I’m thrilled whenever I find surviving 100+ year old American chestnut trees in the wild, and these women brought back a tree from the time of Jesus:
(From your description i thought I'd see American chestnut trees. Lol) Date trees from destroyed tree seeds is pretty amazing. I'd like to know more!
In a way I’m not too surprised a few of the seeds were still viable. Those trees were acclimated to the desert climate and were “designed” to go through long dry spells before the opportunity came to sprout. I wonder how many other seeds from the old world are out there that could be revived.