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Prometheus (recorded as WPN-114) was the oldest known non- clonal organism, a
Great Basin bristlecone pine ''Pinus longaeva'' (commonly referred to as the Great Basin bristlecone pine, intermountain bristlecone pine, or western bristlecone pine) is a long-living species of bristlecone pine tree found in the higher mountains of California, Nevada, an ...
(''Pinus longaeva'') tree growing near the
tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...
on Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada, United States. The tree, which was at least 4,862 years old and possibly more than 5,000, was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student and
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...
personnel for research purposes. Those involved did not know of its world-record age before the cutting, and the circumstances and decision-making process remain controversial. The tree's name refers to the mythological figure
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. The designation WPN-114 was given by the original researcher,
Donald Rusk Currey Donald Rusk Currey (January 24, 1934 – June 6, 2004) was an American professor of geography. While known in academia for his extensive research and exploration of relics of the ancient Lake Bonneville in the eastern Great Basin, he was best know ...
, and means it was the 114th tree he sampled in his research in Nevada's White Pine County.


Discovery and age

Prometheus (WPN-114) was a living member of a population of
bristlecone pine The term bristlecone pine covers three species of pine tree (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus'', subsection ''Balfourianae''). All three species are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, ''Pinus ...
trees near the tree line on the
lateral moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...
of a former
glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
on Wheeler Peak, in
Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U ...
, eastern Nevada. Wheeler Peak is the highest mountain in the
Snake Range The Snake Range is a mountain range in White Pine County, Nevada, United States. The south-central portion of the range is included within Great Basin National Park, with most of the remainder included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Fores ...
, and the second highest mountain in the state of Nevada. The bristlecone pine population on this mountain is divided into at least two distinct sub-populations, one of which is accessible by a popular interpretive trail. Prometheus, however, grew in an area reachable only by off-trail hiking. In either 1958 or 1961, a group of naturalists who admired Prometheus's grove gave names to a number of the largest or most distinctive trees, including Prometheus."Oldest Living Tree Tells All"
Michael Cohen, Terrain.org.
Currey originally estimated the tree was at least 4,844 years old. A few years later, this was increased to 4,862 by Donald Graybill of the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...
's
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) was established in 1937 by A.E. Douglass, founder of the modern science of dendrochronology. The LTRR is a research unit in the College of Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Since its fo ...
. These ring counts were done on a trunk cross-section taken about 2.5 m (8 feet) above the original
germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fe ...
point of the tree, because the innermost rings were missing below that point. Adjusting Graybill's figure by adding the estimated number of years required to reach that height, plus a correction for the estimated number of missing rings (not uncommon in trees at the tree line), it is probable that the tree was at least 5,000 years old when it fell. That made it the oldest known unitary (i.e. non- clonal) organism at the time, exceeding even the Methuselah tree of the White Mountains' Schulman Grove, in
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, though Methuselah was later redated to 4,850 years old.


Other "Oldest Organism" candidates

In 2010, a reportedly living bristlecone pine in California's White Mountains was measured by Tom Harlan to be 5062 years old. This pine has not been found after Harlan's death in 2013, and its core has not been located at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. Whether Prometheus should have been considered the oldest organism ever known depends on the definition of "oldest" and "
organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells ( cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fu ...
". Certain sprouting (clonal) organisms, such as
creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In S ...
or
aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (C ...
, may be considered older if the entire clonal organism is considered. By that standard, the oldest living organism is a grove of quaking aspens in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
known as Pando, at perhaps as much as 80,000 years old, although likely much less. In a clonal organism, however, the individual clonal stems are not nearly so old, and no part of the organism is particularly old at any given time. Until 2012, Prometheus was thus the oldest ''non-clonal'' organism yet discovered, with its innermost, extant rings exceeding 4862 years of age.


