--- title: Scientists Say They May Have Found Oldest Life on Earth description: Organic material dating back 3.95 billion years found in northern Canada may be the some of the earliest known life on Earth canonical: https://time.com/4961749/oldest-life-on-earth-found-labrador/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-28T23:08:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:39:03.965Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Say They've Found What Could Be Oldest Life on Earth og:description: It's nearly 4 billion years old og:url: https://time.com/4961749/oldest-life-on-earth-found-labrador/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1426c4b163b4811b/6988dfd9096a94598769fc8f/old-evidence-life-canada.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: old-evidence-life-canada og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Say They've Found What Could Be Oldest Life on Earth twitter:description: It's nearly 4 billion years old twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1426c4b163b4811b/6988dfd9096a94598769fc8f/old-evidence-life-canada.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Say They've Found What Could Be the Oldest Life on Earth  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 28, 2017 11:08 PM UTC  Leith Harbour whaling station, South Georgia Leith Harbour whaling station, South GeorgiaGetty Images/iStockphoto  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 28, 2017 11:08 PM UTC Organic material dating back 3.95 billion years found in Canada may be the some of the earliest known life on Earth, according to new research [published](http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature24019) in the journal _Nature_. An analysis of graphite found in Canada’s Labrador region showed that the material was biogenic — meaning it was created by living organisms. The rock in which the material was found 3.95 billion years old, providing an indication of the graphite sample’s age. The scientists analyzed the rocks to determine that they were not later contaminated with the organic material. Researchers have struggled to study organic material of that age because many of the rocks from that era have not survived to the present day. With that in mind, researchers say the discovery will advance scientific understanding of both early life on Earth — the material dates back to approximately 500 million years after Earth formed — and the potential life on other planets. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4961749/oldest-life-on-earth-found-labrador/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4961749/oldest-life-on-earth-found-labrador/"},"headline":"Scientists Say They've Found What Could Be the Oldest Life on Earth","datePublished":"2017-09-28T23:08:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:39:03.965Z","description":"It's nearly 4 billion years old","url":"https://time.com/4961749/oldest-life-on-earth-found-labrador/","keywords":["geology","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1426c4b163b4811b/6988dfd9096a94598769fc8f/old-evidence-life-canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1426c4b163b4811b/6988dfd9096a94598769fc8f/old-evidence-life-canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"old-evidence-life-canada","caption":"canada evidence life","creditText":"Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/geology/","name":"geology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4961749/oldest-life-on-earth-found-labrador/","name":"Scientists Say They've Found What Could Be the Oldest Life on Earth"}}]}] ```