Message #159264

[Bianca]

Controversial claim



But the idea that seeds could remain viable for so long immediately attracted controversy.

"The scientific community was really split by that presumed ancient viable Arctic lupine seeds. Some believed it, others did not," says Zazula.

The controversy rested on the methods used at the time to date the seeds.

When the researchers published the original claim in 1967, there was no way of radiocarbon dating small samples the size of seeds.

Instead, the seeds were presumed to be of the same age as the ancient frozen lemming burrows in which they were found.

But through his own research into ice age fossils, Zazula became suspicious of the seeds' provenance.

Studying ancient rodent nests buried in the Yukon permafrost, some up to 25,000 years old, from which he had recovered seeds from around 65 different plant species, Zazula had never found any 'ancient' Arctic lupine seeds.

"Also, Arctic lupine is a boreal forest understory flower, and I do not think it lived during the ice age with incredibly cold, harsh arctic conditions. The ecology does not fit," he says.