Archaeopteryx and all that

Tuesday 7 November

Our first stop was a visit to the Jura Museum Eichstaett where we were introduced to Dr Guenther Viohl who was to be our guide to the fossils of Solnhofen for the next two days. He was the director of the museum until his retirement two years ago. The museum used to form the natural history collections of a theological seminary where biology (!) and natural sciences were part of the curriculum until 1968. It is housed in the magnificent Willibaldsburg, a castle standing proudly on a hilltop overlooking Eichstaett.

Here we were able to view our first "real" Archeopteryx, having already seen the excellent copy of an original housed in the Bavarian Palaeontological Museum in Munich. This was the first 'missing link'which Darwin predicted in his Origin of Species (1859) and an example of this fossil was found in 1861. This organism is a "dinosaur with feathers" and indicates a transition from dinosaurs to modern birds. The exhibit here was excellently displayed giving comparisons with all the other examples. Dee Edwards had already shown us how we could tell an original by the dentrites growing out from the fossil which would be extremely difficult to copy in such intricate detail. (The copy might be worth even more than the original).

The Archaeopteryx specimen in the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt

There were also a number of excellent exhibits of other fossils which had been found in the Solnhofen quarries. A novel feature of the museum was the aquarium where comparisons could be made between the "living fossils" and their long dead ancestors. The corals growing were absolutely stunning and the visit was worthwhile for these alone.

On our way to Solnhofen for lunch and our next visit we passed some outstanding examples of Germany's serious efforts to use alternative energy. The south-facing roofs fairly bristled with solar panels.

During the afternoon we visited the Buerger-Meister-Mueller Museum in Solnhofen. Here the exhibits were absolutely mouth-watering and there were many covetous looks at the beautifully preserved fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods and a general feeling that our own purchases at the Munich Fossil and Mineral Fair were rather insignificant by comparison. The finds in Solnhofen include fishes, jelly-fish, ammonites, insects, including a magnificent dragon-fly, shrimps, crabs, plants, sea urchins, star fish and sea lilies. Another good original example of Archeopteryx was on display as well as a fragment. We also saw an exhibition for one of the uses of the limestone found in the Solnhofen quarries. The stones were so thick (about 5-8 cm) and regular that they were used for lithographical printing during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Some of the Admiralty charts that we still use may have been printed using limestone slabs from Solnhofen.

The London specimen Found in 1861, near Langenaltheim. Now in the British Museum of Natural History in London

Eileen A Lawley