People living over 300 years. The most famous centenarians in the world. Reference. Forms of rational thinking and logical laws

They have long diverged in the definitions of how long a person lived in ancient times. According to archaeologists - 20-30 years. According to the Bible - seven to nine centuries. It is possible that the truth lies somewhere in between...

... In 1974, Lebanon (a French colony in 1918-1943) demanded that France return 12 Phoenician mummies that were taken out of the country in 1921-1926. expedition of French scientists, and then disappeared. It is still unclear whether the "cocoons" of the ancient Phoenicians were sold to private collections, given to museums, or even stolen. In 1991 and 2004 the Lebanese repeated the request, but there was no response from France. According to the Lebanese side, the mummies were seized in the city of Byblos and the temple complex of Baalbek: in the 20s of the XX century. French archaeologists excavated there: Pierre Monte and Maurice Dunand. It would seem, what's new? The British Museum does not return Greece for 200 years, and Venice refuses to return the throne of the Byzantine emperors. However, in early July, the Lebanese press, citing anonymous sources, reported that mummies have been studied in the laboratories of the French intelligence services for half a century. For what reason? Allegedly, back in 1962, an analysis of mummies showed that each of the 12 Phoenicians died at about the age of ... 300 years!

rejuvenated by blood

As you understand, there is no documentary confirmation of this information, - explains Vice Director of the Byblos Archive Alexander Dzhemir. -

I can only say that the study of longevity in Phenicia was carried out at the state level. King Hiram I, who ruled from 969-936. BC e., ordered the priests of Baal to find a recipe for eternal youth. For their research, they even built two temples in Byblos and Baalbek. What happened next is unknown. Hiram obviously did not wait for the recipe - he died at the age of 53.

Meanwhile, 9 out of 12 mysterious mummies were found by Monte and Dunand precisely during the excavations of the temple of Baal in northern Lebanon. By order of the king, the priests were not to leave the building without finding the "secret of the miracle." Hiram burned with the idea of ​​longevity: in addition to the experiment with the priests, he equipped a sea expedition to the mysterious country of Ophir. This state (mentioned in the Bible) was ruled by six elders in masks hiding their faces, each aged from 300 to 500 (!) years. The common people did not lag behind the kings then: in Carthage (also a Phoenician colony), until the start of the Punic Wars, women had the right to wash themselves once a year with the blood of murdered slaves: if the ceremony was carried out according to the rules of the moon goddess Tanit, then she had to have mercy and take it for herself " 20 years old." In 264 BC. e. this brutal procedure was banned by the city council, and since then blood rejuvenation was allowed ... only to the priestesses of Tanith.

In the basements of the temple of Baal, archaeologists have found entire rooms filled with human bones, - says historian Rahim Heydar. - Baal was a monstrous god - the Phoenicians sacrificed even children to him. However, such things happened in public, during the festivities. Why the priests killed so many people in the dungeons - there is no explanation. Either they prayed to Baal to grant longevity to King Hiram with the help of continuous sacrifices, or ... they tested the drug they created on living slaves. It remains to be assumed that the mummies found in the temple are the bodies of priests who nevertheless managed to create the "elixir of life". And it is clear why they are not given back ... After all, the recipe for longevity costs much more than a million oil wells.

Have kids at 90?

…Historians and the Bible have long disagreed on how long people lived in antiquity. Studies of the remains show: the average life expectancy during the reign of the Ramses dynasty in Egypt was 25-30 years ... At 40, a person was considered an old man. The Bible insists: Adam lived 930 years, his son Seth - 912, Noah (who built the ark) - 950, and the most important biblical centenarian is Methuselah, who went to paradise at ... 969 years! At 90, according to the Bible, these people gave birth to children, and at 125 they were considered to have entered the age of maturity. Could this be? The church historian Eusebius of Caesarea in his notes reported that they ruled the country for 100 years, and one such case was documented - this is Pharaoh Pepi II, who sat on the throne at the age of six and died 94 years later (in 2184 BC) . In other words, if we transfer this to modern realities, then Pepi II has reached the age of ... 400 years!

