Jurassic Park

Bavaria, a state in the southern part of Germany, is known for its incredible scenery. Solnhofen, a Bavarian town not far from the Danube River, is world-famous for its limestone deposits.

Since the Stone Age people in the area have used the material (called Plattenkalk by Germans today) for roof and floor tiles. But the Bavarian limestone is not merely good building material. It is the source of some of the most incredible fossils from Jurassic times.

Remarkably preserved, a jellyfish, a "sea lily" (which is a type of echinoderm), a dragonfly (with a 15-cm wingspan), and a very large beetle are clearly visible in the Solnhofen Limestone.

Alligatorellus, a small crocodile, once lived in these parts. So did crustaceans and birds. This link (to the University of California at Berkeley’s web site) depicts what some scientists believe is a bird - Archaeopteryx - possessing reptilian features. It is one of the most important fossils ever found.

A similar fossil (called the "Berlin Archaeopteryx") was found sixteen years later (in 1877) in the same type of Solnhofen limestone.

Jurassic-age fossils provide paleontologists with scientific evidence. But that evidence points to a significant misconception: Dinosaurs popularly associated with the Jurassic age (T-Rex, Triceratops, Velociraptors, and Pteranodons) actually lived much later.

What scientific evidence do we have about them?