Trees that witnessed the rise and fall of empires throughout history

reply to post by intergalactic fire


Thank you so much for this thread!

I absolutely love trees of all types and am amazed at the wide variety of habitats they have adapted themselves to in our world. They provide so much to the local biome that any harm to them really is a crime against nature. We should strive to preserve them if at all possible and not just bulldoze over them if they are in the way.

The Standing People give so much to each area they are in and we could do well to learn that lesson.

There is a tree only a few hours' drive from me called The Big Tree that has many legends surrounding it, as do maby of these ancient beings.



The tree is estimated to be over 1000 years old, but no core samples have been done to check it's age. There is another method, which is non-destructive that utilizes sound waves called tomography:

A new device allows the non - destructive inspection of standing trees for cracks, cavities, and rot. It is based on the simultaneous measurement of the time of transmission of stress waves by several sensors arranged around the stem. The system was extensively tested by comparison of the tomogram with either the cross - section of the tree cut after the measurement, or with data from penetrometers or increment cores obtained in the same plane. The border of cavities is identified to the nearest cm, whereas the with of cracks in the tomogram depends on the position of the sensors around the stem. Rots are identified as soon as the wood is sufficiently deteriorated to reduce the velocity of sound. This system may become a valuable tool for hazard tree inspection, evaluation, and management.

It works in a way similar to an ultrasound.

There is also The Angel Oak in South Carolina that is estimated to be between 700 and 1500 years old. It too is a magnificent specimen:



I have a special place in my heart for oaks, and have played a significant role in saving one in my home town, the fight for which can be learned about in this thread authored by an ATS friend of mine. And I actually changed my FB profile pic to that of the Lorax in honor of the fight for the tree.

While it is a mere baby compared to the venerable trees in your post and the ones I mention above, it could easily live to be as old as the two in this post, and it will now get that chance thanks to the efforts of many people. It is being moved to a new home to land donated by my dad so that the tree can be saved.

And another nearby (to me) tree that has a most interesting history is the Moonshine Tree:



My grandfather, his brother, and a couple of other locals (Italian immigrant farmers, all) used to brew...moonshine during prohibition under this tree in a shack which is long since gone.

According to my dad, there are still several jugs buried in the vicinity of the tree...anyone in South East Texas know someone with access to ground penetrating radar?

This was my tree growing up and I spent many many hours up in it's branches and in amongst the grove of oaks which has since grown up around it. The people who care nothing for trees are cold and heartless IMHO and are not the kind of people worth knowing.

reply to post by Urbanshadow


i'm not sure when a tree is considered to be deceased,but as long as the major oak grows and drops leaves there will be revenue to be had by the local council.
there are many ancient twisted oaks in sherwood forest,none receive the tlc that the major oak revels in.

reply to post by intergalactic fire


Great thread, thank you so much for posting!

The concept of Pando, a huge grove of trees, seemingly separate in the world, but instead being all one, connected in ways that cannot be seen on the surface, is extraordinary. Perhaps a fitting metaphor we can learn from.

reply to post by jadedANDcynical


That's Shigo meter named after alex shigo the father of modern arboriculture.
The big tree is near rockport, and the moonshine tree is behind my sisters house in the meadows sub, right?
The live oaks I mentioned in this post are in Brazoria county I got pics will try to post them...



This live oak was topped by the Spaniards 500 years ago for ship repair. It is only a few inches short of state champion. We did a growth ring size average on the tree and determined it to be 1500 plus years old. this tree is one of several thousand in this stand which stretches a little over a 100 miles.

reply to post by intrptr


What we do is take all the dead limbs and count the rings and average they're widths, plus if we can find any damaged areas into the trunk that we can remove without harming the tree that may have been caused by lightning strike or whatever and we average the ring widths. Then we measure the circumference of the tree to find the diameter in inches, then we find how many average rings fit in 1 inch, then we times that number of rings by diamter of tree to get the estimated years.

Example:

circumference=425 inches/ pi 3.14 = 135 inches in diameter x 12 rings per inch = 1625 years

This is pretty accurate.


The proper name for a "tree corer" is a "increment borer"

I would love to go on an ancient tree tour around the world. The only one I've had the privilege of visiting is the Angel Oak in Charleston, SC--a beautiful tree. Natural places like that just seem to have an energy buzz about them.

reply to post by putnamcrab

Thanks for the rundown putnambcrab. On behalf of all the trees out there I would like to thank you for finding a way to ask the trees how old they are instead of ramming a tool up its arse.

Found this for everyone. A Glacier played with this stone then a tree found it and made it its own:

reply to post by feelingconnected


there was a 3500 yr old tree called 'the senator' in Sanford ... until a drug bag girl/young woman burned it down ('on accident') ... Sara Barnes .. lit a fire to see .. stupid dingbat ....
en.wikipedia.org...

Another tree mentioned in an earlier thread on ATS is the Arbol Del Tule tree in Oaxaca, Mexico, which is 119 feet in circumference, and 38.1 feet in diameter and approximately 1400 years old. I was privileged to visit it around 1998, if I remember correctly. It was magical and incredible!

Here a pic of the entire girth:

Originally posted by intergalactic fire
Imagine having been alive for centuries, since before the time the ancient Babylonians started to measure time as we understand it today.
Not only having been alive then, but carrying on through the developments of the Greek and Roman empires, the births of religions like Christianity and Islam, and right up to the present day, still bearing witness.


en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...(tree)
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...
www.wired.com...

It is indeed very interesting.
I never came across any such thing, but would definitely love to witness them.
THanks for sharing the research, and for adding to our interest in such a beautiful thing.