Fig Tree Chert.

The oldest amino acids known to exist were found in 1968 in the Fig Tree Chert, a formation of Precambrian rock located near Barberton, South Africa. The rocks were dated as being 3.1 billion years old. Older rocks containing fossils have been found since then, but this was the oldest known at the time. The rocks, studied by J. William Schopf and Elso S. Barghoorn of Harvard and Keith A. Kvenovolden of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), were known to contain what looked like fossils of algae and bacteria, some of the earliest forms of life. Using a process called chromatography to separate chemicals, the scientists found a series of amino acids. The Fig Tree Chert contained two free and seventeen combined amino acids.

The Essential Element of Life.

There are about twenty natural amino acids, and they link...