Even among the ancient chroniclers there were disputes why some people are given longevity, while others are not, - notes Lebanese historian Armen Adabashian. - Herodotus wrote about a special source in Ethiopia: drinking its water, many Ethiopian kings and their courtiers lived to be 200 years old. Of course, 75% of such rumors are legends, but ... why not allow the version that there were still mixtures of natural medicines that allowed the rulers of ancient states to live longer than their subjects?

...Most likely, the dispute between Lebanon and France will not end in anything. Something else is much more interesting: were there really people 3000 years ago who could live for three to five centuries thanks to miracle drugs? Alas, the answer to this question will not be received soon.

Where did the ancient countries disappear - Ophir, El Dorado, Saguenay and Hyperborea? Did they really exist? Read about it in the next issue of AiF.

Long life has always attracted the attention of mankind. Recall at least attempts to create a philosopher's stone, one of the functions of which was to be immortality. Yes, and in modern times there are a lot of diets, recommendations about life and numerous pseudo-secrets that supposedly allow a person to live longer than fellow tribesmen. However, no one has yet been able to guarantee an increase, which is why people are curious about those who still managed to do it.

Let's define terms

First of all, it is necessary to figure out who should be classified as "Long-livers of the planet." The most common definition is those whose age has exceeded 90 years. In this case, these people are quite a lot. Only in Russia there are about 350 thousand of them. Some sources suggest that those who have already celebrated their centennial anniversary are considered centenarians. And this is also not a record - there are almost seven thousand such people among Russians.

The second difficulty is who to believe and how to check. Any person can claim that he has turned, say, 150, and do it quite convincingly if he knows the history of his native land well. So the long-livers of the planet are conditionally divided into two groups: verified (that is, those whose age is documented) and conjectural - those who cannot accurately prove the date of birth.

And the third problem: to choose a winner from those who are still alive, or to take into account everyone who has crossed the mark of 110 years? After all, many centenarians of the planet, the list of which is not so short, still managed to die.

Official record holder

The proven winner, who survived until 2012, was the Georgian Khvichava, who just fell short of 133 years. The documents confirming her birth in 1880 were found to be authentic, so that this oldest person (woman) was awarded an entry in the Guinness Book of Records and received a certificate. It is noteworthy that Khvichava last day kept her mind alive. Despite the fact that her entire work experience was associated with agriculture, she was invariably interested in cutting-edge innovations: already shortly before her death, she wanted her relatives to teach her how to communicate with a computer. It can be said that on this moment it is the oldest long-liver of the planet. No one has yet broken the record for the duration of earthly existence.

Second Winner

And this is also a woman. She died even earlier than Khvichava, in 1997, but until that time she confidently held the championship. This time, the former was born in France, five years earlier than the Georgian, but, alas, she died, nine years before she reached the next record. Her life span was limited to 122 and a half years. The name in the list "Long-livers of the planet" was also marked by an indefatigable sense of humor, demonstrated until the last day. In addition, the Frenchwoman was just a volcano of energy: at 85 she began to seriously fence, at 100 she became interested in cycling, and almost professionally.

Most common age

In the summer of 2013, another of those who are called long-livers of the planet died. He lived to be 115 years old, a Japanese from Kamiukawa named Jiroemon Kimura. He received the title of winner in 2012 due to the fact that there are no older people in the world who have evidence of their age in their hands. The recipes of centenarians, I must say, are diverse. If for Jeanne it was cheerfulness and activity, then for Kimura, first of all, a moderate and balanced diet.

By the way, the previous record holder, Christian Mortensen, a Dane by birth and an American by nationality, lived the same number of years (115). His contributions to long-lived recipes are no red meat, plenty of fish, optimism, friends and singing.

