India rock dated to 3.4 billion years may preserve Earth's oldest life signs

Evidence of the oldest life on Earth has been discovered in India. In recent scientific findings in eastern India, biological traces buried for almost 3.5 billion years were revealed. The revelation suggests a much more distant and organic origin for the planet.The samples were taken from the Singhbhum geological block, which preserves cellular remains trapped between layers of volcanic ash. Dark, carbon-rich bands alternate with pale silica, preserving a layered record of the environment in which the rock formed. The material survived almost intact through multiple terrestrial mechanical transformations. A team of international scientists conducted spectroscopic analyses to confirm the presence of photosynthetic processes and complex metabolic pathways.