A new study indicates that diamonds are nearly as old as the Earth itself. Scientists from the Institute of Mineralogy unearthed diamonds more than 4 billion years old that were trapped inside crystals of zircon in the Jack hills region in Western Australia. Considered the oldest terrestrial diamonds ever discovered, they could give insights into early evolutional stages of Earth’s crust.

What is interesting about Zircon crystals is that they are relatively resistant to melting, which means they retain their chemical composition and hold vital clues as to the past events of the Earth’s formation. Recent studies of zircon indicate the Earth may have cooled more rapidly than previously thought, which means ocean and continent formation as far back as 4.4 billion years. The full study will be in tomorrows issue of the journal Nature.

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