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eventREF E-0013602Revised

Event record

Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago

Date
29 Sep 2004
Updated
2 Sep 2025
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News 24 announced that geologists Michael M. Tice and Professor Donald R. Lowe of Stanford University in the United States, assisted locally by South African geologist Nicolas Beukes, found evidence of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago. This discovery was made studying fossilised micro-organisms taken from 3.8-billion-year-old sedimentary rock at Barberton, Mpumalanga.  The remarkable find was announced on 30 September in the science journal 'Nature'. This discovery reconfirmed an earlier theory, ditched by scientists in the past that these life forms relied on sunlight to live. Barberton is 1 of only 2 known locations worldwide of rocks formed in the shallow waters of an open ocean system more than 3 billion years ago - long before humans began inhabiting the earth (approximately 2 million years ago).

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How we know this

  1. 01Astrophysics and Space Science Library (2005).Early Life on Earth: The Ancient Fossil Record. In Astrobiology: Future Perspectives vol 305, Springer; Netherlands.
  2. 02news24,(2004) 'Life on earth 3.4bn years ago', from news24 [online]. Available at: www.news24.com [accessed 18 September 2013]

Last updated · 2 Sep 2025

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013602

South African History Online (2011) 'Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013602 (Accessed: 10 September 2026).

South African History Online, Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013602, (accessed 10 September 2026).

"Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013602. Accessed 10 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013602.

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