3,000 years old: Llaretta in the Atacama Desert, Chile. A relative of parsley that resembles a large green rock. © Rachel Sussman.
On July 26, CNN reported on the oldest living things in the world here. The article profiles Rachel Sussman, photographer and time traveller. You can check out her blog here. Since 2004 she has been searching the continents for the oldest organisms on earth: "So far, she has shot more than 25 different species of plant or organism, each being older than 2,000 years - 'I wanted to start with the idea of year zero' - with the oldest being actinobacteria from the permafrost of Siberia estimated to be around 500,000 years old." She commented further: "you get to encounter these things that are incomprehensible to our sense of time. What does 100,000 years feel like? It's something we can consider for a moment, but hard for us to hold on to it and for it to be meaningful."
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It is worth noting that none of these creatures are sentient, at least insofar as we can tell. All kinds of stories about people using the essence of these things to be immortal or extend their lifespans could be written.
ReplyDeleteFunny that legendary symbols that deal with immortality or excessively long life usually involve much more forced and violent scenarios, totally unlike actual organisms that survive long spans of time. For example, the mythological Celtic cauldron that brought men back from the dead definitely has a forced and evil aspect.
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