The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, has been cultivated in the Emirates for thousands of years. Date stones (pips) have been found on a 7000 year old archaeological site on Dalma. Traditional cultivation of palms in desert and mountain oases, using sophisticated techniques for tapping underground water, provided more than the fruit itself.The leaves and trunks of the tree were used for many purposes, including basket-making, house-building and boat-building. In the last thirty years, the availability of more water, through tapping of aquifers, desalination and recycling, has permitted massive expansion in the date industry. From around 5 million trees in 1970, the total has risen to over 30 million, producing nearly 400,000 tons of dates a year, making the UAE one of the world's top producers. The country is also a world leader in date palm bio-technology, using advanced tissue culture techniques to produce millions of young trees a year. Once a part of the staple diet of the UAE's people, the date is now the centre of a rapidly growing agricultural industry.