Revealed: The world's oldest tree that took root 10,000 years ago

Scientists have found the world's oldest tree, a spruce that took root shortly after the Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

Researchers used genetic material to date the tree in central Sweden back 9,550 years.

They believe it may have taken root in about 7,542 BC on Fulu mountain in Dalarna province, according to Leif Kullmann, professor of Physical Geography at Sweden's Umeaa University.

"It was a big surprise because we thought until now that this kind of spruce grew much later in those regions," he said.

Ancient: The mountain spruce stands on a root system nearly 10,000 years old

Scientists had previously believed the world's oldest trees were 4,000- to 5,000 year-old pine trees found in North America.

The oldest, a bristlecone pine named Methuselah in California's White Mountains, is believed to be 4,768 years old, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Swedish spruce's genetic material age was calculated using carbon dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida.

Spruces, which according to Kullmann offer rich insight into climate change, had long been regarded as relatively newcomers in the Swedish mountain region.

The discovery of the ancient tree had therefore led to "a big change in our way of thinking," he said.

Prof Kullman and colleagues found a cluster of around 20 spruces that are over 8,000 years old.

The visible portion of the spruce was comparatively new, but analysis of four "generations" of remains - cones and wood - found underneath its crown showed its root system had been growing for 9,550 years.



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Lifespan: The tree took root shortly after the Ice Age and was around at the Siege of Troy, Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain, Henry VIII's break with the Papacy, the Atomic Bomb and 9/11





“Man immigrated close to the receding ice front. We have also found fossil acorns in this area and people may have taken them with them as they moved over the landscape.”

The summers 9,500 years ago were warmer than today, though there has been a rapid recent rise as a result of climate change that means modern climate is rapidly catching up.

The tree probably survived as a result of several factors: the generally cold and dry climate, few forest fires and relatively few humans.

Now the nature conservancy authorities are considering putting a fence around the record breaking tree to protect it from trophy hunters.