Most us might think that the world's oldest colour is black or dark grey. However, scientists have found that bright pink is the oldest known colour. Researchers looked 1.1-billion-year-old rocks deep the Sahara Desert. They crushed the rocks powder and found the bright pink colouring them. This means that pink is the oldest colour geological record. Dr. Nur Gueneli from the Australia National University led the research. She made the discovery a lab in Australia. Dr. Gueneli said the colour was produced ancient organisms that lived in the oceans. She added that the oceans are so old they no longer exist. At that time, tiny organisms were the largest life forms Earth.
Dr. Gueneli said her first reaction was "sheer amazement". She said her team thought the rock powder might turn black when they were doing their experiments it. Instead, it turned pink. Another researcher said: "I remember I heard this screaming the lab. Dr. Gueneli came running my office and said, 'look at this,' and she had this bright pink stuff…It turned to be real colour, 1.1 billion years old." The rocks could contain other colours, from a blood red to a deep purple. Gueneli explained how important her find was. She said: "Imagine you could find a fossilized dinosaur skin that still has its original colour - green or blue. That is exactly the type of discovery that we've made."
