There is a tree alive today that was planted before Rome was an empire — and the exact year was written down
A sacred fig still growing in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, was planted in 288 BCE from a cutting of the Bodhi tree. According to the Mahavamsa, Sri Lanka's ancient chronicle, the cutting was carried across the sea by Sanghamitta — a Buddhist nun and daughter of the emperor Ashoka — and given to King Devanampiya Tissa. It is recognized as the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a recorded planting date: more than 2,300 years old and still tended daily.
How we know
The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura has a traditional planting date of 288 BCE per the Mahavamsa chronicle; still living in 2026, that is about 2,314 years. It is widely cited as the oldest living human-planted tree with a recorded planting date. (288 BCE is the chronicle's date and predates the modern dating of Ashoka's reign.)
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.