(CNN) - According to a recent study, researchers found ancient bright pink pigments in rocks in the Sahara that are more than a billion years old.
Researchers say that makes them the oldest colors in the geological record.
Scientists discovered the pigments by crushing the rocks into powder and extracting the molecules of the ancient organisms inside them.
They say analysis of the discovery confirms that microscopic bacteria dominated the ocean's food chain before animals could even exist.
Scientists from ANU and overseas have discovered the oldest colours in the geological record, 1.1 billion-year-old bright pink pigments extracted from rocks deep beneath the Sahara desert in Africa: https://t.co/zoew8ZfjET pic.twitter.com/D6MaFBQ52w
— ANU Media (@ANUmedia) July 9, 2018
The bacteria started disappearing about 650 million years ago with the emergence of algae, which could support animal life.
The research was published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.
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