Scientists say this Greenland rock is oldest fossil ever found, dating life on Earth 3.7 billion years ago

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In this photo provided by scientist Allen Nutman, a rock shows fossilised stromatolites dating back 3.7 billion years, making it the oldest evidence of life on Earth. Photo: AP

Published: 8:24am, 1 Sep 2016Updated: 8:33am, 1 Sep 2016

The earliest fossil evidence of life on Earth has been found in rocks 3.7 billion years old in Greenland, raising chances of life on Mars aeons ago when both planets were similarly desolate, scientists said on Wednesday.

The experts found tiny humps, between one and 4 cm tall, in rocks at Isua in south-west Greenland that they said were fossilised groups of microbes similar to ones now found in seas from Bermuda to Australia.

If confirmed as fossilised communities of bacteria known as stromatolites - rather than a freak natural formation - the lumps would pre-date fossils found in Australia as the earliest evidence of life on Earth by 220 million years.

“This indicates the Earth was no longer some sort of hell 3.7 billion years ago,” lead author Allen Nutman, of the University of Wollongong, said of the findings that were published in the journal Nature.

“It was a place where life could flourish.”

Allen Nutman of the University of Woollongong and Vickie Bennet of the Australian National University, pictured in Canberra, Australia, hold a specimen of 3.7 billion-year-old fossils found in Greenland. Photo: Reuters

Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago and the relative sophistication of stromatolites indicated that life had evolved quickly after a bombardment by asteroids ended about 4 billion years ago.