Cutting of the tree

In the 1950s, dendrochronologists were making active efforts to find the oldest living tree species. They intended to analyze the rings for various research purposes, such as evaluation of former climates, dating of archaeological ruins, and addressing the basic scientific question of maximum potential lifespan. Bristlecone pines in California's White Mountains and elsewhere were discovered by Edmund Schulman to be older than any species yet discovered. This spurred interest in finding very old bristlecones, possibly older than the Methuselah tree, aged by Schulman in 1957 at over 4,700 years. Donald R. Currey was a graduate student at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
. Currey was studying climate dynamics of the
Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
using
dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atm ...
techniques. In 1963, he became aware of the bristlecone populations in the Snake Range in general, and on Wheeler Peak in particular. Based on the trees' size, growth rate and growth forms, he became convinced that some were very old, cored some of them, and found trees exceeding 3,000 years in age, but Currey was not able to obtain a continuous series of overlapping cores from WPN-114. Here, stories diverge. It is not clear whether Currey requested, or Forest Service personnel suggested, that he cut down and section the tree in lieu of coring it. There is also some uncertainty as to why a core sample could not be obtained. One version has it that he broke or lodged his only long
increment borer An increment borer is a specialized tool used to extract a section of wood tissue from a living tree with relatively minor injury to the plant itself. The tool consists of a handle, an auger bit and a small, half circular metal tray ( the core ...
and could not obtain another before the end of the field season;Be Careful What You Plan For
, ''
Radiolab ''Radiolab'' is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast. Live shows were first off ...
,'' June 28, 2010.
another claims he broke two of them, while another implies that a core sample was too difficult to obtain and also would not provide as much definitive information as a full cross-section of the tree. Currey said that the tree cores were too small and difficult to read so he used a chain saw and cut the tree down.Staying Alive
, Carl Hall, ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...
'', August 23, 1998.
In addition, there are conflicting views of Prometheus's uniqueness in the Wheeler Peak grove. It is reported that Currey and/or the Forest Service personnel who authorized the cutting believed the tree was just one of many large, very old trees in the grove. Others, at least one of whom was involved in the decision-making and tree cutting, believe that the tree was clearly unique — obviously older than other trees in the area. At least one person involved says that Currey knew that to be true at the time, although there is no known admission from Currey that he did, and others have disputed that the tree, based on observation alone, was obviously much older than the others. Another uncertainty is that it is not clear why the felling of such an old tree was necessary given what Currey was studying. Since the
Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
had started no more than 600 years ago, many trees could presumably have provided the information he was seeking for that time period. In Currey's original report in the journal ''Ecology'' (Currey, 1965), however, he refers to the Little Ice Age as encompassing the period from 2000 BC to the present, thus defining the Age over a much longer time period than is currently accepted. Whether this was a common view at the time is not known. In the article, Currey indicates that he sectioned the tree as much to determine whether the oldest bristlecones were necessarily confined to California's White Mountains (as some dendrochronologists had been claiming) as from its usefulness in regard to studies of the Little Ice Age. Whatever the rationale, the tree was cut down and sectioned in August 1964, and several pieces of the sections were hauled out to be processed and analyzed, first by Currey, then by others in later years. Sections or pieces of the tree have ended up in various places, some of them publicly accessible, including the
Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U ...
visitor center (
Baker, Nevada Baker is a census-designated place in southeastern White Pine County, Nevada, United States. It is located east of the main entrance of Great Basin National Park at the junction of State Routes 487 and 488. The town is named after an early se ...
), the Ely Convention Center (
Ely, Nevada Ely (, ) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. In 1906 copper was discovered. Ely's mining boom came later tha ...
), the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (
Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
), and the U.S. Forest Service's Institute of Forest Genetics (
Placerville, California Placerville (, ; formerly Old Dry Diggings, Dry Diggings, and Hangtown) is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sa ...
).


Repercussions

It has been argued that the cutting down of Prometheus was an important factor in the movement to protect bristlecones in general, and the Wheeler Peak groves in particular. There had been a movement to protect the mountain and contiguous areas as a national park before the incident, and 22 years later the area gained national park status.


Contemporary references

In August 2014, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the tree's cutting, a two-day memorial for Prometheus was held in
Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U ...
by artist Jeff Weiss.


See also

*
King Clone King Clone is thought to be the oldest creosote bush ring in the Mojave Desert. The ring is estimated to be 11,700 years old, making it one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. This single clonal colony plant of ''Larrea tridentata'' reac ...
* King's Lomatia *
Llangernyw Yew The Llangernyw Yew () is an ancient yew (''Taxus baccata'') in the village of Llangernyw, Conwy, North Wales. The tree is fragmented and its core part has been lost, leaving several enormous offshoots. The girth of the tree at the ground level is ...
*
Old Tjikko Old Tjikko is a 9,550 year-old Norway spruce, located on Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden. Old Tjikko originally gained fame as the "world's oldest tree." Old Tjikko is, however, a clonal tree that has regenerated new trun ...
*
List of oldest trees This is a list of the oldest-known trees, as reported in reliable sources. Definitions of what constitutes an individual tree vary. In addition, tree ages are derived from a variety of sources, including documented "tree-ring" (dendrochronologica ...
*
List of individual trees The following is a list of notable trees. Trees listed here are regarded as important or specific by their historical, national, locational, natural or mythological context. The list includes actual trees located throughout the world, as well as ...


Notes


References

* . * Hitch, Charles J. 1982. Dendrochronology and Serendipity. ''American Scientist'' 70(3): 300–05. * Kelsey, Michael R. 1999. ''Hiking and Climbing in the Great Basin National Park: A Guide to Nevada's Wheeler Peak, Mt. Moriah and the Snake Range''. Kelsey Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT. . Contains a map showing the approximate location of the tree on Wheeler Peak, as does another of Kelsey's books, ''Mountains of the World''. * Lambert, Darwin. 1991. ''Great Basin Drama: The Story of a National Park.'' Roberts-Rinehart Publishers.
New Oldest Tree on Earth found
in the White Mountains of California


External link

*{{commonscatinline Great Basin National Park Individual pine trees Trees of the Southwestern United States
Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ...
1960s individual tree deaths Prometheus Individual trees in the United States Oldest trees Landmarks in Nevada Destroyed individual trees