The more I think about this the more I’d like to know just what they found. Was it truly multicellular organisms or was it really colonies of unicellular life? This sure changes the traditional timeline.
Rocks show life began 1bn years earlier than first thoughtScientists studying Australian rocks have found evidence that primitive forms of life existed 2.7bn years ago - a billion years earlier than had been previously shown... The finding pushes back evidence of life to the Archean era, the period from the beginning of earth to about 2.5bn years ago... Most rocks as old as the ones studied have undergone a process called metamorphism, an intense geological heating that changes them and which scientists believed would destroy any organic compounds they contained. But the shales studied by this team were well-preserved and still contained the biological chemicals. The researchers found evidence of organic compounds called lipids in the sedimentary rocks located more than 2,100ft deep in north-western Australia's Roy Hill Shale and Marra Mamba Formations. The rocks formed a seabed 2.6 bn to 2.7 bn years ago... Because of their complexity, eukaryotes were thought to have developed relatively late in earth's history. This discovery pushes the date for their appearance back to the earliest part of geological time.
The Guardian
Saturday August 14, 1999
[orig: www.newsunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,73745,00.html]Early life theory takes a biffMoreover, the carbon isotopic basis used for interpreting its organic origin is questionable, the authors say. The authors demonstrate that much of the fine layering in the banded rocks, interpreted as a typical BIF (Banded Iron Formation) sedimentary structure, was in fact formed as a result of metamorphic processes.
May 24, 2002
A chemical study of the rocks also points away from a BIF origin for the banded rock. Analyses of green bands show that their composition is very similar to komatiite, a type of basalt. If this is correct there is little chance that the preserved graphite represents past life.
Recent studies of hydrothermal vents on mid-ocean ridges have also shown that basalt-like rocks can interact with water to form carbon compounds by non-biological processes, leaving an isotopic signature similar to that of metabolic function. While it is possible life existed on Earth when the rocks on Akilia formed, direct evidence for life older than approximately 3.8 billion years ago is still lacking.