115 seems to be the most popular age for long-lived people. Puerto Rican del Toro also lived up to these years and was also among the champions. But at the moment, no one has reached this milestone, so now the oldest is again considered the Japanese Tomoji Tanabe, born in 1895. However, before the cherished date, he had not so much left.

total stats

Attention is drawn to the fact that there are much more women-centenarians than men. So, in 2007, 84 people were officially registered in the world, who were over 110 years old, and only nine of them were males.

There are almost two hundred thousand of those who are over 100, but less than 110 years old in the world, and the sex ratio is again not in favor of men, although not so depressing.

A lot of centenarians are given by Japan and mountainous countries, including Abkhazia, Georgia, Circassia, Azerbaijan. In Karachaevsk, a club has even been created called the Society of Centennial Anniversaries, which includes eight members, the youngest of whom is 104 years old. And in Japan, there are more than 28 thousand of those over 100, and this figure is growing every year.

Unofficial centenarians

However, so far we have listed those who, without any doubt, managed to prove their age. This list does not include other "most-most" - long-livers of the planet who did not have the opportunity to prove it for very objective reasons: wars, destroyed churches with records of newborns, small villages where there were no literates ... However, the likelihood of their declared age real is very high. Therefore, it is still worth mentioning the Hungarians Petrij and Zortai, who lived 186 and 185 years respectively, the Ossetian Tense Abzive, who reached 180, the Albanian Khanjer, who died at the age of 170, and the Pakistani Sayyad Mabud, who only a year did not reach 160.

Absolute record

If you do not require absolutely accurate evidence from the contender for the title, then the oldest long-liver of the planet has definitely already been established. The record belongs to a Chinese named Li Ching-Yun, who died in 1933. He himself considered the year of his birth 1736, that is, at the time of his death he was 197 years old. However, this age was refuted, and, oddly enough, in a big way. University professor Wu Changshin discovered documents showing Li's birth as early as 1677. Moreover, reliable, documented data on the congratulations of this person by the Chinese emperor have been preserved, and they related to his anniversaries of 150 and 200 years. Such a double confirmation needs painstaking research, so that Lee's title in the category "Centenarians of the planet" has not yet been proven, but not refuted either.

Mysterious country

However, this is not the only and not the biggest mystery regarding the life span of individual representatives of humanity. For more than a decade, scientists have been haunted by the mystery of the Indian Hunza tribe. Its members do not get sick, do not suffer from caries, have excellent eyesight and live more than 110 years all without exception. And this despite the fact that the neighboring tribes have a complete set of all modern (and even forgotten by civilization) diseases, and the average does not even reach 60. The Hunza have their own recipes for long-livers: meat - only on holidays, vegetables - raw, and a lot of fruits . The main thing in these principles of nutrition is to never deviate from them. Even in spring, in the absence of fresh fruit, they do not deviate from the chosen path. Instead of breakfast-lunch-dinner in these difficult months, the Hunza once a day drink a glass of juice from fruits harvested last summer.

Perhaps the reasons for the longevity and relative outward youth of this people include their habit of swimming in ice-cold water, as well as extreme physical activity. As a result, Hunza women and well over 60 give birth to healthy, viable offspring. And the researchers also noted the high natural cheerfulness of the Hunza, who attribute a significant part of their longevity to her account.

Scientists have not figured out why one another. There are no recipes for longevity applicable to all: someone did not deny themselves bad habits, someone ate only fish or fruits, someone led an active life, and someone allowed himself to be lazy ... The only common feature of all centenarians is optimism and cheerfulness. Maybe this is the cherished philosopher's stone?

Joel Wallock

At present, only 5 nationalities can be counted, whose representatives live to the age of 120-140 years in the East, Tibet and Western China. These people were described as early as 1964. James Hilton, who wrote the book Lost Horizon.

