5,400-Year-Old Tree "Great Grandfather" Is Discovered in Chile

The team counted 2,400 growth rings in the section of core. However, they were not even able to reach the center of the enormous tree. Therefore, they turned to a computer model to complete the ring count. By comparing to other alerce trees and taking into account what they know about variables affecting tree growth, they came to an 80% confidence estimate that Great Grandfather is over 5,000 years old. This makes him older than Methuselah, the former record holder. This discovery is exciting, as ancient trees contain a lot of records of climate change over he millennia within them.