3.42-billion-year-old fossil threads may be the oldest known archaea microbes
The structure and chemistry of the filaments hints that they may be ancient cells
![microscope image of archaea](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/071621_cw_microbe-fossils_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C580&ssl=1)
If the real deal, fossils of methane-producing archaea (shown, in a cluster at center and as individual threads nearby) would be the earliest found by far, predating specimens from less than 500 million years ago.
B. Cavalazzi