The oldest person, according to the data available there, although I admit that there are some exaggerations, was Dr. Li from China, born in Tibet. When he was 150 years old, he received a special certificate from the imperial Chinese government stating that he was indeed 150 years old, and he was born in 1677.

When he was 200 years old, he received a second charter. Documents testify that he died at the age of 256 years. In 1933, when he died, he was featured in The New York Times and The London Times. Everything was pretty well documented.

In eastern Pakistan, there lived a group of people who were called Bogaz. These people are also known as centenarians. They lived 120-140 years. Georgians who consume sour-milk products live up to 120 years. Armenians, Abkhazians, Azerbaijanis live, perfectly preserved, up to 120-140 years.

In 1973, the January issue of the National Geographic ran a special article about people who lived to be 100 years old or more. These materials are supplied with fine illustrations for which this magazine is famous. I remember three of this many photos:

• One shows a woman aged 136. She sat in an armchair, smoked a Cuban cigar, drank vodka and took part in the party. She had a great time, not chained to a bed in a nursing home, which still needs to allocate $ 2,000 from her account every month. She enjoyed life at 136 years old.
• Another photo showed two married couples celebrating their 100th and 115th wedding anniversaries.
• The third photo showed a man picking tea in the mountains of Armenia, listening to a small transistor radio. According to the records of his metrics: dates of birth, baptism, records of the data of his children, he is 167 years old, and he was the oldest person on the planet at that time.

In the western hemisphere, the Volcobanda Indians and the famous inhabitants of Ecuador who lived in the Andes, in southeastern Peru, as well as the beloved tribes of Titicaca and Machu Picchu, are famous for their centenarians. So, the representatives of the oldest tribe of Titicaca live 120 years.

American Margaret Peach from Virginia, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest American, died at the age of 115 from malnutrition. More precisely, she died from complications after the fall. Who among you will say what she could die from?

Correct for osteoporosis. The woman died from calcium deficiency in the body. She did not have heart failure, cancer, or diabetes, but she died three weeks after the fall. She didn't have enough calcium in her body.

Very interestingly, her daughter said that before she died, Margaret Peach had a craving for sweets. This disease is known as Pika. Usually, if you are too addicted to chocolate or sweets, it means that your body lacks chromium and vanadium.

In one of the third countries of the world, in Nigeria, the leader of the Baue tribe died at the age of 126 years. At the funeral, one of his many wives boasted that when her husband died at the age of 126, he had all his teeth, and this is a sign that his other organs also performed their functions properly.

One man from Syria died at the age of 133 in July 1993. He was included in the Guinness Book of Records not because he was 133 years old, many live to this age, and not because at the age of 80 he married 4 times, but because after 80 years he became the father of 9 -ty children.

If you calculate that each child needs 9 months plus a year for breast-feeding and the year between each child, you will get that this hero-producer became a father even after 100 years. After that, it was entered into the Guinness Book of Records.

So don't despair guys, there is still hope for you!

Now for some science. November 1993 in Arizona, an interesting experiment was made: three couples spent three years in isolation, where they ate healthy food that they grew themselves, breathed purified air and drank uncontaminated water.

When they left, they were examined by gerontologists from the University of California at Los Angeles. All the data, blood tests and other vital signs were put into the computer of the University of Los Angeles, which made a prediction that if they continued to live in the same mode, they could live 165 years.

And all this once again proves that it is quite possible to live 120-140 years. The average life expectancy of Americans today is 75.5 years, and the life expectancy of a master's degree or a doctor is 58 years.

So if you want to take 20 statistical years off your life, don't go to medical school.

There are two main things you need to do to become a centenarian. If you really want to live to 100-140 years old, remember the most important thing:

First, you need to avoid dangers, do not step on mines, i.e. meaning to avoid senseless and unreasonable dangers.

Of course, if you play Russian roulette, smoke, drink, run out into the middle of a freeway at rush hour to get hit by a car, you are unlikely to live to be 120.

