Earth’s earliest continents formed the nuclei for crustal growth and were a first step towards developing a habitable environment in which life could develop and diversify. But what do we know about these continents? What were they made of and made from? How did they influence the global oxygen cycle? And what was the mantle doing at the time? This presentation will provide a few examples of research in geochronology, and trace-element and isotope geochemistry, which aims to address these questions.