I took the 4000 year-old example from memory
and it may have been someone's exageration or
a myth, but some web research yielded information
about some seeds that remain viable after 1200
years. Here is a clip from that page:
-----------------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES -- Scientists studying the origins
of life have germinated the oldest known seed ever
found -- a 1,200-year-old lotus seed from China.

"A little seed that slept for more than 1,000 years
sprouted in four days just like its modern sibling,"
plant physiologist Jane Shen-Miller, of the University
of California at Los Angeles, said Monday.

Her husband, paleobiologist William Schopf, who
heads UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution
and the Origin of Life, said: "It seems impossible for
a plant miraculously to be brought back to life after
more than 1,000 years."
------------------------------------------------------
source:
http://www.flowerpictures.net/lotus/lotus_seeds.htm


"Cereus-validus" wrote in message
. ..
Yes seeds are alive.

Exactly which 4000 year old seeds found in the desert grew?

Your line of reasoning (if it can be called that) is based on a fable and
not fact.

There are also examples of animals, especially frogs and lung fish, that
can
survive many years in hibernation and come out of it. But 4000 years is a
bit much to believe or even prove.

But then again there are the remarkable "water bears".

http://www.q7.com/~vvv/tardigrade/


"Miss Chanandler Bong" wrote in message
om...
Are seeds alive or not? Seeds have been
found in the desert and that are 4000 years
old, but when put in moist soil, they grow.

So where does the life come from? Is it generated
when conditions are right? Or was the seed alive
but dormant? Do the conditions make life? Can't
find answers - I don't think anyone knows.