the citron tree, which is not native to Israel.

What makes it interesting for traditional Jews is that the citron (or etrog) is a symbol used during Succot [Feast of Tabernacles]. Could it be that the trees imported to Ramat Rachel thousands of years ago by foreigners have made such a lasting impact on the land of Israel and the traditions that the people abide by today? Researchers are investing much energy into understanding the pollen deposits at the ancient garden. The hope is one day to reconstruct it in all its glory.

Dafna Langgut studies pollen and spores and specializes in ancient pollen from the Levant region. She was approached by the curious archaeologists: “…they asked me to analyze fossil pollen embedded within the ground. I told them that I didn’t think it would be preserved.”

Then one day she heard a talk about Ramat Rachel and learned that there were inscriptions found at the garden written in plaster. This gave Langgut some fresh ideas. “If one of the layers of plaster was prepared in the spring while the garden was blooming…, we can analyze what was growing in this garden then, because the pollen would be preserved in this plaster,” she says.

After analyzing the layers of plaster in the lab, she was thrilled to find that all the layers of plaster contained fossilized pollen. Finding the trace of etrog pollen was the biggest news for the researchers and a highlight of Langgut’s career.

“I can tell you that I was astonished to find the citron pollen because I knew it is not a typical plant in the area, so I realized it was imported. And I saw other [non-native trees] like the cedar of Lebanon,” she says, noting that it is clear that a lot of work was put into this elaborate garden. It was built to impress. The grandiosity of the garden, the researchers speculate, was for the ruling class at the time to flaunt their wealth.

Source: Excerpts of an article by Karin Kloosterman, www.israel21c.org

Photo Credit: www.israel21c.org