Oldest macroscopic organism

There are two contenders for the title of oldest macroscopic (visible to the naked eye) fossils discovered to date. The first is a primitive, filament-like ancestor of algae, called Grypania cf. spiralis, found in the Negaunee Iron Formation of Michigan, USA. The second is a range of as-yet-classified organisms of varying shapes and sizes unearthed in Gabon's Franceville Basin in 2010, collectively known as the "Gabonionta" or "Francevillian biota". Scientists have determined that both sets of fossils date to around 2.1 billion years old.

Both organisms were marine creatures living in Earth's Proterozoic oceans.