From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

Digging Deeper

Antique Seeds

When the great pyramids were opened, archaeologists found caches of seeds among the other artifacts. Some of the seeds actually germinated upon planting! And there is at least one account of a 10,000-year-old seed germinating. Miners in the Yukon found lupine seeds (Lupinus arcticus) in ancient lemming burrows. These burrows were deeply buried in permafrost silt dating back to the Pleistocene epoch-more than 10,000 years ago. Upon planting, at least one of the seeds germinated and grew into a lupine plant.

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