It all sounds funny, but you have no idea, thousands of people die a year because of doing such stupid things. And I want you to think about this: where possible, you must protect and protect yourself. In other words, if you have the opportunity to prevent a disease, especially an incurable one, you must definitely use this opportunity.

Secondly, you should only do what benefits ... (for yourself and others).

Remember, in children's fairy tales, it is very often mentioned that, they say, a certain positive hero, after certain, as a rule, successful deeds, rules, and lived for a long, long time? Surely many of us can remember even a few examples.

But have you ever thought about someone who actually lives 300 years? And are there such creatures in the world at all, or is all this longevity nothing more than another fiction of science fiction writers?

Let's try to understand the situation. In this article, from a scientific point of view, we will follow and justify who lives 300 years on planet Earth and whether this is possible in principle. The reader will get acquainted with several types of living beings and receive brief description their livelihoods.

Section 1. General Information

Agree, the theme of immortality has always worried mankind. Perhaps it would be foolish to ask the question "why". Well, of course, the whole point is that this would allow people to have power over all living things. Can you imagine what would happen if we finally acquired the ability to regenerate unhealthy organs and restore lost limbs? To put it mildly, it would be great!

To date, the best scientists on the planet are working on the problem of life extension, but, unfortunately, this remains only within the limits of dreams.

But if for us this kind of possibility is just a fantasy, then for many animals it is in the order of things. Of course, they do not live forever, and just like us, they grow old and die over time, but compared to humans, these are real longevity champions. And some individuals even survived their brethren and were eyewitnesses of many historical events on the planet. It is a pity that we have not learned to understand them properly ... How much valuable information could be obtained!

So which animal living on Earth lives the longest? Are there any record holders? Let's take a look at a few compelling examples.

Section 2. Amazing red sea urchin

These mysterious sea creatures live in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, mainly off the west coast. North America. Red sea ​​urchins prefer quiet places on the practically uninhabited ocean floor and usually live at a depth of at least 90 meters. Their life span is several centuries.

Scientists know that all of them move little, attach to the sea soil and feed mainly only on small organisms, which are swallowed with water and then filtered.

Modern researchers believe that echinoderms of this species are practically immortal and show no signs of aging. By the way, sea urchins and at the age of one hundred years are as prolific as their ten-year-old relatives. They can only die from diseases or predators.

Indeed, a sea urchin is one who lives 300 years, and maybe longer.

Section 3. Have you heard about the tuatara?

This mysterious animal was not properly studied until many years after its discovery. Subsequently, it turned out that such creatures disappeared from the face of the earth many millions of years ago, and the hatteria remained the only species of this order of reptiles.

It is extremely interesting that internal structure Tuatara has a similar physiology to the crocodile, turtle, fish and snake, as well as to the ancient, long-extinct megalosaurs, ichthyosaurs and teleosaurs.

Today, we can say with confidence that tuatara are contemporaries of the dinosaur era and can reach the age of two hundred years.

Section 4. Bowhead whale

The bowhead whale is dark in color and lacks dorsal. The length of this giant mammal can reach 20 meters, and weight - 100 tons.

Unlike other whales that migrate elsewhere to breed, the bowhead whale lives only in arctic and subarctic waters. Unfortunately, these giants have been greatly reduced in our days, and they are certainly in danger.

In one of the articles by a scientist from the University of Alaska, Ned Rozelle, a whale over 210 years old is described. True, it should be noted that the accuracy of the method used to determine the age range was only 16%, which means that there is a huge probability that this animal could be 177-245 years old.

Research data show that the bowhead whale is one of the oldest mammals on the planet, although mass media, as a rule, there is information that turtles live for 300 years among the permanent inhabitants of the water depths, and for all other representatives of the underwater kingdom this is simply impossible. Worth considering...

Section 5 Hanako Koi

The koi carp belongs to the ornamental variety of common carps, which are bred in garden ponds familiar to all of us.

