Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx by Karl Zittel, 1883

What is (or was) Archaeopteryx?

Archaeopteryx lithographica is the scientific name for a fossil bird from the Jurassic age (approx. 150 Million years old) that was first described in 1861, two years after the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. One of the bird’s most outstanding characters was its griffin-like appearance, and supporters of Darwin have hailed it as a ‘missing link’, an intermediary form between birds and reptiles or dinosaurs.

What you can find on these pages

I have been working on the history of this extraordinary fossil for some time now. Initially, this was for the purpose of a Ph.D. Dissertation, but since I am dedicated to another project now, You can read a general outline of what I intend that to be about here.

For historical information about the study of Archaeopteryx, take a look at my sourcebook, which contains some original texts. Since I am hoping to continually improve and enrich these pages, I would be grateful to receive your comments. If you have anything sensible to say on the subject, don’t hesitate to e-mail me.

Links to Archaeopteryx on the Web

Where would we be without Wiki? The Wikipedia entry about Archaeopteryx is not bad at all, and it also tackles some crucial issues such as the beast’s synonymy.

Another place to go for information about Archaeopteryx is Chris Nedin’s Archaeopteryx FAQ in the Talk.Origins Archive. It contains pieces about the fossils themselves, but also about their frequent abuse at the hands of creationists and similar crackpots.

Alternatively, you may take a look at the University of California at Berkeley’s Museum, which features a lot of information about Archaeopteryx and the evolution of birds.

G&L Publishers opened a collection of links relating to Archaeopteryx (including these pages) at their Daily Tangents site. It has links to most of the places I’ve mentioned here, plus much, much more, including information about the Solnhofen Lagerstaetten. Also, there are a lot of pictures. Don’t miss it!

Finally, to blow my own trumpet, there are some very nice Archaeopteryx images to be found in the Gerhard Heilmann gallery on these pages.