🌲 The World’s Oldest Tree — OLD TJIKKO (9,567 years old!)
Deep in the wilderness of Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden, stands a lone Norway Spruce named Old Tjikko — an ancient survivor that began its life over 9,567 years ago, shortly after the last Ice Age ended.
Discovered by geologist Leif Kullman of Umeå University in 2004, at an altitude of 1,100 meters. Old Tjikko holds the title of the oldest known living clonal tree on Earth.
It stands 5 metres (16 ft) tall. The trunk of the tree may die and regrow multiple times, but the tree’s root system remains intact and in turn sprouts another trunk. The trunk may only live for about six hundred years, and when one trunk dies another eventually grows back in its place.
The tree’s age was determined by carbon-14 dating of the root system, which found roots dating back to 375, 5,660, 9,000, and 9,550 years before 2008. Its root system has persisted long before the construction of the pyramids, the rise of civilizations, and even the invention of writing!
Just imagine what this ancient tree has witnessed:
🌊 Rising and falling sea levels
🐾 The migration of countless species
🏞️ The changing of entire ecosystems
🌦️ Millennia of storms, winters, and summers
Old Tjikko is a silent storyteller — a living testament to the power of resilience, adaptation, and nature’s deep time.
In a rapidly changing world, this ancient spruce reminds us of the enduring beauty and fragility of our planet.
Old Tjikko is a symbol of cultural and historical significance. It has been venerated by the Sami people, who have inhabited the area for thousands of years. The Sami people believe that is a symbol of life and renewal, and have been known to make offerings to the tree.
The tree has also been a source of inspiration for many writers and artists. It has inspired works of art such as the poem ‘The Old Tree’ by Swedish poet Gunnar Ekelöf, and the painting ‘Old Tjikko’ by Swedish artist Gustav Vigeland.
On July 1, 2024, it was reported that the Stockholm-based art studio Goldin+Senneby were building a climate-controlled installation at a new hospital campus in Malmö, Sweden. The installation houses a clone of Old Tjikko and was created using small twigs cut from Old Tjikko’s top branches, which were then grafted onto stems of other spruce trees. This process would thus result in saplings with DNA identical to that of Old Tjikko.
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