Storiascopio · Era 1 of 12 · primary year 3
The first life on Earth
about 3.5 billion years ago · Seas of the early Earth
In short
The oldest traces of life are hard to recognise, because the rocks have changed many times. In Western Australia there are stromatolites, layered rocks built by colonies of microbes, about 3.45 billion years old. In Greenland some structures 3.7 billion years old might be even older signs of life, but scientists do not agree. Those first living things were cells without a nucleus, very different from plants and animals.
Why it matters The arrival of life turned the Earth from a planet of rocks alone into a living world.
Source: NASA Astrobiology, “On the Ground in Greenland”
Where we are in the era “The Earth before us”
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about 13.8 billion years agoEvent 9 of 25about 66 million years ago
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/the-first-life-on-earth/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class