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Pieces of the Sky We glimpse the ancient past through rocks that have survived their fall through Earth's atmosphere. Some of these meteorites, a type called carbonaceous chondrites, contain material virtually unaltered since the formation of our solar system. In this sample from the Allende meteorite, which fell in 1969, the 0.5-millimeter spherical chondrules appear in a dark, carbon-rich matrix. Some carbonaceous chondrites contain complex organiC molecules, including amino acids, the building blocks of carbon-based life. John L. Berkley