Page 48 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

EuropE
Solnhofen

#SPNCBDITFF
"MUNŸIM 2EGENSBURG
In the late jurassIc of 150 million years ago, the southern 4REUCHTLINGEN
region of Germany lay near the Tethys Ocean. Away from the
coast were lagoons of still water, and between them were 3OLNHOFEN
islands on which dinosaurs lived. But it is not land-living %BOVCF )NGOLSTADT
reptiles for which this lost world is famous, as they are rarely
found. When the waters of the lagoons dried up, and their -FDI
muddy sediments turned into limestone, it preserved the
bodies of flying reptiles that had sunk to the bottom. As the
limestone quarries of Solnhofen were opened up, more than u SITE LoCATIoN
1,000 of these pterosaurs were revealed, Solnhofen is a town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It gives
together with an early bird its name to the limestone found in its vicinity, which began
called Archaeopteryx. to form in Jurassic times when the area was below water.

u ArCHAEopTErYX FoSSIL
Fossils of Archaeopteryx are known
only from Solnhofen. The first
were found in the 1860s, and a
Jaws were lined total of nine specimens are now
with small, u SoLNHoFEN LIMESToNE
sharp teeth in existence. The fine grain of the
limestone has preserved their The limestone from Solnhofen is fine-grained, smooth,
bones and feathers in great detail. and pure. It is these qualities that led to it being quarried
u ArCHAEopTErYX from the 1800s onward, and quarry workers were the first
This primitive bird flapped its feathered wings over to see the fossils of ancient animals within the stone.
land and water. When not airborne, Archaeopteryx
lived on the ground. Its toes were not designed
for perching, so it is unlikely to have
spent much time in trees. Related to
small-sized meat-eating dinosaurs,
Archaeopteryx may have been
a predator, too.

, CoMpSoGNATHuS
The only dinosaur discovered at Solnhofen is
Compsognathus. This tiny carnivore—one of the smallest
of all dinosaurs—may have hunted for little reptiles and
insects. As a dinosaur, it can only have lived on land, so
how did it end up in the water of Solnhofen? Perhaps a
river carried its dead body from the land to the lagoon,
where it sank and became a fossil.
Birdlike feet had
three clawed toes
facing forward

did you know?

. Solnhofen’s limestone has preserved the remains
of more than 500 different Jurassic animal
species, giving us a glimpse of life above and
below water level. There are fossils of fish,
turtles, starfish, jellyfish, ammonites, and
worms, together with creatures of the sky and
land that somehow ended up in the water.