The Norwegian Spruce Old Tjikko is 9,550 years old, according to radiocarbon dating of roots

Featured image The oldest trees in the world are usually not the most beautiful looking on our planet. That is true for the bristlecone pines that sprout in the western United States and are often acknowledged as being the world’s most ancient continuously standing trees. Same goes for the lonesome Old Tjikko, the Norwegian spruce that grows high in the remote mountains of Sweden’s Dalarna Province. Radio-carbon dating done on this tree’s ancient roots has pointed to a flabbergasting figure: the first roots of Old Tjikko existed about 9,550 years ago. If the math is done right, Old Tjikko is roughly 4,485 years older than one of the oldest known bristlecone pines, which according to the National Park Service was found to be some 5,065 years old; its age was calculated by counting the tree rings formed after each year of its growth. But with the Norwegian spruce on the other side of the Atlantic, experts sought the answer while analyzing the roots instead of the trunk. Old Tijko Discovered in 2004, Old Tjikko belongs to a species that is the traditional Christmas tree choice around Europe. The results from the radiocarbon dating of its roots were revealed in […]

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