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Except in exceptional circumstances, real Archean microfossils should occur in thin sections of low-grade rocks of sedimentary origin, consist of kerogen, exceed the minimum size for independently viable cells, co-exist with others of similar morphology, have a hollow structure and display cellular elaboration. Of less value are the statistical and isotopic parameters that have been proposed as biogenicity tests, which often fail to distinguish biological from abiotic assemblages. Six classes of microfossil-like objects from a ca. 3500 m.y. old chert-barite unit in the Warrawoona Group at North Pole, Western Australia, are evaluated using the above techniques. Despite their close resemblances to modern and fossil assemblages of filamentous and coccoid prokaryotic micro-organisms, none of the objects are demonstrably biogenic in origin
Roger Buick (Mon,) studied this question.