Though I wish such a connection were possible, I think it’s impossible to draw a direct connection between the the time in which these fossils are estimated to have lived (e.g. 3.2-3.5 billion years ago) and the origin of
Homo sapiens. However, life appearing as early as 3.5 billion years ago, possibly earlier, suggests that there’s fundamental in the nature of fundamental forces that may give rise, not only to life, but to conscious life. That may be strictly explained by materialist explanation of the universe, but what an odd coincidence! (Atheist often raise the “anthropic principle” as a way of getting around this coincidence, saying that “all possible worlds” exist, but that doesn’t do away with basic questions of existence or God.)
On the “earliest fossil” issue, there are a few references to which I have access, which may or may not be freely available on the web (if not, try a local library). Here are their references and abstracts. I don’t intend this to be an exhaustive search, and should caveat that some geologists are skeptical that the Australian fossils found in the “chert” rocks are in fact biological. I think, however, that most geologists do think these are real fossils. Please take that with a cubic meter of salt, since I’m not a geologist!
Schopf, J.W.; Packer, B.M. (1987) Early Archean (3.3-billion to 3.5-billion-year-old) microfossils from Warrawoona Group, Australia. Science 237: 70 - 73
DOI: 10.1126/science.11539686
sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;237/4810/70
Cellularly preserved filamentous and colonial fossil microorganisms have been discovered in bedded carbonaceous cherts from the Early Archean Apex Basalt and Towers Formation of northwestern Western Australia. The cell types detected suggest that cyanobacteria, and therefore oxygen-producing photosynthesis, may have been extant as early as 3.3 billion to 3.5 billion years ago. These fossils are among the oldest now known from the geologic record; their discovery substantiates previous reports of Early Archean microfossils in Warrawoona Group strata.
Nature 416, 73-76 (7 March 2002) | doi:10.1038/416073a. Laser–Raman imagery of Earth’s earliest fossils. J. William Schopf, Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev, David G. Agresti, Thomas J. Wdowiak & Andrew D. Czaja sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;237/4810/70
Unlike the familiar Phanerozoic history of life, evolution during the earlier and much longer Precambrian segment of geological time centred on prokaryotic microbes. Because such microorganisms are minute, are preserved incompletely in geological materials, and have simple morphologies that can be mimicked by nonbiological mineral microstructures, discriminating between true microbial fossils and microscopic pseudofossil ‘lookalikes’ can be difficult. Thus, valid identification of fossil microbes, which is essential to understanding the prokaryote-dominated, Precambrian 85% of life’s history, can require more than traditional palaeontology that is focused on morphology. By combining optically discernible morphology with analyses of chemical composition, laser–Raman spectroscopic imagery of individual microscopic fossils provides a means by which to address this need. Here we apply this technique to exceptionally ancient fossil microbe-like objects, including the oldest such specimens reported from the geological record, and show that the results obtained substantiate the biological origin of the earliest cellular fossils known.
Catling, D.C.; Claire, M.W. (2005) How Earth’s atmosphere evolved to an oxic state: a status report. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 237: 1-20.
Nora Noffke, Microbially induced sedimentary structures in Archean sandstones: A new window into early life, Gondwana Research, Volume 11, Issue 3, April 2007, Pages 336-342, ISSN 1342-937X, DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2006.10.004.
(
sciencedirect.com/science/article/B7XNB-4MH2H9T-1/2/c8cf8eaa231b283912a0c5e738cc2498)
Until now, the most valuable information on the early life on the Archean Earth derived from bacterial fossils and stromatolites preserved in precipitated lithologies such as chert or carbonates. Also, shales contain complex biomarker molecules, and specific isotopes constitute an important evidence for biogeneicity. In contrast, because of their low potential of fossil preservation, sandstones have been less investigated. But recent studies revealed a variety of
microbially induced sedimentary structures -- MISS' that differ greatly from any other fossils or sedimentary structures. Wrinkle structures’,
multidirected ripple marks', biolaminites’, and other macrostructures indicate the former presence of photoautotrophic microbial mats in shallow-marine to tidal paleoenvironments. The MISS form by the mechanical interaction of microbial mats with physical sediment dynamics that is the erosion and deposition by water agitation. The structures occur not only in Archean tidal flats, but in equivalent settings throughout Earth history until today. MISS are not identified alone by their macroscopic morphologies. In thin-sections, the structures display the carpet-like fabrics of intertwined filaments of the ancient mat-constructing microorganisms. Geochemical analyses of the filaments proof their composition of iron minerals associated with organic carbon. In conclusion, microbial mats colonize sandy tidal settings at least for 3.2 Ga years. Therefore, Archean sandstones constitute an important archive for the exploration of early life.
