Sisters Olive Trees of Noah

{{Short description|Grove of olive trees in Lebanon}}

File:Three of the Sisters Olive Trees of Noah.jpg

The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah are a grove of sixteen olive trees in the Lebanese town of Bcheale.{{cite web |url=http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/01/noah-olive-trees-lebanon/ |title=The World’s Oldest Living Olive Trees Are Lebanese |author=Linda Pappagallo |date=January 8, 2013 |work=Green Prophet |accessdate=April 28, 2013}}

According to local folklore, the trees are at least 5,000 years old, perhaps even 6,000 years old or older.{{cite web |url=http://channelopathist.net/2013/02/14/rare-variants-and-olive-trees/ |title=Rare variants and olive trees |author=Ingo Helbig |date= February 14, 2013 |work=Beyond the Ion Channel |publisher=EuroEPINOMICS |accessdate=April 28, 2013}}{{cite book|author=Carol Drinkwater|title=The Olive Tree|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGwPeeat0AQC&pg=PT18|accessdate=8 September 2012|date=2011|publisher=Orion|isbn=978-0-297-85750-1|pages=18–}} However in 2024 a study using carbon dating found the oldest tree to be only {{age|format=commas|863|1|1}} years old, plus or minus 131 years. This makes it the oldest known olive tree in the world.{{cite journal |last1=Camarero |first1=J. Julio |last2=Touchan |first2=Ramzi |last3=Valeriano |first3=Cristina |last4=Bashour |first4=Isam |last5=Stephan |first5=Jean |title=Dating the Noah trees to improve age estimates in centennial and millennial olive trees |journal=Dendrochronologia |date=April 2024 |volume=84 |pages=126181 |doi=10.1016/j.dendro.2024.126181 |bibcode=2024Dendr..8426181C |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1125786524000183 |access-date=14 January 2025|hdl=10261/354303 |hdl-access=free }}

Folk legend also ascribes The Sisters as the source of the olive branch returned to Noah's Ark at the waning of the Biblical Flood.{{cite web |url=http://www.dimasharif.com/2012_02_01_archive.html |title=Olive Oil Ice Cream & The Ultra Premium EV Olive Oil Harvested From The Oldest Living Olive Trees On Earth |author=Dima Sharif |date= |work=Dima Sharif, Bringing Food to Life |accessdate=April 28, 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2012/Oct-31/193293-bechealehs-ancient-trees-still-producing-high-end-olive-oil.ashx |title=Bechealeh’s ancient trees still producing high-end olive oil |author=T.K. Maloy |date=October 31, 2012 |work=The Daily Star (Lebanon) |accessdate=April 28, 2013}} The trees still produce olives, and a preservation effort was undertaken by the non-profit organization Sisters Olive Oil, which marketed oil from these olives.