Fish of this species may have a different color, pattern or scale size. The most common colors are white, black, red, yellow, blue or cream.

Interestingly, the age of a carp can be calculated by the number of rings on the scales. By the way, the age of a tree is also determined by the rings located on the trunk. The oldest koi, Hanako, who died in July 1977, lived to be 226 years old.

Section 6. Giant tortoise

Long-lived reptiles include giant Seychelles tortoises, which are famous for their longevity. Their life expectancy averages 100-150 years. Of course, they cannot be attributed to those who actually live 300 years, but, according to the research of modern scientists, one of these representatives of the mentioned species was the Advaita tortoise, which surpassed all its relatives and lived for more than 250 years.

Advaita spent the last century of her existence in captivity in the Calcutta Zoo, where she died at a fairly advanced age. Not even affected by the absence natural environment habitats and limited space, which in most cases, as a rule, has a detrimental effect on animals.

Section 7. Goldfish Tishka

Decorative fish that live in aquariums do not differ in particular vitality and longevity, often get sick and die. Usually they please their owners for no more than one year. But alone gold fish named Tish became a real champion in love of life and spent 43 years in the aquarium.

The owners accidentally won a small fish at an auction. With them, she spent her whole life until old age. She entered the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest aquarium fish in the world.

Section 8. Does a Raven Really Live for 300 Years?

In general, I would immediately like to note that such a statement is nothing more than a myth invented by lovers of these birds and connecting many mysteries, legends and secrets with them.

So, let's try to figure it out and look at the problem from a scientific point of view. How long does a raven live? 300 years? 200? Or maybe he is completely immortal?

It has always been believed that these representatives of the genus of birds can live for more than a hundred years. But, speaking about the life span of these birds, you need to decide which crows will be discussed. What is the snag? Let's try to explain. The thing is that there are two species: crows and crows, each of which has its own life expectancy, depending on the habitat and content.

So, crows. In nature, these living beings are subject to various diseases, attacks by enemies and malnutrition. Given that these birds live mainly next to humans, the ecological situation in large cities is also of great importance. What follows from this? Very simple! To the question of what kind of bird lives for 300 years, you can safely answer: definitely not a crow! In captivity, she can live up to 30 years, and in nature - no more than 10-15.

Their fellow crows are much larger and more beautiful, their pitch black plumage glitters and shimmers in green, blue and purple. However, the question "why crows live 300 years", unfortunately, can be classified as rhetorical. Why? The thing is that this is longevity, as are the stories that these birds have nine human lives, not more than beautiful legend not supported by any scientific evidence.

And yet, how long do ravens live? In fact, individual individuals in captivity can live up to a maximum of 70 years. And in natural habitats, their life span is even shorter - 30-40 years, on average, birds die at the age of 10-15 years.

Section 9. Immortal inhabitant of the planet Earth

True, is it not, but the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula, which lives in tropical and temperate waters, is considered an immortal inhabitant of our planet.

The uniqueness of this creature is that it is able to reverse its life cycle development - from an adult, it again returns to initial stage, turning into a small polyp. The secret of the eternal life of the jellyfish lies in the ability of transdifferentiation, which consists in the transformation of cells of one type into another. This phenomenon is still little studied by scientists.

An adult jellyfish, having reached puberty, settles on the seabed, retracts its tentacles and begins to turn into a polyp. The transformation of the cells of the whole body can take place indefinitely, so these creatures are able to live forever. It has been proved that the death of gelatinous organisms of the mentioned species is not associated with old age. Various diseases and predators pose a great danger to them. Thanks to a peculiar gift of rebirth, these jellyfish inhabit almost the entire world's oceans, and they are not threatened with extinction.

Scientists are interested in studying the phenomenon of the immortality of jellyfish. All studies are conducted in laboratory conditions, and experts hope that scientific work help solve the mystery eternal life and youth. Well, as they say, wait and see!