The most ancient evidence of life on our planet dates back roughly 3.5 billion years ago.
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Unfortunately, most early life forms are too small to be preserved in the fossil record. And too old — there are only really a few places on the planet with rocks ancient enough to carry that kind of fossil evidence. “It is a real detective story,” says William Schopf, a paleobiologist with the University of California, Los Angeles.Life is believed to date back several billion years at least — and in that time, the geological cycle of our planet has changed a lot, even for rocks. Rocks and the fossils they carry are often buried in sediment. Over time, tectonic movement pushes these rocks back up to the surface, where tides, winds and other processes erode them away.
During this time, the planet did not yet have oxygen, Schopf says. Ancient iron doesn’t start to show traces of rust — a telltale sign of oxygen in the atmosphere
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