Solnhofen

The local area of Solnhofen, in Germany, is renowned in geology for Solnhofen limestone. This is a very fine grained limestone from the Jurassic period which is renowned for its role as a Lagerstätte that preserves detailed fossil specimens. Alois Senefelder used specially prepared blocks of the fine Solnhofen limestone for the process of lithography which he invented in 1798. The quarrying of this limestone for lithographic plates subsequently yielded spectacular finds, including Archaeopteryx, commemorated in the bird's full name Archaeopteryx lithographica. All ten known specimens have come from the Solnhofen area.